SparkNotes: Virgin Suicides: Quiz

Why is Lux rushed to the emergency room in an ambulance?

(A) Because she has (unsuccessfully) attempted suicide.

(B) Because she has a burst appendix.

(C) Because she is about to give birth.

(D) Because she has faked an illness in order to be taken to the hospital, where she can get a pregnancy test.

Chronologically, who initiates the boys' first eyewitness account of the inside of the Lisbon house?

(A) Trip Fontaine, who has invited himself over to watch television with the Lisbons, because he is in love with Lux.

(B) Paul Baldino, who sneaks into the Lisbon's house through the sewer duct and discovers Cecilia in the bathtub with her wrists slit.

(C) Peter Sissen, who is invited to dinner by Mr. Lisbon in return for his help installing a working model of the solar system at school, during which he steals the bra Lux left hanging on a crucifix.

(D) Mr. Lisbon, who breaks down and confides in the boys after Celia's first suicide attempt.

Who narrates the story?

(A) A group of neighborhood boys in real time.

(B) A group of neighborhood men remembering the events of their adolescence.

(C) Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon, reflecting on their failures as parents.

(D) An objective, omniscient, anonymous narrator.

Which of the following best describes the sequence of suicides?

(A) Cecilia, Bonnie, Therese, Lux, Mary—each dies about a month after the previous girl.

(B) Cecilia dies first; over one year later, the four remaining girls all die on a single night.

(C) First Mary dies, then Cecilia; over one year later, Therese, Bonnie and Lux die on a single night.

(D) Cecilia dies; over one year later, Therese, Bonnie and Lux die on the same night; several months afterwards, Mary dies.

When the narrators refer to "Exhibits 1 through 97," what do they mean?

(A) An actual collection of photographs and objects collected by the boys during and after the Lisbon girls' lives and kept in their childhood tree house.

(B) Memorabilia donated by the community and catalogued for a public memorial to the Lisbon sisters near the high school.

(C) The evidence collected and arranged by Dr. Hornicker for his psychological evaluation of the five suicides.

(D) A series of mental images of the girls, which they all share and have numbered in chronological order for easy reference.

Which of the following best explains the book's reference to "virgin" suicides?

(A) It is appropriate because all five Lisbon sisters were virgins at the time of their deaths.

(B) It is clever because all five sisters were "suicide virgins," that is, they had not tried to kill themselves prior to their successful attempt.

(C) It is rhetorical because not all five of the girls' deaths were actually a result of suicide.

(D) It is ronic because Lux was known for having sex on the roof of her house with many seemingly random men.

The neighborhood speculates that Dominic Palazzolo's jump off his roof may have inspired Cecilia's own jump. Which statement best describes this theory?

(A) It is contradicted by Cecilia's diary entry in which she condemns Dominic's actions as "stupid."

(B) It is supported by Cecilia's diary entry in which she confesses her love for Dominic and vows to do anything she can to get his attention.

(C) It is not valid because there is no evidence that Cecilia knew of either Dominic Palazzolo or his famous jump.

(D) It is supported by the fact that Dominic first tried to kill himself by slitting his wrists.

Which statement best describes the paramedics who respond to the Lisbon suicide cases?

(A) Concerned neighborhood men—the fathers and uncles of some of the story's narrators.

(B) A doctor and nurse from the local hospital who have been specially trained to deal with cases of teenage depression and suicide.

(C) Initial strangers whose characteristic faults become progressively more familiar as the cycle of suicides continues.

(D) Sluggish, unmotivated men whose slow response is at fault for the girls' actual deaths.

What is the neighborhood adults' ultimate response to the suicides?

(A) To erect a bench near the local high school that refers euphemistically to "the Lisbon sisters, daughters of this community."

(B) To begin an extensive program of depression awareness training and counseling for all adolescents in the area.

(C) To seriously discuss the issue and attempt to identify ways in which they could have prevented the tragedy from happening.

(D) To do nothing at all.

Who is the most sexually adventurous of the Lisbon sisters?

(A) Cecilia

(B) Lux

(C) Bonnie

(D) Mary

What happens to the Lisbon house after the girls are all dead?

(A) Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon move away, and the house is bought and renovated by a new young couple.

(B) Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon continue to live there, though no one ever sees them go outside.

(C) Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon leave, and the house remains vacant.

(D) Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon get divorced, and Mr. Lisbon keeps the house and returns to teaching math at the high school.

What do Trip Fontaine and Lux do after the Homecoming Dance?

(A) Return immediately to Trip's car and drive back to Lux's house before the 11 p.m. curfew.

(B) Return to Trip's car, smoke a few joints, and return to the Lisbon's house having missed the curfew by a crucial five minutes.

(C) Make love under the stage, after which Trip declares his love and a startled Lux abandons him and runs all the way home.

(D) Make love on the football field, after which Trip abandons Lux and she walks home, arriving home at 1:30 a.m.

What happens on the Monday after Homecoming?

(A) The Lisbon sisters remain at home, as Mrs. Lisbon has decided it is no longer necessary for them to go to school.

(B) The Lisbon sisters remain at home, as they are all feeling ill after the events of the weekend.

(C) The Lisbon sisters return to school as usual, and Trip and Lux are seen together in the hallway.

(D) The Lisbon sisters return to school as usual, and Lux asks an intermediary to tell Trip that she is "so over him."

What happens when the boys arrive at the Lisbon house at midnight on June 15th?

(A) They are surprised to find no one there, and return home. Only later do they realize the girls have died.

(B) They are surprised to find the door open and the dead bodies of the four Lisbon sisters in plain sight.

(C) They find Lux smoking in the living room. She convinces the boys to return home so that she and her sisters can die in peace.

(D) They find Lux smoking in the living room, and she instructs them to wait for her sisters while she goes to the car. Shortly thereafter, the boys realize that the girls have killed themselves while the boys sat waiting.

Which of the following best describes how the boys are able to successfully telephone the Lisbon girls?

(A) The calls happen over the course of two days, during which the boys and girls take turns playing records to each other.

(B) The calls take place every Sunday morning, when Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon leave for church, and the girls are allowed to stay home alone.

(C) The call is successful only once, during which the Lisbon girls explain their desperate situation and ask the boys to come over and help them on June 15 at midnight.

(D) The calls happen several times, during which the girls talk about their favorite music and shyly declare their love for the boys.

Which of the Lisbon girls is able to go to Homecoming?

(A) Mary, Lux, Bonnie, Therese

(B) Mary, Lux

(C) Mary, Lux, Bonnie, Therese, Cecilia

(D) None of them

Who does the narrative "we" consist of?

(A) Trip Fontaine, Peter Sissen and Paul Baldino

(B) The Lisbon sisters

(C) Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon

(D) A group of neighborhood boys, the names of whom are never precisely specified

For the most part, when do the events described in the novel take place?

(A) Over the course of four years, while the narrators are in high school.

(B) Over the course of fourteen months, from June to July of the following year.

(C) Over the entire lifetime of the narrators, approximately forty years.

(D) In one month, June.

Who does Trip fall in love with?

(A) Mary

(B) Cecilia

(C) Lux

(D) Bonnie

How is Mr. Lisbon best described?

(A) He is a burly, gruff ex-football player and man of few words.

(B) He is a rugged cowboy type who resents the suburbs' lack of open space.

(C) He is a playful, loving dad, who is always joking around and playing gags.

(D) He is a thin, effeminate, retiring man with a high voice who lives in fear of his wife.

How is Mrs. Lisbon is best described?

(A) A domineering, steely-haired matriarch who runs the Lisbon household with an iron fist.

(B) A demure suburban wife.

(C) A beautiful, youthful woman whose good looks and good genes are reflected in her daughters.

(D) It is impossible to really say, as she died when the girls were young.

What is the religion practiced by Mrs. Lisbon, and by extension the Lisbon family at large?

(A) Hinduism

(B) Catholicism

(C) Protestantism

(D) Atheism

Cecilia is found in the bathroom with slit wrists clutching what?

(A) A leaf from the dying elm tree

(B) A vintage 20s wedding dress

(C) A laminated picture card of the Virgin Mary

(D) A bloody razor

What is the name of the over-eager local reporter?

(A) Father Moody

(B) Ms. Perl

(C) Miss Kilsen

(D) Dominic Palazzolo

Old Mrs. Karafilis' most damning criticism of suburbia is, what, paraphrased?

(A) "The olives were much better in Asia Minor."

(B) No one knows, because she never speaks to anyone.

(C) "What [I] never understood about America was why everyone pretended to be happy all the time."

(D) "I don't see how Lux can write poems after Auschwitz."

Which of the Lisbon sisters die on their first suicide attempt?

(A) Only Lux

(B) None of them

(C) Mary and Cecilia

(D) Lux, Bonnie and Therese

Which of the Lisbon sisters die on their second suicide attempt?

(A) Only Lux

(B) None of them

(C) Mary and Cecilia

(D) Lux, Bonnie and Therese

Which statement best describes the cemetery workers' strike?

(A) It begins shortly before Cecilia's death and ends on the day of Mary's death.

(B) It begins on the day of Lux's death and ends on the day of Mary's death.

(C) It begins shortly before Cecilia's death and ends on the day of Lux's death.

(D) It begins on the day of Cecilia's birth and ends on the day of Cecilia's death.

What is true during the cemetery workers' strike?

(A) No one is allowed into the cemetery.

(B) Last rites can be given, but no burials can take place.

(C) Neither last rites nor burials can take place.

(D) Burials proceed at a slightly slower rate than usual.

How does Trip Fontaine amaze the boys?

(A) He regales them with details of his sexual exploits.

(B) He instructs them on the finer points of love.

(C) He never seems to succeed with girls.

(D) He refuses to disclose the particulars of his enviable love life.