My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I just finished reading The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. For those who don’t know, it’s being made into a movie coming out next month, and it stars Rachel Weisz and Mark Wahlberg. It is directed by Peter Jackson. The story is about a 14-year old girl named Susie Salmon, who is brutalized and killed by a local man. She is now in heaven looking down on Earth at the people left to deal after her death. When I saw the trailer, I decided to read the book after hearing a few people exclaim that they weren’t sure how this was going to be made into a movie.

The first few pages are enough to suck you in. By then, I was captivated and wanted to read more. Sebold has the art of describing people, things, and places. She draws you into the scene, and you feel like you are there in the 1970′s with Susie looking at the people on Earth. What I love about the story is that it shows how it isn’t the person who died or the actual death that with the prolonging effects of it. It shows how a family and community have to cope with Susie’s death. The thing that helps is how 3-dimensional the characters are. You don’t see them as perfect or flawed, but as people. It’s something that is sometimes lacking in some stories, but this one is definitely not one of them.

The only two things that I didn’t care for in the book is the lack of dialogue skill and the ending. I feel like the book ending lacked and was a little longer than it should have been. Also, dialogue is not her skill. If it weren’t for her descriptions, I would feel like the characters were lacking. I’m reading another book, “The Sugar Queen” right now and the art of dialgoue in that book emphasizes how lacking it is in this one.

Overall, the book is good, and I think many people would enjoy it.

The book got me thinking about life and death.  Also, who I would watch if I were in heaven and could see everyone in the world.

I would watch my family, especially my children. I would watch them to see what kind of people they were turning out to be.  If they had a problem, I would be there to hold their hand, even if they didn’t know that I was there.  Every moment of happiness, sadness, anger, and confusion that they experienced, I would want to be there with them.

I would also want to see my friends and past loves.  I would hope that they would find happiness.

Great book that makes you experience life and hug your children a little tighter.

Photo Detail: The Lovely Bones, originally uploaded by celi_divine.

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