the narrator(s) alway refer to themselves as 'we,' and never 'i,' drawing the reader in with them. euginedes' use of a vague narrator allows the reader to actively participate in the mystery and confusion as the boys try to come to terms with the deaths. it's as though their growth and development from boys to men has been permanently stunted, and it's something of a tragedy to read. they've never fully recovered from the events of that year, as evidenced by the carefully catalogued and numbered evidence they've collected over the years (faded photographs, scraps of paper, newspaper clippings, etc). it's not necessarily the lisbon sisters' story, but rather the boys' story, and how the suicides affected them all the way into adulthood (the boys are now men and they retell their story). What eugenides does so well is capture the mystery of secluded sisters, as seen through the eyes of neighborhood boys. how do you recommend a book to someone on such a grim topic? easy: just read it. the suicides of five sisters is even less pleasant. The proceeds of the collection go to the writing center 826 Chicago, established to encourage young people's writing. Eugenides has also published short stories.Įugenides is the editor of the collection of short stories titled My Mistress's Sparrow is Dead. It explores the experience of the intersexed in the USA. Part of it was set in Berlin, Germany, where Eugenides lived from 1999 to 2004, but it was chiefly concerned with the Greek-American immigrant experience in the United States, against the rise and fall of Detroit. His 2002 novel, Middlesex, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the Ambassador Book Award. In the fall of 2007, Eugenides joined the faculty of Princeton University's Program in Creative Writing. Jeffrey Eugenides lives in Princeton, New Jersey, with his wife, the photographer and sculptor Karen Yamauchi, and their daughter. He has said that he has been haunted by the decline of Detroit. The novel was reissued in 2009.Įugenides is reluctant to appear in public or disclose details about his private life, except through Michigan-area book signings in which he details the influence of Detroit and his high-school experiences on his writings. His 1993 novel, The Virgin Suicides, gained mainstream interest with the 1999 film adaptation directed by Sofia Coppola. In 1986 he received the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Nicholl Fellowship for his story 'Here Comes Winston, Full of the Holy Spirit'. in Creative Writing from Stanford University. He took his undergraduate degree at Brown University, graduating in 1983. He attended Grosse Pointe's private University Liggett School. Jeffrey Kent Eugenides is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and short story writer of Greek and Irish extraction.Įugenides was born in Detroit, Michigan, of Greek and Irish descent.

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