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.
I never feared death until I had children. My fear is that I will die before they are old enough to be self sufficient. If they had a father who was a good role model, I wouldn’t have such a fear. However, he is lacking in so many ways, and I feel that he will teach nothing but mediocrity. Maybe it’s a crazy fear to have, but I want my kids to have more than I did, and by my death, I don’t think they would.
A letter is the most beautiful gift you can give to another human being.
I’ve gotten in the habit of writing letters to my children every three months or so. I think I started doing this after my ex’s stepfather committed suicide. My ex’s mother was devastated for years wondering why couldn’t he have left some type of goodbye. Even though I will never commit suicide, I want to write letters to my children, so they will have them if something were to ever happen to me.
If you are thinking of doing the same thing, try and use beautiful paper. I use paper from Paperchase. There is also Papyrus that I absolutely adore as well.
I just read about a five-year old cancer patient who wrote hundreds of note to her family, so they could handle her deaths. She even wrote notes to her sister labeled “How to Handle Kindergarten.” Letters are powerful.
This weekend I did a lot of soul searching.I realized that one of the reasons I am not happy is that I either live in the past or the future.It’s never in the present.What made me think about this was after I watched “Kung Fu Panda” with the kiddies.The wise Oogway says,
“You are too concerned with what was and with what will be. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.”
Funny how a cartoon shows such wisdom that is lacking within oneself.The past is long and gone.Unless someone creates a time machine for consumers, I will never be able to redo any of my past actions, or be able to avoid situations that had caused me so much misery.
The future hasn’t happened.I can create goals to reach those future dreams, but I can’t keep focusing on what is yet to come.It’s like the ancient Egyptians when they were living just to prepare for their deaths.Were they have ever able to be happy?This is what I finally realized, neither will I.
I want to live every day like it’s my last.I want to do every thing that I have always wanted to do NOW because when the day comes that I have to leave this world, I will with a smile on my face.
Using a fan to circulate air seemed to lower the risk of sudden infant death syndrome in a study of nearly 500 babies, researchers reported Monday. I know it is good white noise, but I am glad it might also help with SIDs.
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
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