reading & read | cmr

The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold

I've had this book on my shelves (or in my boxes) for well over a year yet each time I considered reading it, something said to me, "Sappy. Skip it for now." I'm not going to launch into an exciting dance-theme of "Boy, was I EVER wrong!" - because though it was not sappy, it wasn't a killer of a novel either. Perhaps I'm too harsh; a co-worker of mine, who also read the book, noted that she cried. I may be the next Hitler, who knows, but all I really wanted to know was: when are they gonna catch the bastard?

The back cover explains that the novel teaches about forgiveness. I had a hard time relating. Though I could see that theme played out in the personal relationships of the family, I could not help but wish and wish the guy who caused the whole novel get shot in the head by the little brother.

Here's the jist: The Lovely Bones is a novel told by the perspective of a young girl, only 14, who is raped and murdered in what can be called, for all intents and purposes, her own backyard. She is in heaven (not a typical heaven with clouds, togas and angels) watching the world unfold after her death. She watches her father, mother, sister and brother, her high school crush, classmates she never talked to, and her killer...

The familial relationships - the characters, the ties, the essence and personality of each of them - were exceptionally related (here, I wish I could define a new word: shewn. It has no meaning as of yet, but I feel it should mean "expressed; shown; displayed; all "show and not tell" -ed). In reading, I felt for the worn mother who loses feeling in her limbs and wants to run away and abandon all she's ever known if only to never have it taken away; her father, who knows in the very first week who it was that killed her - and nobody believes him; the sister who is left with the ghost of her dead sister written all over her face; the brother who asks daily "Where is she?" - these characters were so well placed; so well loved; and so well lived in the novel, I wonder if they were representations of Alice's own childhood.

I would recommend you take the time to read it if only for the characterization. I never am one to suggest it teaches a life lesson; after all, I didn't cry.

posted by christen roberts @ 8:42 AM