The Lovely Bones

I must have looked at the cover of this book a million times and every time, I wondered what it was about. The cover is very simple and, for that reason, always caught my attention but, I was usually busy looking for something else and I never took the time to pick this one up. That is until a friend lent her copy to me. I am very glad she lent this to me, because, otherwise, I would never have read it and then I would have missed out on a very good novel.

The Lovely Bones opens with Susie Salmon introducing herself and explaining that she was brutally murdered in 1973, when she was 14. Susie narrates the book from her Heaven, where she stays and watches her family, friends, and even her murderer as they continue in life. While Susie's mother and father begin to grow apart because of the murder, her 13 year old sister tried to deal with the effects as best she can. Her crush and a girl from Susie's school, Ruth, begin to grow closer after the situation. At the same time, Susie must grow up in many ways, even though she is dead.

Sebold uses Susie's voice to tell the story of a family's unexpected loss in a very unique way. While I had hoped for some things to happen, I wasn't disappointed with the choices Sebold made in her book. The beginning was tragic, as Susie explains how she died and the time immediately after her death, but the end is more joyful. I really liked this story and the way Sebold told it.

I just found out that The Lovely Bones is being made into a movie. I have mixed feelings about this since the movies are usually no where near as good as the book, but I enjoyed this one enough that I may brave the movie when it comes out.

Rating: 4.5