Sebold, Alice. The Lovely Bones. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 2002. Print.
image from: http://images.wikia.com/thelovelybones/images/5/5d/The_Lovely_Bones_book_cover.jpg
My Thoughts
OH MY GOODNESS! This book scared me!
Susie Salmon is murdered in 1973. She was fourteen years old. After her death, she goes to heaven and is able to tell the story of her family from her eye on the world.
This book is part mystery, part romance, part speculation and all very compelling! I can't wait to watch the movie to see if it is creepy as the book. I visualize what many of the characters look like, including the recluse neighbor Mr. Harvey.
I love how Susie is the omniscient narrator. She sees everything her family is doing and reacts as the reader would watching something that we could not fix.
When Susie's brother Buckley is in the seventh grade, "his favorite teacher was not really a teacher at all but the school librarian, a tall, frail woman with wiry hair who drank tea from her thermos and talked about having lived in England when she was young" (Sebold 253). Yes, librarians do make a difference, even if we don't all drink tea from a thermos!
Buckley has a special connection to Susie. He can see her, and even talks to her. "'Please don't let Daddy die, Susie,' he whispered. 'I need him'" (Sebold 260). I buy into this idea. I "talk" to my angels all of the time!
Ruth's character was interesting, but I had a hard time buying into the supernatural sex scene. Of everything written in the story, this was the most unbelievable element for me.
The ending was sad and happy at the same time. Susie and her family do get some resolution. The charm bracelet on the cover is relevant to the story.
The title reference is on page 320.
SPOILER: I was mad at how long Mr. Harvey lasted, but I was happy when he did finally die. That's one less creep on the move. When Sebold writes, "George Harvey had evaporated into thin air when he hit the property line. He [Len]could find no records with that name attached. Officially, he did not exist" (Sebold 218). This startled me. How many people are among us that don't "officially" exist?
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