gaelkm's Full Review: Alice Sebold - The Lovely Bones
When I finally picked up and read the jacket of this book, I knew immediately that I wanted to purchase it. (Usually I don't "buy" many books, choosing rather to borrow them from the library or from friends or even purchase them at our used paperback store.) This book is one that I bought brand spanking new. I actually stopped in my tracks when I started reading this book while walking back to my office from the bookstore. The first few pages had me totally absorbed and I found it very difficult to put down.
I had seen this around for a year or two in bookstores, but never bothered to pick it up because I thought it was probably come author trying to write a Stephen King clone book (similarly titled to his "Bag of Bones"). Was I ever wrong on that one!
Author, Alice Sebold is an amazing writer. She was a visitor to the local campus here for one semester and gave a presentation I wish I had been able to attend, but could not. Her style is very readable and very clear. Her writing style flows smoothly. I never had to re-read a sentence because I didn't understand what she was getting at. She has a terrific insight and imagination. Her descriptions of young Susie's heaven had me believing this is exactly what heaven must be like. Sebold is very convincing. She has a remarkable sensitivity and is very capable of expressing feelings of fear, despair, sadness as well as happiness through carefully chosen words. It makes me think that she has experienced personally all of what she has written in this book.
Her story is quite compelling. It is so sad and uplifting at the same time. This is the story of a young girl, age 14, who is murdered. It is told in her own voice, that of young Susie. The story takes place in 1973 which made it even more appealing to me because in the '70s, I was close to the approximate age of Susie's character. I wondered if I would have done as she had, putting herself in a dangerous situation. She was trusting and her life was taken because of her curiosity and her trust. This story begins with her murder.
Much of the story is then about her family and how they react to Susie's murder and they have to continue to live and ultimately, move on with their lives. It is heart-wrenching to watch this family deal with the loss of one of their daughters, what they think and feel and what the other two children of that family must cope with as well. Susie is in her own personal heaven, but she is not quite ready to leave earth. She watches over her family and tries, from heaven, to take care of them and console them. Her 4-year old little brother, Buckley, who can't quite understand "where Susie is" even states at one point that Susie visits him. Susie's family is shattered and they all try to deal with her death, each in their own way. Susie's mother becomes more and more withdrawn, her father works feverishly with the detective investigating her murder, her sister, Lindsey tries to carve out a new life outside of her older sister's shadow and memory of growing perfection. The way Sebold describes each of the family members is so realistic and three-dimensional, you feel as if you could reach out and touch each one of them. Sebold even gets into the head of the murdering rapist who killed Susie. Susie is able to see into people's thoughts and although she doesn’t seem to hate her killer, she tries to figure out the reason he has killed her (and others). She does wish he were dead and she were alive, but this is expressed more as a wish rather than with venom or hate.
A person reading this book will be able to relate to Susie's family, as they coped with day to day life after the murder of a loved one because the writing is so convincing. From the unique perspective of Susie telling the story, the book does not come across as overly sad or melancholy. It is told in a realistic tone, matter of factly. Susie was raped and murdered by her quiet, strange neighbor, Mr. Harvey, who had made a "little hiding place" an underground room, carved out of the earth, hidden in the middle of a cornfield.
"For Christmas 1973 my mother had bought me a pair of gloves. Lindsey ended up with them, but she knew they were mine. She left them at the edge of the cornfield one day on her way home from school. She was always doing that - bringing me things."
Some years pass and Susie, observing from her heaven, seems to mature as she watches her family mature as well. She enjoys watching her brother and sister grow and change.
Toward the end of the book, there is one scene I didn't really expect and I didn't think it fit into the book very well. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but this one scene involving Ray and Ruth, two friends of Susie did not seem appropriate somehow. It just seemed out of place with the entire rest of the book.
Author Sebold has survived rape (her book "Lucky" is about her experience). The scene of murder in "The Lovely Bones" is as convincing as someone who has lived through that experience.
Overall, a very enjoyable book, which I do recommend highly. It is a real page turner. If you have not yet checked it out, please do.
Sebold s mesmerizing and luminous first novel--a #1 national bestseller--builds a tale filled with hope, humor, suspense, and even joy, following an u...More at Buy.com
Once in a generation a novel comes along that taps a vein of universal human experience, resonating with readers of all ages. THE LOVELY BONES is such...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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