The Lovely Bones
Alice Sebold
“My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973. My murderer was a man from out neighbourhood. My mother liked his border flowers, and my father talked to him once about fertiliser.”
This is Susie Salmon, speaking from heaven – which looks a lot like her school playground, with the good kind of swing sets, councellors to help newcomers adjust, and friends to room with. Everything Susie wants appears as soon as she thinks of it – except the one thing she wants most: to be back with the people she loved on earth.
My Dad actually lent me this book, and after hearing it reduced him to tears at certain points (which is a sight, considering he’s a 19 stone muscle-man boxer) I knew I had to read it.
The story is about Susie Salmon, a 14-year-old schoolgirl who was brutally raped and murdered on her way home from school. She narrates the story from heaven, describing her family members’ individual descents into despair over her death and being unable to find her killer.
Sebold has taken a dark, possibly taboo subject and churned it into an elegant and, at some points, uplifting written masterpiece. If you have ever lost anyone close to you, you will be able to relate. It presents Susie watching over her family and friends as they grow up after her death, doing things she will never now experience. The whole story is atmospheric and captivates you, so you feel part of the family, feel their rollercoaster emotions over the years. You share their anger, their pain and their loss but also you feel an overwhelming sadness at being constantly reminded that Susie will never experience life past that of a 14-year-old.
Sebold consistently keeps the air of innocence and naivety surrounding Susie’s narrative, so you can always tell she is not mentally advancing any more from the day that she died in 1973, especially where she wanders around her ‘heaven’, a heaven of her “simplest dreams”, where “there were no teachers… We never had to go inside except for art class… The boys did not pinch our backsides or tell us we smelled; our textbooks were Seventeen and Glamour and Vogue”.
I remember reading it on the bus to and from work, and had to slam it shut at some points to compose myself. Otherwise I would have started bawling and made a tit out of myself.
If you have seen the film and never read the book, I suggest you erase the movie from your memory and start fresh with the book. With the movie, it focused on the pretty scenery and was very visually orientated, and I feel that compared to the book, it lacked any depth. The book is much darker and adult-like in terms of the developing storyline (most of which were missed from the film) and emotions that are felt.
The only slight dissappointment with this book was the ending; it was a bit flat. After feeling like a part of the family and sharing their pain and joy throughout the book I would have liked to read how they felt after her murderer was found, and the events following his departure from the story.
Rating:
10 Comments
Love, love LOVE this book. I basically cried all the way through. Completely agree with the rating of 5. Just want to say what a brilliant idea this site is and I can’t wait to continue reading all your reviews.xx
Cheers Emily :)
I loved it too! I was really looking forward to watching the film, and infuriated my flatmate with my constant whinging and saying “this is nothing like the book!” throughout the entire thing. x
I’ve heard so much about this book, know so many people who have read it and loved it, but I never properly knew what it was about. Think I’m gonna have to invest in it after reading this! x
It’s years since I read this book, but I can still remember just feeling totally floored when I finished it. Beautiful.
It’s a long time since I read this book as well but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Found it to be very well written and captivating..i didn’t want to put it down! I haven’t seen the film but I imagine it won’t manage to do the book justice! Also agree this website is fantastic, thank you! x
I remember reading this book in high school.. not only because it was such an amazing book, but because on whatever occasion I decided I *had* to read it, I was particularly poor. Cut to me sitting in my local Barnes & Noble with an iced white mocha for hours at a time, reading the pages until I had to leave, when I’d scribble down the page I left off on and return the next day for more reading. When I told my friends what I was doing disappearing off to B&N for hours at a time every night, they berated me for “stealing” the book…
Lauren, your review was fantastic and I completely agree. It reduced to me to tears in public on more than one occasion. It is set in the same area my mother grew up in, so I’d share with her and start crying all over again. It’s a very painful book I feel, one that doesn’t do justice to the righteous bones we all have in our bodies, but very well depicts the reality of so many families’ lives following senseless crimes.
Even though I adore Stanley Tucci, I can’t bring myself to see the movie. I’ve heard that it’s a disappointment and don’t want to tarnish my memories of the book itself. Plus, imagining the creepiest scenes in the book scared me enough–seeing them enacted in real life would probably send me over the edge!
Well… I finished The Lovely Bones last night, and I have to say I’m quite relieved that it’s over.
I had heard loads of amazing things about this book; it was firmly on my ‘must read’ list after reading this review – and after the first few pages, I felt convinced that I’d love it as much as everyone else seems to. The beginning (where Susie reflects on her murder) was great, and I was really excited to read on. But as I got further into the story, it all went downhill for me.
There were a lot of little things that irritated me. I didn’t particularly like the way it was written; some of the descriptions were quite odd. I didn’t understand the way Susie can see into people’s thoughts and memories – how? Isn’t she just watching them? I was disappointed in the ending as it really didn’t seem like justice was done… and, well, the book just didn’t move me in the way I expected it to. I found the pace very slow, I didn’t like the character of Abigail at all, and I didn’t really like Sebold’s concept of heaven.
I didn’t HATE it, but I definitely didn’t love it. Were my expectations too high?
Nikki, you are definitely not alone in not loving it! I thought it was ok. That’s it, just ok. It didn’t help that it had been hyped up so much by others. I saw the film recently too which was very strange. Lot’s of parts were completely different from the book. It seemed to focus too much on the (rather odd) imagery of “heaven” and less on how the family come to terms with Susie’s murder. A bit disappointing overall. Oh well!
Nikki,
Great to see your comment…I thought I was the only person in the world who didn’t enjoy this book! I also tried The Almost Moon, by the same author (and liked it even less). In fairness though, I should say that Lucky by Alice Sebold was a terrific book. It’s non-fiction and I much preferred it to her novels.
I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who didn’t enjoy this book. I never finished it. I might pick it up and try again but have so many books waiting to be read at the moment.