*Yes this is a repost of the review i posted back in April, but as I did it in Word (noob error) and copied it over, it’s not working in the editor.*The Lovely Bones is the bestselling novel by US author Alice Sebold. The novel is about a 14 year old girl, Susie Salmon, who is raped and murdered by her neighbour; after which the novel focuses on the effect that Susie’s death has on her friends and family.
Susie acts as the narrator for the novel, giving the reader a first person account of the events that occur in the book. However, by using a narrator, the book falls down a touch. Susie is in Heaven, looking down upon the events that happen, but she can observe people’s thoughts, feelings, and actions that would normally not be possible just through sight.
Another part where the book falls down is its lack of continuity. It never seems to follow one standard chronological order and tends to jump around a lot, also missing out whole years of the family’s life.
This book is also insanely depressing, as it shows the pain that is felt by Susie’s family, but also leaves you with a good feeling at the end of the novel, where things start to turn around for them.
Perhaps the most bizarre thing in the novel is the climax, where Susie comes back to see her “might-have-been”, Ray Singh. This scene does involve a girl who can see dead people, though, so it’s definitely not realistic.
The novel is a bit more realistic when it comes to the effects on Susie’s family, showing a rift between her parents, her sister grieving alone, and with her brother never fully understanding why Susie died. Through the family, the reader gets a sense of how it must be when one of your family members are murdered, and presents them in a realistic way.
I feel that the first chapter of the novel is the best, as it gives a horrific account of Susie’s murder, and juxtaposing Susie with her killer through their heartbeats. It really gives the killer a sense of maliciousness and evil, especially when he gets his knife out, and also before he kills her saying “It’s after dark”, bearing in mind the connotations that come with that utterance. However, the rest of the book never lives up to the high standard presented in the opening chapter.
A great device that Sebold uses is comic relief, which is represented by Susie’s “out of time” grandmother, who obsesses with beauty and frequently consults with alcohol. Grandma Lynn has suffered a traumatic event, using humour and wit to cover that pain, which brings comic relief for the reader in this otherwise serious and depressing novel. Another good thing about this particular character is how she sort of becomes a foster mother to the remaining Salmon children, so their life is as “normal” as it could be.
Overall, this book does have a lot of faults and could be improved upon, but I personally feel that it is a good read. If you can last through the murder, depressing sorrow, the lack of continuity, and some of the more disturbing scenes, you will receive a massive reward at the end.
+ The end is very rewarding
+ Most characters are well thought out and realistic
+ You can actually feel the sorrow that the Salmons experience
- Lack of continuity
- Some parts of the book are very unrealistic or disturbing
- Feels as though the author ran out of plot threads after the first half of the book
Rating: 6/10
