The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold has been on my "To Be Read" list for a while. Again I watched the movie before the book.
I knew that this would not be a happy go lucky type of book. Still it was hard to read. After finishing it I just felt morose.
Possible spoilers ahead
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The story starts with the narrator, Susie Salmon, talking about her murder. The majority of the book centers not on Susie herself, but on her observations of the people she left behind. Susie is able to watch the Earth from her version of Heaven. She not only watches but she knows what people are thinking and feeling.
This includes her murderer.
The story takes place over about a decade. The Salmon family never truly comes to terms with the loss of Susie but they slowly grow to live with the void she left.
The story takes place over about a decade. The Salmon family never truly comes to terms with the loss of Susie but they slowly grow to live with the void she left.
After seeing a film and then watching a movie it is hard not to compare the two. I will say that the movie doesn't do the book justice. The characters of Susie's siblings, Lindsey and Buckley, are not explore enough in the film. In the book they are focal points. Their dealing with Susie's death and the break up of the family as well as everything that comes with growing up in general.
It has been awhile since I watched the film but I don't think it included the Heckler brothers, Samuel and Hal, who are pretty important figures in the book.
Samuel is Lindsey's soulmate. She turns to him after Susie's murder. Hal is Samuel's older brother. He becomes a surrogate older sibling/parent to the Salmons. The Heckler brothers really step up with mom Abigail runs away from her family.
Samuel is Lindsey's soulmate. She turns to him after Susie's murder. Hal is Samuel's older brother. He becomes a surrogate older sibling/parent to the Salmons. The Heckler brothers really step up with mom Abigail runs away from her family.
The book spans from Susie's murder forwards throughout the years until her sister Lindsey is married and has a child named after Susie.
One of the things that disturbed me is that there isn't any real resolution with the murderer, Mr. Harvey. After killing Susie he gets away and continues to kill people until a "random" icicle sends him to his death. He never gets caught despite everyone knowing he did it. I know this book is set in the 1970's but even then there had to be some form of interstate communication when it came to murderers.
Two other characters that Susie watches intently are Ray and Ruth. Ray was Susie's first and only kiss. A foreign boy at school that loved her. She was carrying a love note from him when she was killed. He becomes friends with Ruth after Susie dies. Ruth is the last person Susie had contact with on Earth before her "soul" left. Because of that Ruth is now haunted by "ghosts". She can sense and even see the "ghosts" when she is in an area where they died.
One of the things that disturbed me is that there isn't any real resolution with the murderer, Mr. Harvey. After killing Susie he gets away and continues to kill people until a "random" icicle sends him to his death. He never gets caught despite everyone knowing he did it. I know this book is set in the 1970's but even then there had to be some form of interstate communication when it came to murderers.
Two other characters that Susie watches intently are Ray and Ruth. Ray was Susie's first and only kiss. A foreign boy at school that loved her. She was carrying a love note from him when she was killed. He becomes friends with Ruth after Susie dies. Ruth is the last person Susie had contact with on Earth before her "soul" left. Because of that Ruth is now haunted by "ghosts". She can sense and even see the "ghosts" when she is in an area where they died.
While I think this is a good book I doubt it will ever be a re-read for me. It just left me feeling a little bit depressed.
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