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This is one of those months where I was insanely excited about the prompt for Collaboreads. I remember seeing the hard copy of this book when we packed up the house in October and thinking that I wanted to read it again soon. That was before I realized Josh would hold all of my worldly possessions hostage in the pod or I would have saved a stack of books to read over the next few months. As it stands, I used an extra Audible credit to download the audio version and only later realized that Alice Sebold herself, reads the novel. That, my friends, is what we call a happy accident.
I read this shortly after its debut in 2004 and during a time when contemporary fiction wasn’t the norm for me. I was mostly reading fiction from my church library or ridiculously cheesy romance novels, but work travel forced me to pick up a few books to keep me busy and I fell in love with many authors I had never heard of before. I didn’t have children when I read this the first time, so no matter how heartbreaking it was, I couldn’t quite relate. Listening to it, this time around, was considerably more difficult.
According to Amazon, The Lovely Bones is a story about “14-year-old Susie Salmon, [who] is already in heaven. This was before milk carton photos and public service announcements, she tells us; back in 1973, when Susie mysteriously disappeared, people still believed these things didn’t happen. In the sweet, untroubled voice of a precocious teenage girl, Susie relates the awful events of her death and her own adjustment to the strange new place she finds herself. It looks a lot like her school playground, with the good kind of swing sets. With love, longing, and a growing understanding, Susie watches her family as they cope with their grief, her father embarks on a search for the killer, her sister undertakes a feat of amazing daring, her little brother builds a fort in her honor and begin the difficult process of healing. In the hands of a brilliant novelist, this story of seemingly unbearable tragedy is transformed into a suspenseful and touching story about family, memory, love, heaven, and living.”
RIVETING.
What part of the book could you NOT get enough of? Is this where I tell you there isn’t any part of this book that I could get enough of? Hearing the story from Susie’s perspective is such a great chance of pace. There is a single narrator and she’s pretty darn reliable given that the thing happened to her and she’s able to follow along with the aftermath in real time. Although she doesn’t know the whole story from the very beginning, she does come to know all of the details — even those that have happened outside her presence. I adored walking alongside her as she watched her story unfold.
ELEMENTS.
How did you relate to/care for the characters? Susie is the perfect storyteller. I loved the approach she used to different aspects of the story, I loved hearing her describe this vast cast of characters from her perspective and I loved seeing how their stories all overlapped and intertwined. I could relate so much to both of her parents and the way they handled this tragedy, even though the ways they coped drove a wedge into their relationship. I found it very interesting to follow how her siblings dealt with the loss of their sister and later dealt with the loss of what they expected from their family. The grandmother was one of my very favorite characters, I think I loved the father even more after having seen the movie (hello, Mark Wahlberg), and as much as I hated George Harvey, I found his story so intriguing to follow. There is a thread of supernatural storytelling that reappears throughout the book and makes a strong appearance near the end, but as unbelievable as all of that was, I thought it was a great way to resolve the story between the living and the dead.
ASSOCIATE.
What other books are like this one? If none, did it remind you of a particular TV or movie with it’s themes and characters? Does it serendipitously line-up with things going on in your life or the news right now? I’m honestly not sure if I’ve ever read a book told from the perspective of someone who’s already dead. It’s an interesting concept and although I’m sure there are similar books, they just aren’t on my radar?!
DESIGN.
You know you judged this book by the cover. What did you think of it? How did it relate to the contents of the novel? And the font and layout of the pages? You guys know I’m a huge fan of well done audiobooks and this was a winner, as far as I was concerned. I’ve said before that I love it when an author reads their own work, but this is the first time I’ve listened to a novel where that happened. More often than not, authors are reading non-fiction selections and novels are left to book actors. Sebold has a great voice that is just interesting enough to keep me listening, but not too cartoony or character specific (does that even make sense?!). I hated that the audio version used the movie poster instead of the cover art and since my book is still packed up somewhere, I was forced to scavenge on the internet. I loved this more artistic version so much!
STARS.
How many out of five do you give this book? I give this book a solid four out of five. I’m not sure I would call it one of my favorite books ever, but it is really, really good. Well written, well developed characters and slightly untraditional.
Thanks to Rachel & Amber for hosting us again this month. I love this virtual book club so much and I can’t wait to choose a new book for the new year!
