Starting off the #50bookpledge2012 I read The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. In case you are not already aware, this book has also been made into a movie. I personally have not seen the movie, but I have heard both positive and negative feedback about it. I assumed from those reviews that this book was going to be something similar. It would be something I either loved or disliked, but I hoped of course I would like it. Sure the book has received tons of praise and was a best seller. However, if this is not your typical genre best seller or not you may not have have reached out to read it. If you have not heard about either the book or the movie let me give a brief description of what it is about. The Lovely Bones is about a 14 year old girl, Susie Salmon, who is almost home from school on a late December day. Sadly Susie Salmon is raped and murdered by a neighbor on that otherwise normal day. Susie passes on and goes to her own personal heaven and watches life unfold on Earth for her family, friends and the man who murdered her.
I have read murder mystery books before and watched many shows about various crimes that happen to us humans. I have to say though, this is the first time I have ever read book that goes beyond the crime itself into the actual question of what happens to the ones we love when they leave this world. Of course we believe that they go to heave and many of us believe that they become guardian angels that look after us. However, those thoughts and beliefs still fail to see through the eyes of the one who is deceased. This is where Alice Sebold comes in and changes the face of murder mysteries as we know it. The Lovely Bones allows readers to see the victim as more then just a victim, which I personally think many people, like Susie Salmon would prefer.
The Lovely Bones was a great read, but by no means was it a perfect story. There were parts within the novel that I felt I had been lost or possibly more that my attention was lost. This did not last as you would find yourself drawn in a short time later. Overall, I truly did love this story and how different it is from many other books I have read. The author did a great twist on the traditional murder mystery books and opens our minds to a different afterlife than what we may hold. Whether you agree with the authors depiction or not of the afterlife, it gives us a basis to remember to start thing about those who leave Earth as more then just the shell they leave behind.
I definitely recommend this story and personally want to go check out the movie and see how the book was developed into a movie. From the author writing from the point of view of the deceased I see it as a bit complicated to do, but look forward to how one managed to do just that.
Have you read the book or seen the movie? What are your thoughts?
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