The Lovely Bones

by Alice Sebold

Reviewed by Coral

Susie Salmon is a normal 14-year-old girl. She has a father, mother, younger siblings, friends, and even her very first crush, with whom she shares her very first kiss. And then she is murdered.

From Heaven, Susie watches the world pass below her. She sees her family pull itself apart and try to rebuild themselves after her murder. She witnesses how her death affects a classmate that she wasn't even that close with when alive. And she waits for her murderer to be brought to justice.

This was another book that I was interested in reading after I saw previews for the movie (though, oddly enough, like the others, I haven't actually seen this movie).

I enjoyed the book, for the most part, but I did have a couple of problems with it.

I didn't really enjoy the shifting time periods (where Susie is watching her family in the present then she's thinking back to something years ago). It makes sense for the style of the book, but I found it annoying after a while.

A lot of time is spent on the period right after Susie's death, which also makes sense, but then I felt the story was a little too rushed as it moved farther into the future.

There was a part near the end that was a little too Izzy/Denny from Grey's Anatomy Season 5.

It was a little weird that Susie didn't meet (or spend more time with) more family members up in Heaven. If I remember right, there was only a small part in one chapter about a run-in she had with a deceased grand-parent.

I wished there could have been a more fitting ending for Mr. Harvey.

Overall, it was an interesting concept that I would have liked to see explored in a little bit more depth. There was just something missing to make it an amazing story.

Grade: B