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Book Review: The Virgins by Pamela Erens
Jan. 15th, 2016 05:14 pmTitle: The Virgins
Author: Pamela Erens
Published: Portland: Tin House Books, 2013
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 281
Total Page Count: 173,539
Text Number: 508
Read Because: recommended as an autumnal novel, ebook borrowed from the Multhomah County Library
Review: At a boarding school in the 1970s, the intense romance between two misfit students, narrated here by a classmate, grows into a school-wide controversy. The Virgins is an intentional, effective unreliable narrative whose construction is frequently the book's most successful aspect. So little happens, and yet it remains compelling—thanks to the short chapters, the anticipation of a tragic end, and the biased view we have of the characters. But in retrospect, it leaves me wanting. All it really offers is a one-note thematic musing on virginity, its fetishistic cultural role, its symbol as a coming of age, neither of which is groundbreaking. I admire the authorial intent, but the result fails to leave a lasting impression. Not particularly recommended.
Author: Pamela Erens
Published: Portland: Tin House Books, 2013
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 281
Total Page Count: 173,539
Text Number: 508
Read Because: recommended as an autumnal novel, ebook borrowed from the Multhomah County Library
Review: At a boarding school in the 1970s, the intense romance between two misfit students, narrated here by a classmate, grows into a school-wide controversy. The Virgins is an intentional, effective unreliable narrative whose construction is frequently the book's most successful aspect. So little happens, and yet it remains compelling—thanks to the short chapters, the anticipation of a tragic end, and the biased view we have of the characters. But in retrospect, it leaves me wanting. All it really offers is a one-note thematic musing on virginity, its fetishistic cultural role, its symbol as a coming of age, neither of which is groundbreaking. I admire the authorial intent, but the result fails to leave a lasting impression. Not particularly recommended.
