Lovely Bones
By Alice Sebold
Fiction/Drama
Released August 7, 2002
Price $9.99 Kindle http://www.amazon.com/
There are some books you should only ever read once. They are so wonderful that you carry them in your mind forever. Maybe because they are so intense, dark, and painful that reading them once is enough. This book falls into that "read only once" category. You can decide from the above why that is. There is one more reason you should only read a book once and that does not apply to "Lovely Bones". The obvious reason, right? That a book is simply bad. It has a horrible ending or it is not well written. I have read bad books from start to finsish. Usually because they didn't start out as horrible books. I was lured in by a compelling storyline so I kept reading; hoping for the best. If your interest isn't mildly piqued by the description on the book flap and the first three chapters don't keep you excited-STOP READING THE BOOK! Life is too short to waste time on a crappy book.
On to the main event.."Lovely Bones." This book makes me glad for Janet Evanovich and "Stephanie Plum". More laughter please. Let me repeat a statement from above before we proceed on to the review. Only read this book once. Trust me on this. The story will stick with you like my Grandma's sausage, biscuits and gravy stick to a girl's thighs. And if the story starts to fade, let it. It's too dark to keep in a light heart.
Alice Sebold-beautiful writer. The topics in this book are intense and she handles them well. Her writing is like when you are in a boat and looking down at the dark, glassy water. It looks scary and your mind is telling you that when you jump in it might get scarier. Or it might just turn out to be really cold water. With "Lovely Bones" your mind gets dipped in the scary ass water.
"Lovely Bones" is the story of Susie Salmon, 14 years old. She was violently murdered,her body cut up and scattered. The suspect remains at large. The narration of the story is from Susie herself. She is a ghost remaining on earth; following her killer and also her family and friends. Susie watches as her family struggles with her death and the slow discovery of her body (elbow recovered). The main focus of the story is how Susie tries to guide from beyond by getting people to "feel" her presence. Especially her father, Jack, who is is determined to find out who murdered his daughter. The back story is "what could have been". Susie follows her school crush, Ray Singh. She tries to reach out to him as well. Susie, like any living 14 year old girl, pines for that first kiss.
The kidnapping and murder of Susie Salmon happens at the very beginning of the book. It's graphic and painful to read. Note: I read this before I was a mother to a 14 year old girl. Still extremely difficult to read that chapter.The idea of this story though; a girl trying to solve her own murder from the after life, is unique. I thought at the time it was a fresh concept. The ending did surprise me, even with all the clues and events leading up to it. I wouldn't have predicted the outcome the way Sebold put it down.
This book also reminded me of another rather depressing book that I had read around the same time. It also falls under the category of "only read once"...if you must read it at all. "White Oleander" by Janet Fitch. I won't even review this book let alone recommend it. It was a dreary book with the same effect on me as "Lovely Bones" but dragged out way too long, without hope, and not written as well .
I admit I'm on the fence about "Lovely Bones". I hate for people to miss out on this story but why would we willingly want to absorb this tragedy? Hmmm...you can only enjoy light if you've experienced darkness?
I cannot promise that after you read this you will have a renewed sense of faith in humanity or get a happy ending or a silver lining at the end of your reading. I do think this story has a hopeful message and maybe that is enough of a reason to read it.
Read it: Hmmmm....at your own risk.
But: Don't be mad at me if you feel depressed after reading it!
Bonus: There is a movie based on the book,
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