An Emotional Read (Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold)

Member Name: GuruOnAMountain

Product:	Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Date:	10/01/05 (210 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very emotional., Well written and gripping., Amazing characterisation.

Disadvantages: None that I can think of.

My big sister had bought this book ages ago and it had been lying in our book case for months, long after she'd finished reading it. It hadn't appealed to me, so I'd left it lying there, but a few days ago I decided I needed a little break from studying for exams. I'm not the kind of person to go for much 'light reading'. My book case is full of hardback editions of Charles Dickens, historical texts and non-fiction, but after burning my brain out, I wanted something nice and easy to feast on and my eyes fell upon this book.

The Lovely Bones is the fictional story of 14 year old Susie Salmon who was brutally raped and murdered in a field near her home. The killer, she tells us in the first chapter, was her neighbour Mr. Harvey who had always seemed a little odd, but who kept a nice garden. Susie is the narrator and talks to us from 'her heaven', reporting on her family and friends who she has left behind and watching the efforts of the police to track down her killer.

I'm not usually too emotional, but I was crying like a baby for almost the whole first half of the book. There isn't so much of a story to follow, as such. You aren't sitting on the edge of your seat desperate to know what happens next. It is more a subtle emotional journey experienced through the eyes of a 14 year old who has lost her chance to grow up, and of course, through a distraught family, suddenly ripped apart by their loss. Neverthless, it is hard to put the book down as you are so artfully drawn in by Sebold's writing.

At first, Sebold captures the nervous anticipation of Susie's family when she fails to return home from school one evening, then she captures the awkwardness of the policemen having to gently break the news that although no body can be found, they fear that there is no hope of Susie being alive.

Sebold then captures the feeling of loss through the eyes of each different characters in the book, and if you have ever experienced loss yourself you will undoubtedly be able to relate to at least on of the characters. From the innocence of Susie's toddler brother, too young to comprehend the concept of 'death'; to her heartbroken father who has to work hard to continue to function; to the children at Susie's school struggling to accept that the girl who they'd talked to, worked with and grown up with had been grasped away from them before she'd even had a chance to start High School.

Of course, the most intriguing part of the book is Susie herself, experiencing heaven, yet yearning for earth. She finds it hard to let go, so watches her friends and family daily. Sebold's concept of heaven is of a complex and ever-changing place, different for everyone that is held within it.

By the time the book is finished, you feel that you know Susie's family as though they are you're own, and it is hard to leave them behind and put them back on the bookshelf. You've watched her little brother and sister grow up through Susie's eyes and watched the strain on her parents after her death. You've even grown to love her eccentric grandmother, who unexpectedly holds the family together when they need it most.

This book is a masterpiece! I'm very hard to please, but I found it hard to put it down. It is far from a taxing read. It is simple in style and Sebold doesn't use extravagant and complicated vocabulary: after all, she's writing from the perspective of a fairly young teenager, but from an emotional point of view, the book can range from quite a distressing read to a heartwarming one. If you have lost a loved one, or even a distant acquaintance, you'll relate to a lot of what is being said. If you've never experienced loss before, then this is as close as you can come to understanding what it feels like.

I would advice anyone to read this book. I, personally, have a feeling that a part of this book will stay locked in my brain for life.

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