Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
This is a book that I read on the recommendation of a student. Since
reading it, I have found that it has had much acclaim, largely through
word-of-mouth from readers. It has been on the New York Times bestseller
list for several weeks. I did buy it for our library as we are getting
requests for it, but…
The book is written from the unusual perspective of a young woman who
has been raped and murdered. We know this immediately. As we read, we
find out what happened, not graphically, but detailed enough to imagine
the horror. What follows is what happens after her death. We witness her
family, neighbors, friends and schoolmates as they try to deal with her
disappearance and death. It isn't pretty. We follow the police
investigation, sloppy as it may be.
We also experience her afterlife in “heaven.” Perhaps this is just a
step above limbo before the ultimate heaven as no God or angels appear,
but happy and positive memories bring those who have passed on to
interact with the narrator. My thoughts as I read these passages were
one of wouldn’t this be exactly the heaven we want—endless happy
memories of those we knew and loved, with none of the trials and
tribulations (and unhappy memories of things gone wrong) of earth? I
really liked this aspect of the book.
The narrator’s sister is the strongest character in the book. The best
scene is when she is in the house of a neighbor, who the narrator’s
father suspects is the killer, but whom the police have interrogated and
found nothing wrong. She breaks into the house while the neighbor is
away, finds incriminating drawings of a murder chamber, when suddenly
the neighbor returns. She escapes, but the neighbor recognizes her
clothing, a runner’s jersey with the number “5” and knows who she is as
he has been watching her.
The tension level is at its highest at this point.
It all goes downhill from there. So many different directions, so many
different stories. I’m sorry, but this was book was a disappointment
from that point on. What was an extremely tight story just fell apart
for me. When our narrator comes back to earth for a night of bliss with
a possible lover, it just didn’t ring true. Is that all there is?
The murderer eventually comes to his own deserved reward, but I found it
contrived and unconvincing.
This could have been a much better book, but maybe a half million buyers
of this book are right and I am wrong.
Let me know what you think!
Adam
Adam Janowski
Library Media Specialist
Naples High School
1100 Golden Eagle Circle
Naples, FL 34102
E-mail: NHSWebmaster@collier.k12.fl.us
Phone: 239-430-6644 Ext. 390
Fax: 239-430-6673
Library web site: http://collier.k12.fl.us/nhs/lmc/
School web site: http://collier.k12.fl.us/nhs/
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