The Lovely Bones

Alice Sebold's haunting and heartbreaking debut novel, The Lovely Bones, unfolds from heaven, where "life is a perpetual yesterday" and where Susie narrates and keeps watch over her grieving family and friends, as well as her brazen killer and the sad detective working on her case. As Sebold fashions it, everyone has his or her own version of heaven. Susie's resembles the athletic fields and landscape of a suburban high school: a heaven of her "simplest dreams," where "there were no teachers.... We never had to go inside except for art class.... The boys did not pinch our backsides or tell us we smelled; our textbooks were Seventeen and Glamour and Vogue."

The Lovely Bones works as an odd yet affecting coming-of-age story. Susie struggles to accept her death while still clinging to the lost world of the living, following her family's dramas over the years like an episode of My So-Called Afterlife. Her family disintegrates in their grief: her father becomes determined to find her killer, her mother withdraws, her little brother Buckley attempts to make sense of the new hole in his family, and her younger sister Lindsey moves through the milestone events of her teenage and young adult years with Susie riding spiritual shotgun. Random acts and missed opportunities run throughout the book--Susie recalls her sole kiss with a boy on Earth as "like an accident--a beautiful gasoline rainbow." Though sentimental at times, The Lovely Bones is a moving exploration of loss and mourning that ultimately puts its faith in the living and that is made even more powerful by a cast of convincing characters. Sebold orchestrates a big finish, and though things tend to wrap up a little too well for everyone in the end, one can only imagine (or hope) that heaven is indeed a place filled with such happy endings. --Brad Thomas Parsons

Product Description
On her way home from school on a snowy December day in 1973, 14-year-old Susie Salmon ("like the fish") is lured into a makeshift underground den in a cornfield and brutally raped and murdered, the latest victim of a serial killer--the man she knew as her neighbor, Mr. Harvey. Alice Sebold's haunting and heartbreaking debut novel, The Lovely Bones, unfolds from heaven, where "life is a perpetual yesterday" and where Susie narrates and keeps watch over her grieving family and friends, as well as her brazen killer and the sad detective working on her case. As Sebold fashions it, everyone has his or her own version of heaven. Susie's resembles the athletic fields and landscape of a suburban high school: a heaven of her "simplest dreams," where "there were no teachers.... We never had to go inside except for art class.... The boys did not pinch our backsides or tell us we smelled; our textbooks were Seventeen and Glamour and Vogue." The Lovely Bones works as an odd yet affecting coming-of-age story. Susie struggles to accept her death while still clinging to the lost world of the living, following her family's dramas over the years like an episode of My So-Called Afterlife.Her family disintegrates in their grief: her father becomes determined to find her killer, her mother withdraws, her little brother Buckley attempts to make sense of the new hole in his family, and her younger sister Lindsey moves through the milestone events of her teenage and young adult years with Susie riding spiritual shotgun. Random acts and missed opportunities run throughout the book--Susie recalls her sole kiss with a boy on Earth as "like an accident--a beautiful gasoline rainbow." Though sentimental at times, The Lovely Bones is a moving exploration of loss and mourning that ultimately puts its faith in the living and that is made even more powerful by a cast of convincing characters. Sebold orchestrates a big finish, and though things tend to wrap up a little too well for everyone in the end, one can only imagine (or hope) that heaven is indeed a place filled with such happy endings. --Brad Thomas Parsons

Initally, that did not sound like a story I wanted to read. Too dark, possibly too sentimental for this middle-aged, male reader. Plus, I thought, we know who did it right at the top, so how interesting could this story be? Regardless, I bought the book because (1) of the unanimously strong reviews I had read, and (2) I was delayed at an airport and was desperate for a book to read.

Well, surprise. From the first page, I couldn't put the book down. An absolute page-turner. It's a winning mixture of true crime, coming-of-age story, fantasy, family drama and ghost story. And, for me, it was spiritually provocative, giving me pause regarding my notions of life, death and afterlife.

And all exquisitely told by Sebold. One reviewer called this a "miraculous" book. I agree. Another reviewer advised that, "if you read only one book this summer, this is the one to read." I agree heartily with that, too. Buy it, read it, savor every word.


This book took my breath away   June 27, 2002
17 out of 17 found this review helpful

Susie Salmon, a 14 year old victim of a serial killer narrates her tale from heaven in one of the most imaginative tales I ever read. She spends much of her time exploring the nature of heaven, though paradoxically, her true idea of heaven is just to be alive with her family and be able to grow up.

The dead girl is constantly trying to communicate with her family and friends and to monitor their progress through life. She also wants to lead them to her killer. Interestingly, only those who are outsiders in life are able to understand Susie's missives, which is perhaps not surprising, since Susie herself is the ultimate outsider.

To me, the most poignant chapter in the book describes a meeting of all the little girls currently in heaven who were murdered by this man, trying to heal themselves and each other. Ultimately they succeed, and the book ends Susie's invective to those on earth: "I wish you a long and happy life."


Couldn't put it down   June 28, 2002
16 out of 16 found this review helpful

I LOVED this book! Unlike the previous reviewer, I didn't really pay attention to the pre-release publicity so I had no expectations going in. I thought this was one of the most cleverly written books I'd read in a very long time. I loved the narrator's perspective of her family and friends and the all-too-human characters, but I was truly blown away by Sebold's ability to convey the essence of a 14 year old girl. It was perfectly imperfect - at times whining, at others introspective, occasionally self-centered. The story is at once horrific and sad and humorous and tense; Susie's perspective of her parents' marriage, her sister's relationships and her own killer made me feel like I truly knew these people as she had. The fact that she is forever 14, physically and emotionally is emphasized so subtly by her voyer's view of those she left behind. The Lovely Bones is a winner.


An excellent book, but definitely not for everyone   September 1, 2002
35 out of 40 found this review helpful

A random savage act of violence literally eviscerates 14 year old Suzie (last name Salmon, like the fish) from her family, her friends, and her life in our world. When we first meet her in the opening of The Lovely Bones, she is putting herself back together in her afterlife. As she relates her story to us, she watches her family and friends cope with her disappearance and the aftermath in the days, weeks months and years after, she struggles to make sense of what life and death is.

This was not easy to read: its not a romance, she's really dead, the afterlife is where she's at (there's no happy ending for Suzie). In fact, Suzie pointedly says more than once that her afterlife is not everyones, that it is HER mind's imaginings of what her Heaven should be, with junctures of several like-minded individuals. It could have been named the 'Lonely Bones', because its themes are of loss, of loneliness, and ultimately, learning to live with yourself- however you are. It shows how separating life and loneliness is to humans (even to the dead), and how raw it can be as over time, even as you become used to it.

Alice Sebold has written a piece of fiction that drew me in, wrapped me up in it, and now, I think I'm probably not going to sleep well for a few days. For what its worth, I think its particularly interesting that I enjoyed and really delved into this book, given that I am atheist, do not believe in an afterlife, and ordinarily chuckle at stories involving "ghosts". This is definitely one of the best books I've read in a long time. The prose is literate, the imagery vivid and the characters are well defined. The story's purpose is finally revealed at the end. Some may find it dissatisfying, not understanding its underlying meaning.