"My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6 1973. My murderer was a man from our neighbourhood."Watching from her place in heaven, Susie Salmon sees her suburban family devastated by her death, isolated even from one another as they try to cope with their terrible loss alone. Over the years, her friends and siblings grow up, fall in love, do all the things she never had the chance to do herself. But life is not quite finished with Susie yet...
Pre Read Thoughts
I first heard about this book when they advertised the film on television. My mum decided to buy the book and once she'd read it, I stole, I mean borrowed it from her. I tried to read it a while ago but I didn't have the concentration for it but now I'm going to try it again. As I have borrowed this I paid absolutely nothing but my mum paid £7.99 which is the average price for a book of its size and format. The edition I have has the cover that ties in with the movie and I personally prefer it to the other cover. It gives a really creepy vibe of Susie walking towards her death.
Post Read Thoughts
The Lovely Bones is a thought provoking but difficult to read novel. The picture it paints isn't a pretty one and I really had to work hard to stay with the book. I found the pace to be quite slow and the reason of the book didn't become apparent to me until the final pages. Saying that though I enjoyed Alice Sebold's way of writing, some of her descriptions of heaven blew me away.
I felt that there were too many characters that weren't integral to the plot. Ruana and Len are two of those characters, they just stand on the sidelines waiting to be given a role that matters and it never arrives. Even those that did matter like Jack and Lindsey felt too far away for me to truly know what they're feeling, I was always slightly too far away to feel their pain. The only time I truly felt anything was during Susie's murder and I think that's because it's the last true emotion from Susie. As far as the quality of the character's is concerned, writing this book from Susie's POV was a mistake.
Overall The Lovely Bones doesn't live up to the hype for me. While I was reading the book my mum kept popping her head around my bedroom door and asking me if I liked it and every time I said I didn't adore it she looked a little sadder. The point I'm trying to make is that my mum is one of those people who got reaaly excited over this book. I liked the writing but I think it's becoming increasingly obvious that I can't truly love a book where I feel distanced from the characters. I can't believe I'm writing this but I think I prefer the film.
My Rating
3 stars - I liked the writing but little else. I will say that the premise is interesting and I'd love to see other authors try something similar. I'm not sure I'd recommend this but my mum definitely does.
A Final Note
There's swearing, rape and murder in this one. I've seen people label this as YA but I wouldn't give this to a teenager.
I want to thank my mum for lending me the book and to say that I'll give it back once Mischief has got off it.
A couple of blog developments that I'd like to point out are that I'm now on Twitter: my twitter name is @ShadowsIReview if you're interested in following and that I'm hosting my first ever giveaway!
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4 comments:
This was definitely a difficult book to read. The story was just haunting and depressing. I think it was on my mind the entire week after I read it. I couldn't shake it off. I have a copy of the film laying around, but haven't had the guts to watch it!
This one I wasn't a big fan of. I agree that the writing style was good, but not much else. I think the problem for me was that I went into it thinking she was helping her dad solve her murder from beyond the grave and I thought that was a cool concept. But, it just kind of seemed to linger and nothing really happened.
I also could have done without the way too detailed (in my opinion) rape scene. If she had cut away I think it would have been just as effective (we would have concluded what happened) but a lot less disturbing.
Nice review! :]
♥ Sarah @ I'm Loving Books
@Book Crook Liza I know what you mean. It's such a heavy book, I was really lucky that the next book on my pile was a light read because it took my mind off the story but it really does stay with you.
I saw the film before the book and I preferred it but that's because I watched it first. People who read the book first, like my mum, actually say that the book's better.
Char =)
@Sarah I know what you mean, I would have loved for that to have been the case. It would've added a whole new level to the book that would have made it magical.
I get what you mean, the rape scene was pretty graphic, I hated it, the emotion from it, the fear, knocked me sock and then to be so detached for the rest of the novel, it was weird.
Thank you so much.
Char =)
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