Author: Alice Sebold
Published: 2002, Little Brown
Genre: Fantasy/Afterlife/Thriller
Rating; 5/5
Three years ago I asked one of my friends to go see the movie The Lovely Bones with me. At the time, I did not know the movie that left me with tears on my cheeks was based on a book. For some reason, I never did pick up that book even after I found out there was a novel. I did not expect to see this novel for sale in Japan. The rate at which I consumed this novel is something I had not experienced from any other novel I have read this year.
Susie Salmon is 14 the day her physical existence ends. In a hole in the earth she loses first her innocence and then her life. From heaven, which is a collection of the shards of her reality and earthly desires, Susie watches her family and friends. She also watches the man who killed her. Unable to communicate what has become of her, Susie sees her family as they splinter as they try to heal. Over the bittersweet years she sees how her death creates new connections between all those she loved and was loved by.
Sebold is writer who makes full use of the senses in her writing. Through Susie's observations and memories she stitches together a physical and emotional world where the reader cannot help but feel the hope, lost, pain and healing of the characters. I also applaud this writer for the subject matter she chose to write about and allowing herself to create this story. It is from stories like this one readers are reminded the wide spectrum of humanity between goodness and evil. I would encourage anyone to read this novel at some point in their lives.
(Book #6 for 2013)
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