The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

The Lovely Bones


"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 neighborhood. My mother liked his border flowers, and my father talked to him once about fertilizer. This is Susie Salmon. Watching from heaven, Susie sees her happy, suburban family devastated by her death, isolated even from one another as they each try to cope with their terrible loss alone. Over the years, her friends and siblings grow up, fall in love, do all the things she never had the chance to do herself. But life is not quite finished with Susie yet ..." from Amazon.com


Let me starts saying this novel is fantastic. It is gripping from the very first chapter. I didn't expect anything like it. Susie Salmon is murdered and we see her family and friends struggle with her death. She narrates her story from heaven, watching the several people of her life go about. She also fallows her murderer in a scary and haunting truth.


What is the best trait about this novel is that it's told in such an honest and haunting voice, it resonates in your mind long after you've turned the last page. We see a fourteen year old die and she tells us those things she wishes she could have experienced but now is experiencing through her sister. She leaves the boy of her dreams and the family she loves so much.


The end is just paralyzing. Such an amazing twist I never expected and I am NOT going to spoil. Let's just say, it's beautiful.


One of the things that I didn't like that much was that it does drag out a bit. The time period is about eight years and I just wanted the murder to be solved and her family to be OK again but unfortunately, it's more complicated than that.


Nevertheless, it's an amazing story. In one sentence:


The Lovely Bones is a haunting, honest, and sometimes cruel read that turns out beautiful!