The Lovely Bones
by Alice Sebold
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Book Reviews of The Lovely Bones
Book Review: Too Much Uneveness For Such A Good Book
Summary: 4 Stars
Unless the literary sect took a little time off to sleep under rocks, readers already know what this novel is about so I'll just cut to the chase.
It leads you to believe that you're about to get a tale about a young girl named Susie telling the story of her murder from her own first-person view. But, what it's actually about is the hardships that her delicate family go through as a result of her death. The beginning account of the tragedy is pretty harrowing and excellently written, as Susie is raped and killed by a cunning, yet disturbed neighbor. Her subsequent depictions of Heaven are wildly interesting and, in my opinion, too short, leaving me wanting more and more.
But, being alive and having not been there herself, Sebold could only go so far with said depictions and must fill the story with lots of outside storytelling of Susie's family's ups and downs. It's all very sunless and depressing, as one would expect. The book is virtually devoid of humor and sometimes even manages to make Heaven sound like a drag. Her dad lets his obsession with bringing her killer to justice ruin him. Her sister Lindsey slowly manages to get her life back in order while her mom chooses her own path as she leaves the family behind. Susie's friends try to keep a foothold on their own futures while she haunts their memories and her murderer spends the story having flashbacks of his own broken childhood and unaccounted-for killings. Susie chooses to watch all of these things happen from her perch in the great unknown, helpless and frustrated.
I loved the beginning and the final chapters of the novel, but the middle parts often left me uninterested. I felt like very little was happening aside from a few major plot devices such as Lindsey's own crusade for justice and a few other character developments. Mostly, it was just one downfall after another - many of them to be expected and leaving no real insight into what "could have" happened instead of what would "most likely" happen.
Sebold has a horrible time stepping into the shoes of her male characters. She's an expert at telling the female side of the story, but the men in this book are just plain sorry. I've read pieces from male writers who have the same problem with their own creations of the "fairer sex," so this other-side-of-the-coin display doesn't surprise me. While Sebold's ladies are independent, strong-willed, firecrackers who get things done, her men are failures, murderous and weak. While Lindsey courageously acts on a succesful venture to expose the killer, the detective Len has a long history of unsolved cases, including this one. While Susie's mother acts on a powerful urge for moving on with her life, her husband becomes a wild-eyed invalid who can't keep a job. The Indian neighbors down the street have a son, Ray, with a successful future. But of course, his dad is a workaholic who neglects the family and could be cheating on his wife while said wife stays home, a vicitim, contemplating divorce. While Mr. Harvey (the killer) is the very bane of human existence, Susie is the poster-child for strength. It's often like a Liftetime made-for-tv movie where the guys are all bad and the women are pillars of power. Honestly...the men in this book are laughable.
But it is such a good story with such a great premise that I can't dislike the book. There's a perfectly good reason why it's such a hit and that's obvious from the very first chapter. Sebold is a good writer with a command of giving her characters depth. She just needs to figure men out and learn how to tell a joke or two. I look forward to seeing the film version of the book by Lord of The Rings director Peter Jackson, as he might just bring some evenness of character to the guys in the story. Then again, maybe not.
Book Review: The Cup is Half Empty
Summary: 2 Stars
I've just finished reading The Lovely Bones. This is a book which I had been anticipating reading for a while. The subject matter seemed intriguing and promised for a touching and compelling read. After finishing it, I feel that it left me pretty much in emotional limbo. Like many of the readers, I too wanted very much to like it, and like many of the readers, my dis-ease with it is similar. The beginning of the book pulls you right in emotionally. There is a tension about it. Even though you know that Susie is doomed to die, you root for her and hope against hope that she'll get away. The grisley murder and the character of Mr. Harvey are chilling and upsetting, and appropriately hateful. The investigation, the family and town's response are initially all realistic, and the book moves along well. I'm not sure exactly where it starts to go wrong. I'm not sure exactly when I started to feel like I was plowing through it just to get it read. It happens gradually and insidiously, but you suddenly realize that the threads of the story have just faded away. The characters begin to wander and dissipate. While I can understand the mother's frustration over her lost past, her husband's inability to move beyond the murder, as well as dealing with the death of her child, I found her to be too selfish and self-involved for me to care about. I didn't even care when she came back to stay. I agreed with Buckley's response in the car. The father, while he had my sympathy for his sensitivity, I found to be ineffectual and too weak. The small exploration into the background of Mr. Harvey I thought promised an opportunity to shed light on his development into a serial killer, but this was briefly touched on and then forgotten about. The character of Lindsay I found to be the most satisfying in that she was the only one who seemed to find an empowering way to deal with the murder.
Many of the other characters and situations seemed not well-developed, so that they became annoying, unrealistic and one-dimensional. Did Mrs. Singh do anything but smoke smelly cigarettes and press flowers into books? Did Ruth's entire artistic repertoire revolve around Susie? What about Franny and Holly in heaven? These two I think were the least developed to the point where one wonders what their purpose in the story is at all. Their heaven seems like a dead end. Nothing happens, there is no spiritual growth, no revelations about life, death, afterlife. The scene with Ray and Ruth at the sinkhole and after, which I gather was the climax of the book was unrealistic, contrived, and sappy. When Ruth was standing at the edge of the sinkhole I thought, perhaps finally Susie's grave will be revealed to this girl. I think that this would have been more satisfying than the sex scene which followed. I also found the death of Mr. Harvey to be contrived and written in offhandedly as a way of placating the readers. Far-fetched and silly. Even if the crime was never solved, a better ending could have been found for him than accidental death by icicle. The very end of the story, Samuel and Lindsay moving into the Victorian house, which coincidentally belonged to Ruth's father, the cute ending scene with Lindsay's new baby Susie was trite and too pat. It also seemed that after all the emotional struggle that Susie undergoes throughout the book. We don't even get a sense for where or to what she may be headed towards in heaven now that she sees her family moving beyond her death. After making myself finish the book in the hopes of at least a satisfying or thought-provoking ending, I found that it left me sadly empty.
Book Review: a lovely read, but somewhat specious
Summary: 4 Stars
The has been a lot of "hype" surrounding this book. It has been on bestseller lists since it was published in July, 2002. That being said, I was never very interested in reading it. The subject matter was not intriguing to me and it's usually not the kind of novel I enjoy reading. However, when I found out that director Peter Jackson (The Lord Of The Rings, King Kong) would be directing a live-action adaptation of it as his next film, I decided to go ahead and read it.
The Lovely Bones revolves around a fourteen year-old girl (Susie Salmon) that was brutally raped and murdered by a neighbor. She watches from heaven how that single horrible event effects those that were closest to her. Her family is thrown into chaos. Her mother eventually leaves to escape the pain while her father is left to raise her younger sister and brother while still trying to hang on to the memory of the daughter that he will never see again. She also watches the relationships between her friends and how they too were affected by her death. Further still, she watches every move that her killer makes in the hopes that someone will find out the truth about her murder.
There are times when this heart-wrenching tale is somewhat depressing and leaves you wondering if you should keep reading. However, the author's premise for the book is to not have the reader dwell upon the grisly details of a horrible tragedy, but to realize that even in our darkest moments there is still hope that we can cling too. To realize the "big picture" behind the novel, you have to read to the end.
Alice Sebold is a very gifted writer whose style is very akin to poetry. Her characters are well-developed. At times, I even found myself upset with some of the choices a character would make here or there. Especially the mother, Abigail. Instead of being there for her family when they needed her the most, she returns to a child-like immaturity and runs from her responsibilities including involving herself in an adulterous affair.
Throughout the entire book, I kept thinking about how lonely these characters were. If only this family was centered around a relationship with Jesus Christ, I believe the events would have unfolded quite differently. They would have found their hope in the grace and love of Christ instead of looking for it within their dead child. This was a perfect example of how life is like without a relationship with God. Tragedy happens to all of us and it is up to us how we respond to it. However, with Christ as the center of our lives, we are assured hope and a love beyond all understanding.
I also found Sebold's view of heaven and out-of-body experiences quite specious. Her heaven is far from perfect. It is where our dreams come alive, but there is still a sense of loneliness the presides. Thank goodness that the truth of heaven, as promised by Jesus, is far greater. This, in itself, is one of the greatest hopes we can have while we are temporarily residing on earth.
I am glad I read this book, but it is definitely not for everyone. It makes you think about tragedies and how you, yourself, handle them. It also seeks to answer the question of how we as individuals seek out hope in the most darkest of cirumstances. It will be very interesting to see what Peter Jackson does with it since it is so far removed from anything he has done yet.
Book Review: Disappointing
Summary: 2 Stars
The first half of this book was nothing short of a revelation to me. I started reading at 10pm and I literally could not put it down -- sheer exhaustion is the only reason I finally did lay it on my nightstand to go to sleep at 3am. Unfortunately, the second half of this book falls disastrously apart. The book loses focus -- I couldn't understand where it was going and found myself bored and asking myself why I was still reading. There are at least three characters who seem to have no purpose in the story (Ruana, Hal, Nate).
It is possible that I'm not smart enough to "get it," but it just felt like Sebold meant to utilize these characters in later scenes that got edited out. They just kind of hang there and when I finished I was like, "Huh?" Is Hal really there just to provide the location for the bike shop interlude? Is Ruana there to provide foreign cigarettes to Abigail? Is Nate mentioned over and over again, just to provide an explanation for Buckley's wherabouts in the first half of the book? Did I miss something?
I see that the book has been optioned as a film -- the synopsis for the film reads that a murdered girl must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire to have her family find peace. That synopsis offers a drastic departure from the book -- in the latter, Susie Salmon never has a desire for vengeance... she is accepting, at peace, and detached from her own violent death. What keeps her around is what I would describe as a general curiosity about how her death impacts and changes the dynamics within her family. Although this is interesting in the first half, it drove me crazy in the second half. If she's at peace, why is she hanging around for so long? We're forced to observe along with her, a family blindly muddling through the aftermath of a terrible tragedy. But.... the reality is not that interesting. It's just sad and unfortunate and you hope the family finds some measure of meaning and peace in life...... but this is not enough to sustain 150 pages of meandering prose. Susie's detached curiosity doesn't jive with the reader's desire for vengeance/resolution... for structure -- sure, I wanted to know what happened to her family, but I also wanted her murderer to get caught. But Sebold is only interested in the former... which leaves the story treading water instead of driving forward in the second half.
Someone else mentioned two misguided scenes -- I agree 100%. One is where Susie gets the opportunity to experience a little bit of heaven on earth (Sebold is trying to go for bittersweet, but it was ridiculous to me) and the second is something thrown in to sate the reader's desire for resolution of one of the main story lines (so silly it was almost offensive) .
I'm interested to see the movie, b/c in the end I think giving Susie's character a desire for vengeance will give the film the much-needed structure that is woefully missing from the book. There is the potential for something really interesting, touching, and the key is making it about Susie's desire to FIND peace -- since the story is told from her perspective, the reader/viewer needs to connect to her emotional journey.
Book Review: A unique, authentically emotional story, but the climax is unrealistic and detracts from the book. Tentatively recommended.
Summary: 4 Stars
Suzie Salmon, age 14, is raped and murdered by a serial killer. She tells her story from heaven as she watches over her grieving family. Her death rips apart the secure suburban landscape of her home and deeply impacts not only her family but also some of her friends and neighbors. Over the years, Suzie watches these people, as well as her killer, and takes part in their changes and growth from afar. Ultimately, Suzie must come to terms with her own death, but her imprint remains on the world she left behind and she can never completely leave earth behind. The point of view is fairly unique for a mass-market text, and the writing style is clean, personal, and skillful. The Lovely Bones is a unique, alternative coming-of-age story that reads quickly without being cheap and tugs heartstrings without being maudlin. However, the ease with which Suzie accepts her rape and then her death seems unrealistic, and some of the supernatural events exceed the reader's ability to suspend disbelief. The book has its flaws, but it's still an interesting and emotional read. I recommend it tentatively: there are other, more important books out there, but for a quick, somewhat simple modern text, this book is pretty good.
All of my problems with the book came later in the text, and so to avoid spoiling the story I can't discuss them in detail. However, I will say this: Suzie's recovery from her rape and death, as well as the surreal, supernatural relationship that she has with Earth and those she has left behind is a little too unrealistic for the reader to accept the story in full. Her recovery is too smooth and too easy, undercutting the severity of what happens to her and coming to an incredibly unrealistic emotional and physical climax. The same climax is also the most supernatural moment of the book. That moment stretches the reader's ability to suspend disbelief to a breaking point. While the rest of the ghostly aspects seem possible, this final one does not. As a result, the climax to the story is the most unfulfilled and unwelcome part of the book. It disrupts the flow, which until then has been smooth and natural. Furthermore, in a book about human experiences that is based so much in character that than plot, the climax isn't even necessary. In my view, it's a poor choice by the author and takes the entire book down a notch.
That said, the rest of the novel is pretty good. Sebold has a simple, clean, light writing style which is a pleasure to read. The plot is new and interesting. Characters are, for the most part, realistic, recognizable, and interesting. It's an easy text to get sucked in to, emotional but not over the top, and a interesting, hopeful new take on the average coming-of-age story. I enjoyed it, and while I don't think it is a classic it was a fairly good book and it makes a nice break from longer, heavier, more difficult texts. I recommend it on that basis: this isn't the book of a lifetime, but it's a solid, interesting, skillful read.