The Lovely Bones
(Alice Sebold)
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold is a frightful mystery told by a 14 year old girl who was murdered. Yes, she is dead and narrating a novel. But the narrative is eerily believable.
At the novel?s outset she tells the reader how it happened, her murder. We also learn how she tries to help the police and her family members, from the other side. The reader learns about Mr. Harvey, the perpetrator, and what kind of man would abduct a girl and murder her. But that is not what is so intriguing about this novel, it is the way the author shows how intertwined are people?s lives. How the life of one fourteen year old could effect the lives of so many people.
When the reader first meets the narrator, Susie Salmon, she is already in heaven. Through her watchful eyes from heaven, we meet many characters in her small northeastern community. She watches her family in a loving way and she watches the police in their clumsy attempts to find her murderer. We meet her friends and classmates at Fairfax High and we learn about Susie?s compassion for them and their everyday struggles. We also learn about Susie and what she is learning about heaven.
Since Susie is dead she can know the thoughts of all the characters, unlike a typical first person narrative, who only knows what is inside of themselves. This interesting point of view yields surprising results. We feel the intimacy of a first person narrative form and, at the same time, the objectivity of an omniscent point of view. But can the author pull it off ? Yes, she can. Alice Sebold?s The Lovely Bones is so compelling and, at the same time, educated the reader on grief, the process of grieving for the dead. We also come to understand how intimately we all touch other?s lives in our day-to-day simple ways. The Lovely Bones is not a cautionary tale, but is full of hope about life. When we read it, we are grateful to be alive and to be touching so many people?s lives, in so many intricate ways.
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