Beautiful and heartbreaking (Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold)

Name: mrsksg

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Product:	Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Date:	28/08/08 (84 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Writing, characters

Disadvantages: Not for everyone

When on holiday I like to take a few books with me to read as it is one of my favourite activities. A few weeks ago I had read all of my books so I decided to read one of the books my daughter had brought on holiday with her which happened to be The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.

First off this is not a book that you can read hoping to uplift your spirits or to get a few laughs from. It is a heartbreaking story of grief and how a family copes with a tragedy. The book is told from the point of view of Susie Salmon, a fourteen year old girl who is raped and murdered and tells her story from heaven while watching the rest of her family.

So from the plot of the book you can tell it's no laugh riot but what I can say is that it is one of the most beautifully written books that I have read. Susie watches her family knowing that she can't take part in their lives or change anything which is often met with frustration. This book is very sad and a lot of the story is about the family coping with the grief of losing a child, the parent's frustration at not knowing who killed her or what happened is particularly heartbreaking. The only piece of lightness in this novel comes from Susie's sister who she watches from heaven as she becomes the woman Susie can never be.

I found the ending quite uplifting in the end, it doesn't end in a typically happy ending that other books do yet it is satisfying and leaves the book at a nice point in the family's' lives. However I won't tell too much as I don't want to spoil anything for anyone.

Overall I thought this book was brilliant and could read it again as I found it beautifully written, the characters were three dimensional and I really felt as if I knew them. The book is only a few hundred pages long but it is written so well that the characters and story fulfils in every way. It doesn't drag but I think anyone who likes action and a lot of talking and mystery in their books will not like this. It is just a simple story about grief but it is a wonderful story which I would recommend to anyone.

Summary: A wonderful story