“The Lovely Bones”

Author:

Alice Sebold

First Thoughts:

Extremely well written… but a TERRIBLE story! It’s basically about a girl who was raped and murdered. (Stop reading here, if you feel reading something of that content is going to disturb you) However, after dying, her soul is caught in the in-between of heaven and earth, so she watches the lives of her family below. I can’t think of a worse way to spend my time… And yet, it was so well written, it kept my attention. The number one thing that bothered me, is that as a reader, I knew all the answers from the beginning. There really was no reason to keep reading other than to hope that the other characters figure out the answers too. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but this book left me VERY unsatisfied. Sure, family is important, but my time in reading this book almost felt like a waste! I do want to point out some more things to give the author some good credit, but I’ll save those for my final thoughts.

Synopsis:

Suzie Salmon, is a beautiful young girl, who loves her family and friends. One chilly December night, she doesn’t return home. Her family quickly gets in touch with the police, but soon the night turns into days, and days into weeks. Suzie’s disappearance alerts the town, especially as the evidence starts pointing to a crime of murder. Stuck in the “in-between” world of heaven and earth, Suzie watches the struggle of her family and friends. Her father, in particular, can’t live without knowing what’s happened to his little girl. His obsession with finding her killer starts effecting what’s left of his family in a negative way. Dealing with the trauma of a life taken too soon, both Suzie, her family, and friends are in need of healing.

Final Thoughts:

Coming from the perspective of a 14-year-old girl who’s no longer living, the Author did a great job in delivering an emotional connection. My interest was mostly held captive by some of the character's personalities, and the vividly descriptive situations. In all honesty, I only read the book because I saw it was turned into a movie directed by Peter Jackson. Known for his spectacular job in directing the “Lord of the Rings” and the “Hobbit”, I was a bit surprised to find he had tried tackling this specific story. With my motivation set in place, I only needed a few days to finish the book itself. I didn’t expect the movie to be any better, if not worse, than how I felt about the book. However, to my surprise, the movie was incredibly well done! What I thought was going to be a, promptly butchered, book-based movie; this one is actually worth a tremendous amount of praise! Visually stunning, with a shockingly accurate story line to the book, I was impressed. Despite feeling like the story is practically a waste of time, I’ve enjoyed it to a certain degree of creativity. Starting with the talented writing of Alice Sebold, Peter Jackson pulled through and delivered an incredible movie out of what definitely could’ve been a disaster. The only improvement I could've wished for, is to have seen it take on a more interesting fictional twist, with a satisfying end to both the criminal's demise and the victim's passing... Perhaps I should stick with reading Fantasy Fiction?