On the bookshelf, #4

The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold

One of the critics who reviewed this book called it “Savagely beautiful…strange and compelling”. Well, that pretty much sums things up.

This is the story of Susie, who at the age of 14 is raped and murdered by a man who lived in her neighborhood. Susie is the narrator for this book, and through her eyes we witness her tragic death and the subsequent unraveling of her family as they learn to live with the reality of her loss.

The book may bother some because nothing is neatly wrapped up in the end. Susie’s murderer is never brought to justice, her body is never recovered, and we aren’t led to the normal storybook happy ending. However, as another reviewer noted, it gives us a very remote idea of the level of frustration and desperation families in this situation must feel. To lose a child and never really know what happened…to never have closure, even if that closure confirms the worst fears…that is an ache that would surely never cease.

The most enjoyable aspect of the book for me was the concept of Susie’s heaven. I always imagined heaven to be a “place”, like Detroit or somewhere, where everyone ends up and just has to find a way to adjust and fit in. Not so, in this book. The author described a personal heaven, where everyone lives pretty much on their own with their own favorite, beloved things around them. However, the deceased are able to find and visit others they loved or had some tie to on earth (at one point, Susie met the other girls and women her killer had murdered) so it wasn’t lonely or desolate by any means. And it was much more appealing than one generic heaven (and Detroit for that matter), like I had in my head.

Susie was able to watch people on earth, like someone watching a movie with no ending. She could follow them through their day and send them thoughts of encouragement or comfort when needed. I won’t delve into all the details of the book (or what’s the point in reading it?) but it was strangely comforting to think of deceased loved ones looking after us that way. I’ve always had a theory that if you think of someone who has passed on, you are inviting them into your life at that moment. So whenever I visit someplace new or attend some event that I know my Grandmother would have loved, I try to remember to think of her so she can share in it too. I’m not sure where I picked up that belief, but it was intriguing to see something similar in the novel.

Yes. This story was savagely beautiful. I couldn’t have said it better myself.