The Lovely Bones...Maybe not for me

Title: The Lovely Bones

Author: Alice Sebold

ISBN: 978-0-330-45772-9

Rating: 7/10

Genre: Fantasy, Drama

"These were the lovely bones that had grown around my absence: the connections - sometimes tenuous, sometimes made at great cost, but often magnificent - that happened after I was gone. And I began to see things in a way that let me hold the world without me in it. The events that my death wrought were merely the bones of a body that would become whole at some unpredictable time in the future. The price of what I came to see as this miraculous body had been my life." 

I started to read this book in April. I had been looking forward to reading this book for a long time as I had heard great things about both the book and the film. I had not seen the film and a number of my friends have read the book. I have had this book on my shelf for a number of years and I had high hopes for it.
Susie is a 14 year old girl who was murdered on 6th December 1973. She was walking home from school when an unusual, peculiar man, George Harvey, who lives in her estate, takes her into a cornfield and into an underground bunker which he has created for the evil crime he is due to commit. Susie is a polite, innocent and slightly naive typical teenager. She is unsure about her appearance, has low confidence and is at the awkward stage of experiencing her first kiss with Ray Singh. 

There were many opportunities for the horrifying, sickening crimes George Harvey carries out to be identified, however Alice Sebold chooses to not permit these chances and provide Susie's family with the answers to the many questions they have been asking about her death. What happened in that Cornfield? Why has Mr Harvey disappeared? Why was Susie's hat found but not her body? Where is Susie's body? A prime moment for all of these questions to be answered was when Susie enters the body of Ruth, her classmate who has taken it upon herself to help Ray discuss and come to terms with the loss of his young love. Susie's spirit enters the body of Ruth for a short period of time when Ruth and Ray are in their early 20s. I would have hoped for Susie's family to be relieved of the turmoil they have experienced the past years. Specifically her father who becomes obsessed with finding the evidence which would find Harvey guilty. Sadly, this was something which her family will never experience. They will never be given the satisfaction of knowing why their daughter, granddaughter and sister was brutally raped and murdered with only an arm returned by a neighbour dog to show of her demise. 

Although I had heard good things about this book I could not find myself becoming interested in it until the last third of the story. There was large sections which did not enthral me in the story and it was the last 100 pages where I started to enjoy the story. Where I started to want to catch George Harvey for the evil crimes he has committed. I wanted Susie's mother to realise her selfish ways and apologise to her father and allow him to continue with his life. However, Sebold did not allow this to happen and the Salmon family were never to gain the answers to the disappearance of Susie.

Overall, yes I would recommend this book to a friend. I probably would not read it again, however, due to the reviews I have heard from friends it may not be my type of book. I felt the way Sebold handled the story line of Susie's rape and murder was very sensitive to the delicate issues at hand, however, I also felt there was too much time discussing aspects of the story which were not necessary.

Rating: 7/10

10 word review: Moving, thoughtful and meaningful, however not a book for me.

My next review will be of a book which I have been requested to review. Kitty Hawk and the Mystery of the Masterpieces is by Iain Reading. I have not heard of the author or the story, however I am looking forward to it and I am hoping to become a lover of the book and the author.

Again thanks for reading my blog, I hope you enjoy it as I have now, finally, got the time to read and write my reviews again. Any comments and recommendations of books and authors would be greatly appreciated... Steph xx