Lovely Bones

The Lovely Bones
By Alice Sebold


      The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold takes place in a little town close Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the 1970s. A quiet and sweet girl named Susie Salmon is just starting to get into the comfort zone in her freshman year of high school. She is living a great life, being with family and friends, getting good grades in school, and having her first kiss with a boy named Ray Singh, but it turns all around when she goes into the cornfield. Susie loses everything and ends up in her dream place; heaven. Throughout this novel, Susie gets to look down and observe the actions and thoughts of her family and friends about Susie’s rape and murder. Eventually, Susie’s father, Jack Salmon figures out who the murderer is and tries to get the evidence. He and the rest of the family tries to capture the suspect and make sure this does not happen again. Meanwhile, Susie meets a girl in her heaven, named Holly. Holly and Susie explore their heaven and try to make their families know that they are alright and that are at peace.
       Alice Sebold had a way with writing this novel. She makes me feel like I am actually in the scene. She describes the sights, smells, sounds, touches and the taste in every chapter. I thought what was really important is that she shows that every character had a relationship with Susie. When Susie is dead is makes sure that every character gets to express their feelings and actions about Susie’s death. Also, this novel was not a novel where it gets boring at times. It made me want to keep reading. After finishing this book, I wanted to know more about the Sebold. I was blown away when I read on the website that Alice was raped as a young girl. What made this book so alive was that Alice could relate in her experiences with Susie’s experiences. Also in my research, I found that a movie of The Lovely Bones came out in 2009. I can not wait to start watching the movie.

      Throughout the novel, I had many favorite parts. The part when Lindsey, Susie’s sister goes into the house of George Harvey and looks for evidence that he killed Susie. George then comes home while Lindsey is in the house and sees Lindsey. She runs and eventually escapes with some evidence. This is one of my favorite parts because it really made me get off my feet and get goosebumps. This novel is very good, one of the best books I’ve ever read. I like this book because the types of books I read are crimes and murders. This was right up my alley. I highly recommend this book to anyone that is interested in reading it. Its a good and easy book to get into. 

Katie P. 364 pages.