There is a great gulf between dog and man. We can't understand why they pee on the carpet. They ca...
There is a great gulf between dog and man. We can't understand why they pee on the carpet. They can't understand why we pee in their water bowl.
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Fourteen-year-old Susie Salmon is raped and murdered in a cornfield on her way home from school. Most of her body is never found but there is sufficient evidence for her family – mother, father, brother and sister – to accept that she is dead. Her murderer is a neighbour and serial killer. Susie’s mother had admired his flower border and her father had discussed fertilizer with him. When Susie gets to heaven she finds that it looks like her local school and she only has to think of something for it to appear magically, except she cannot return to the people she loved on earth. She can only watch their grief.
When I saw this book on the library shelf I wasn’t certain that I wanted to read it. I thought that the subject would be depressing and I try not to take my pleasures so sadly. I knew too that the story was narrated from heaven. If the book had a religious theme it would be back in the library before it had chance to grow warm in my hands. The book went home with me because there are two million copies in print, so there must be something worth reading. It was the last of my six books
to be read though – and then I couldn’t put it down.
The rape and murder take place in the first few pages of the novel. It’s an uncomfortable subject but it’s dealt with sensitively. The horror is conveyed, but not milked:
“Tell me you love me,” he said. Gently I did. The end came anyway.
The rest of the story is told by Susie from Heaven. As a device this works well, allowing the narrator to be omnipresent and to have more knowledge than those she left behind. Thankfully it isn’t a religious heaven – there’s no god to rule the roost. It’s more of a humanist heaven, complete with friends, support system and the occasional pet dog. When I die it’s where I want to go. I like the thought that we can each make our own heaven in a world where so many people work hard at creating their own version of hell.
The characters are developed with a sure touch. Susie’s father is obsessed with finding her killer to the extent that even the police begin to avoid him. Her mother simply abdicates all responsibility for the family. Lindsey, Susie’s younger sibling determines to be other than “the murdered girl’s sister”. At the time of Susie’s death her brother, Buckley, was thought to be too young to be told the truth of what had happened and he struggles to come to terms with her absence. We see too the effect of the crime, of too many crimes, on the lonely detective investigating the murder. The disintegration of the family has a compelling inevitability. Each character is totally convincing.
The book is occasionally sentimental but not to the extent that it spoilt my enjoyment. It’s perhaps difficult to avoid given the subjects of a tragic young death, mourning and the rebuilding of personalities into people who are stronger because of what they have endured. The sentimentality came over to me most strongly in the ending, which was the weakest part of the book. I felt that everything worked out just a little too conveniently for everyone concerned. In real life there’s usually someone who gets a bum deal.
The writing is elegant. It is simple and intelligent, beautifully constructed. I cannot recollect a single sentence, even a word, which jarred. This is particularly surprising because I usually find that the different use of English employed by American writers disrupts the flow for me. I never consciously noticed it. I normally find unbelievable any book which relies on the existence of a spirit world. Instead I found myself wondering if there could be some truth in it. The dead do have a continuing existence in the lives of those they leave behind.
This is Alice Sebold’s debut novel, but I suspect it is not the first book that she wrote. In her first year at college she was raped and the story of what happened and her fight for justice is told in her book “Lucky” published in October 2004. “The Lovely Bones” seems to be autobiographical in more than one sense. Part of what happened to Susie happened to her, but more importantly, we see Sebold emerging in the character of Lindsey and her refusal to be a victim.
This book does have its detractors. There are people who dislike the sentimentality and there are those who find the heaven device too much to take. It’s a good story though and it’s well written. I doubt that it will become a classic such as “To Kill a Mockingbird” – a book which kept springing to mind as I read – but if you would like a few hours rich, relaxing enjoyment then it could be the book for you.
• Paperback 256 pages (June 6, 2003) • Publisher: Picador • ISBN: 0330485385 • Price: 7.99 GBP but available on Amazon at 3.99 GBP
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I enjoyed that book, and so did my daughter who is not normally much of a reader.
Ankes-un-amun 14.03.2006 15:21
I'm half way through this. I like the simplicity of the writing style.
saontd 07.11.2005 22:03
Probably one of the few who have read this book that didn't like it. For me the ending ruined it. However, this is an excellent, balanced review of it.
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into a cornfield and brutally raped and murdered, the latest victim of a serial killer. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold's haunting and heartbreaking debut novel, unfo...
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On her way home from school on a snowy December day, 14-year-old Susie Salmon is lured ... more
into a cornfield and brutally raped and murdered, the latest victim of a serial killer.The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold's haunting and heartbreaking debut novel, unfol...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
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Postage & Packaging: refer to website Availability: in stock
Advantages: Complete value for money, essential novel, re-read, beautifully written, heartfelt and completely entertaining. Disadvantages: None that I could find
Dec 3rd, 2004
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