Book Review: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Title: The Lovely Bones
Author: Alice Sebold
# of Pages: 325
Published: April 20, 2004
Rating: 4/5

Summary:

This 2002 debut novel by Alice Sebold tells the story of a teenage girl who, after being murdered, watches from heaven as her family and friends go on with their lives, while she herself comes to terms with her own death.

I first heard of this novel at the beginning of the year when I stumble upon a review online. I was intrigued by the idea of a murdered girl as the narrator, and I finally picked up the novel a week ago. Once I began reading, I couldn't stop. When the novel begins, we understand how her killer tricked her and how her murder unfolded.

Susie narrates her family's reaction to her disappearance and later, the news of her murder. The characters Sebold created are amazing but not unbelievable. The father who drowns in Susie's death; too focused on his loss to work or be a proper father and husband. The mother, numb and empty, who wants to escape haunted memories. The sister, who deals with being 'the sister of the dead girl' and the baby brother who can't understand why his oldest sister isn't home.

From the moment Susie's murder is announced, I wanted to know if her murderer would be caught, if her family would become closer or fall apart from the tragic loss, and if Susie would pass from the 'in-between' to a final place of rest. This novel kept me reading till the wee hours of the morning, wondering just how Sebold would end the story.

I don't want to spoil anything for potential future readers (and there's a lot I could spoil), so I'll end by saying that although this novel wasn't perfect and I had hoped certain things would turn out differently, it was well-written and had my full attention from the first page.


(* cross posted from the collective blog Collision)