The Lovely Bones
By Alice Sebold
I would be lying if I said I didn't hesitate writing my first book entry on The Lovely Bones. Not that the book wasn't great, it was, but it's definitely not your average feel great love story.
Anyone who is familiar with the story, of the book or movie kind, knows that the story starts right off with the rape and murder of a fourteen year old girl names Susie Salmon. In fact, the second sentence in chapter one says, "I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973." Even as upfront as that seems, there was a small paragraph before chapter one that really set the tone for the story. In this paragraph, the narrator Susie, recalls looking at snow globe in her father's office that contained a penguin. Her father responded with, "Don't worry, Susie; he has a nice life. He's trapped in a perfect world." This story is not about a perfect world, but rather the ugly, cruel part of the world, but even more than that, finding the beauty in the imperfect world we live in. What I find endearing about books like this, is they remind us of being human, and that we're not alone in the fact that we are, simply human.
The author narrates the story in first person. Under normal circumstances, this isn't my favorite form of narrative writing, but I felt it was necessary in this case, and was done very well. The majority of the story takes places after Susie dies and focuses on her struggle in wanting to still be a part of the lives she left behind, but also wanting them to find their own peace. The setting jumps back between what is happening on Earth, and what's happening in Susie's Heaven. The Heaven concept in the book is very creative. It isn't the complete happiness and comfort that we imagine, but rather something that unfolds as you become ready and accepting of it. It was refreshing to see such an interesting interpretation.
The one theme I really latched onto in this book, is how grief, or rather how we deal with grief, has a very strong effect on our relationships. There are few things that can easily break a relationship; money, infidelity (obviously), and tragedy. Something I've found through experience, is nobody processes grief in the exact same way as someone else. Because of the diversity in "dealing", our needs can sometimes be lost in translation. The relationship of Susie's parents really fascinated me in this story. Their flaws and strengths were real and made me hate them and love them all at the same time.
I don't want to give away anything for those who want to read this for themselves, but I will prepare you that this story does not have straight forward closure. The author sticks to their purpose on making this story real and allowing the reader to feel all the human emotions that come with real world, both beautiful and tragic and everything in between.
Favorite Expert:
These were the lovely bones that had grown around my absence: the connections -- sometimes tenuous, sometimes made at great cost, but often magnificent -- that happened after I was gone. And I began to see things in a way that let me hold the world without me in it. The events that my death wrought were merely the bones of a body that would become whole at some unpredictable time in the future. The price of what I came to see as the miraculous body had been my life.
Two short scenes from the movie.
If you're looking for a great read, this is one of them! I would highly recommend it. If you've already read it, or seen the movie, I would love to hear your own thoughts. Thanks!
