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A review by inkerly
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
4.0
3.5 stars
"We’re always here you know. You can talk to us, think about us. It doesn’t have to be sad.“ - Susie Salmon
I watched the movie when I was 9 or 10 and Susie’s story gave me CHILLS. I’d watched many throat-slashing, gut wrenching horror flicks (a story for another time), but none of them haunted me as deeply as the Lovely Bones movie did. And I think it’s because the reality it portrayed - how you could be alive, youthful, and innocent in one instant, and next preyed upon and buried into nothingness without a trace - is truly petrifying for any little girl or boy who has a idyllic view of the world and the people in it. It truly speaks to how influential this book was for its time, as 13 years later I’m here reading the book whose movie gave me those chills.
Susie is a 13/14 year old girl that is raped and murdered by her stalker neighbor and what happens after that is captured in the distressed stories of family, friends, and community members who are shaken by her death. Chapter One was the real kicker that gave me the sweats—Mr.Harvey is an excellently written creep and evil man. But after Chapter one, my attention for the story waned.
It’s presumably a story about Grief, and Pain, and Grief and Pain together. And how the Dead are never really Dead. That being said none of the other characters in the story (not Susies parents, sister, not Ruth or even the guy she crushed on before her death—what was his name? See I can’t even remember) held my attention. I didn’t really care about their lives, and I was hoping there’d be more “umph” moments, like in the movie where it follows her dad’s pursuit of Mr.Harvey, or the way the movie captured Susie’s heaven. I do think the way this book is written stylistically is beautiful and poetic (and narrated as much by the author), but I guess this type of poetic literature fiction just isn’t for me.
Because it’s an all around well written story it gets a 3.5/5
"We’re always here you know. You can talk to us, think about us. It doesn’t have to be sad.“ - Susie Salmon
I watched the movie when I was 9 or 10 and Susie’s story gave me CHILLS. I’d watched many throat-slashing, gut wrenching horror flicks (a story for another time), but none of them haunted me as deeply as the Lovely Bones movie did. And I think it’s because the reality it portrayed - how you could be alive, youthful, and innocent in one instant, and next preyed upon and buried into nothingness without a trace - is truly petrifying for any little girl or boy who has a idyllic view of the world and the people in it. It truly speaks to how influential this book was for its time, as 13 years later I’m here reading the book whose movie gave me those chills.
Susie is a 13/14 year old girl that is raped and murdered by her stalker neighbor and what happens after that is captured in the distressed stories of family, friends, and community members who are shaken by her death. Chapter One was the real kicker that gave me the sweats—Mr.Harvey is an excellently written creep and evil man. But after Chapter one, my attention for the story waned.
It’s presumably a story about Grief, and Pain, and Grief and Pain together. And how the Dead are never really Dead. That being said none of the other characters in the story (not Susies parents, sister, not Ruth or even the guy she crushed on before her death—what was his name? See I can’t even remember) held my attention. I didn’t really care about their lives, and I was hoping there’d be more “umph” moments, like in the movie where it follows her dad’s pursuit of Mr.Harvey, or the way the movie captured Susie’s heaven. I do think the way this book is written stylistically is beautiful and poetic (and narrated as much by the author), but I guess this type of poetic literature fiction just isn’t for me.
Because it’s an all around well written story it gets a 3.5/5