The Lovely Bones

I know that it's a best-seller, and I think that it might have been an Oprah pick, and I know that it's going to be made into a movie, but I still really wanted to read the damn thing. (I have issues with reading the "popular" books because apparently I am a literary snob. But I also read Archie comics, so I am also a bit of a hypocrite. Whatever, he's going to marry Veronica, which is awesome because Betty lets people walk all over her.)

Anyway...

Susie Salmon was murdered. Just fourteen, she narrates her own story, giving the reader a unique glimpse - and an innocent perspective - as life proceeds without her.

Set in the early seventies, and stretching into the eighties, the reader experiences not only Susie's Heaven, but the lives of her loved ones, her schoolmates, and her killer, still on Earth. Even while silently cheering her father and her sister as they begin to investigate Susie's murder on their own, she is also worrying about her young brother and questioning her mother's actions.

Susie's Heaven is calm and safe, but not as fulfilling as she expects. She learns early on that things have happened that cannot be undone, and there is absolutely nothing to be done. She cannot protect her family, and she cannot bring her killer to justice. At first, she wants nothing more than to be with her family on Earth, but as she slowly starts to let go of her connections to the temporal world, those that were forced to go on without her begin to heal and grow and accept her absence. As does Susie. She is at peace.

Alice Seibold writes beautifully, reminding me very much of Ann Patchett's prose in Bel Canto (my review here!). The stories are similar, in a way - both tales of loss. Loss of innocence, loss of control, and loss of self. Both have bittersweet endings and both create characters with amazing strength. I don't know if it's because both authors are female, but Seibold and Patchett have a undeniable knack for capturing the beauty of a moment, even when it's sinister and ugly in context.

The plot twists and turns and the reader experiences tales and memories of all of those who knew Susie or knew of her. Every single character felt real because Seibold didn't hold back - she was clearly against making Bones a black and white story. Instead of an obvious delineation between good and evil, each and every character possessed both. All of her characters were flawed.

While I enjoyed The Lovely Bones, it was a little painful to read at times. If you have a child, I don't think that this would be the best book for you - basically you'd be reading about every parents' worst nightmare. It is beautifully written, but it is not happy. There is no easy ending here.