The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Genre: Tragedy
Rating:3
Pages: 328

"My name was Salmon like the fish, first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.” -Susie

Summary

In heaven Susie Salmon is adjusting to her new home in heaven while she watches life on Earth carry on without her. She can only observe while her friends trade rumours about her disappearance, scrutinize over her killer covering his tracks and painfully watch her broken-hearted grieving family’s strong relationships loosen and gradually unravel.

Why Read It?

The Lovely Bones is worth reading because of the thought put into it. The way it describes a tragic loss of a young girl, how it interprets a family struggling to cope and the thoughts of the murderer who attempts to cover his involvement is just so breath-taking you’ll be in sync with Susie yourself.



My Thoughts

Although what I said about The Lovely Bones in the “Why Read It?” section there are a few things you might like to know before picking up this book. Number one, it’s not a thriller; it has more to do with the relationships of the family. Number two, some of it is very graphic and may make you feel uncomfortable. And number three, let’s face it, it isn’t the happiest story in the world; it’s a very tragic story.
This book is a very mature read and that’s why I had a hard time reading it mostly because it was slow-paced. Besides those three things that I just informed you of, which you may not mind, which is great this book might be a good one for you to read, the book is actually astonishing and Alice Sebold did an excellent job of capturing the characters actions and emotions.
My point that I am trying to get across here is that I had a lot of trouble reading this book for two reasons... it was extremely sad and very slow paced, therefore it may not be the best teen read: But still an excellent well-written novel... That I don’t believe I will be reading again until I am in my forties.