by Alice Sebold
A young woman who has been murdered watches life go on from
heaven above.
Reviewed by: Michael J. Griffin
About Michael J. Griffin
I'd been reluctant to read this book due to the subject matter, especially
since my grandmother had passed away several weeks ago. My church youth
network was going to start reading the book and discussing it in context to
our faith, so I went ahead and bought the book. I'm glad that I did.
When I opened the book, it was with a palpable sense of dread. The book
begins with the protagonist, Susie Salmon ("Just like the fish," she says)
walking home, and is told from her first-person point of view. The second
sentence was short, stark, and hit me like a punch: " I was fourteen when I
was murdered on December 6, 1973." Within a few pages, she meets the man who
murders her and meets her fate. After that, the book goes into a
roller-coaster of emotion that had me alternately gripping the book in
frustration at what people are missing in their search for the killer to a
truly heart-warming ending, while albeit a bit hokey, Sebold's fresh writing
voice carries it through.
One thing that I had to do when reading this was set aside my preconceived
notion of what heaven is like, because to let my vision of it collide with
what Sebold sees is to detract from the overall structure of the novel.
Salmon has friends in heaven and even has a mentor. She goes on to meet other
people who have died at the hands of her killer, who is a very sick man.
She goes from place to place, to her home, where both her brother and sister
are coping with her death in their own ways while her father becomes obsessed
with finding her killer, which drives her mother to an ill-conceived affair.
Add a supporting cast of a psychic friend, a boyfriend who she wishes to have
a first-kiss with to an overbearing, alcoholic grandmother. She also checks
in on her killer.
The story winds its way without becoming confusing as to who the cast of
characters are, and I read the entire book in two days, and will most likely
finding myself re-reading it in the upcoming weeks.
The best thing about this book? I think my grandmother would have enjoyed it
as well.
Click here to buy this book, or read more about it at Amazon.com: The Lovely Bones
Copyright © by Michael J. Griffin, 2002
Reviewed by Michael J. Griffin:
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