The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

The Lovely Bones

Our Dead Never Leave Us

Until I saw a preview of the film, I have to be honest that I had never even thought of buying this book. I knew I wanted to see the film, though knowing that there was a book I felt that I really wanted to read that first as more often than not, the book of a great film is spectacular. I was going to rent the book from the library though my local one had a very long waiting list – it seems everyone had my idea of reading it before they watched the film. On my way to Waterstones, I happen to pop into a second hand store and I found it sitting on the shelf for a tiny £0.99p! I snapped it up as the RRP is £7.99 and so I was saving a lot and figured if I didn’t like it then I haven’t lost anything. Turns out, I would not have minded paying more…

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THE LOVELY BONES
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It is always difficult not to give too much away in a synopsis of a book as if you are like me, you will hate a book being ruined before you have even bought it, so I will give away nothing apart from the basics as told from the back cover.

“My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973. My murderer was a man from our neighbourhood. My mother liked his border flowers, and my father talked to him once about fertiliser.”

The book is written from the first person point of view – in this case, Susie Salmon – a young girl who was murdered on her way home from school. She speaks from heaven, which looks a lot like her school playground. Everything Susie wants appears almost straight away except for the one thing she desires the most – to be back on Earth with those she loves.

As Susie watches, she follows her family go through the aftermath and turmoil of her death, isolated from one another in grief, all trying to cope with their loss in their own way. We not only see the turmoil of her family and friends, but also Susie herself going through various emotions. We all think that once a person is in Heaven, they would not feel loss or pain, though ‘The Lovely Bones’ shows a different side. As Susie watches her family move through the years, she realises how much she herself has lost.

It took to the second paragraph for me to fall right into the story. The story flows easily, though there is a lot of back-tracking at first with Susie’s memories, though this is written so perfectly that we are able to know more about her and her family easily whilst catching up on the story before Susie was murdered. In some books, going back and forth within the story can be off putting, though this has a steady flow and understandable pace in which hooks you right in and enables you to follow the wavelength of Susie.

Almost immediately, we meet the main characters of the story, both Susie’s family and friends and other characters such as the murderer. There is no mystery about who killed Susie, and the pain felt from her watching him interact with those she loved without them knowing what he did flies out of the pages and really hits home. The emotion from the very beginning is high and I would be surprised if there was one person who did not feel this emotion in some way or form. My emotion came mostly from both Susie’s emotions and also the parents, being a mummy myself. As it is written so clearly and can be placed directly in the real world, these emotions are strengthened. I would certainly advice those who may have lost someone, especially a child in this terrible way (or any way really) to approach this book with caution.

Going back to the characters; I really felt as though I knew each and every one of these people. They felt so real to me, making their feelings ultimately real and emotional. We find out a lot about Susie, mainly as the story is written from her point of view, from her history to her inner thoughts and feelings and relationships to all the other characters. This character, although only fourteen when she died, has a much more mature outlook. Something that needs to be remembered when reading is that although Susie stays that fourteen year old girl in heaven, time on Earth flows a number of years (approximately ten without looking) so Susie’s mind grows as time on Earth does – mainly her sister. We see her start to ‘live’ through her sister, realising what she has missed is not, in the end, the worst thing as she can see her little sister grow and experience the good and lovely side of life that she had not yet seen. We probably learn more about her sister and father than any other character of her family as they team together to cope with their loss, leaning on one another as they search for the killer. This is not unusual in the book where relationships become the prime story. This whole book is about different relationships born after Susie’s death – the lovely bones she calls it.

We also get a great insight into some of her friends, some of which did not actually know Susie properly until she died which is something I can relate to. One character in particular is such a well rounded character who has a special link with Susie after her death which leads to something spectacular later one. Something I never saw coming though fit so well into the story. Without the knowledge of the characters involved, it would not have worked so wonderfully. This can be said about the book as a whole. In some books, characters are over-written, though in this book we get just the right amount of details needed to sympathise and empathise and often relate to them and the story line. The strength of the characters pull the story forward, running alongside the flow and actual story at amazing pace.

By the time I reached the middle of the book, I was struggling to put it down at all. It captured both my mind and heart with every single page and although the book stretched years, it certainly did not feel like that as the flow was well timed and perfect in every single way.

The setting takes place mainly in two places; Susie’s heaven and her family in their hometown. Later in the book as the children grow into adults, we see more of the world though only what Susie wants us to see – the important parts in her sisters life, her friends learning about the world around them and following her mother as she takes a drive. These small changes in the book do not take us away from the main flow though are all prominent in the storyline. You begin to understand that everything which is said and done in the story leads to the final settling of both Susie and her family and friends. Everything is so well written and so simple that you can really see it happening in front of you. The author adds the right amount of spark with the right amount of information to keep the story rolling on with anticipation and emotion without being too overbearing.

The story is date stamped through the 1970’s onwards. Although this may be an annoyance in some books, I found that within this story it is perfect as it helps you understand a lot of what happens which is different than today and also helps you follow the time frame easier. Yes, this could be achieved in other ways though the author chose this way and it works brilliantly. Don’t get me wrong, you don’t have the date stamped at the top of each chapter, but through Susie’s words and via the aging of the ‘children’, you are able to follow the years alongside the occasional year stamp within conversation.

The language is calm and collected, and although simple to read, you do need some concentration as every little bit is needed for the story to completely make sense. Not only that, you wouldn’t want to miss any of this.

This was one of those books where you are so eager to reach the end to see what will happen but also as you finish you feel slightly at a loss as to what to do next as all you keep thinking of is the story you have just read and want more of it. You begin to have your expectations and wants for the what should and should not happen at the end though what I felt I wanted to see happen throughout the whole book did not in fact happen though I was far from disappointed. The way the story grew and the characters progressed, I came to realise that what I wanted to happen before just would not sit right in the ending. It does leave it open to future thoughts (not a future book though) which in this case is not a bad thing. It was wrapped up extremely well and everything that, in the end, needed to happen did.

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FINAL WORDS
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From start to finish, I absolutely loved this book. It is so moving and compelling and you just don’t feel that you want to put it down. It is also very emotional, especially near the end, and may be too emotional for some people. I found myself near to tears at a couple of points. It took me less than 24 hours to read this book as I seriously could not put it down. It takes a terrible tragedy, one so close to home for some peoples lives, and turns it into something hopeful. It is certainly a book tht stays with you long after you finish the last page.

Do I recommend this book? Most certainly!