Review of The Lovely Bones
I have added an extract from a review of The Lovely Bones from Bookreporter.com. The review writer is Joe Hartlaub.
THE LOVELY BONES is a haunting work as well, but in the literal sense of the word - for the narrator of THE LOVELY BONES is a 14-year-old girl murdered during the commission of an unspeakable act committed by a quiet, monstrous man of such vileness that the reader wants nothing other than to reach into the pages of the book, grab him, and rip his face off. The victim, Susie Salmon (”like the fish,” as she tells us early on), relates her fate with a poetic matter-of-factness; she is at peace as she narrates, from her heaven, an account of what happened before and after her death as well as the repercussions of her death upon her family. What she wants is that her family achieve peace and that her murderer encounter justice.
What is most striking in THE LOVELY BONES, however, is Susie’s description of heaven, a place of many things to many souls. Some of the places intersect in spots, some do not. One has only to wish for a good reason for something in order to acquire it. When Jesus Christ said “My Father’s room has many mansions” He was talking about Susie’s heaven. Susie is able to witness events on Earth without the limitations imposed by time and space, and can thus witness her family, friends, and murderer, and know what they are thinking and doing. Sebold’s writing is masterful - no, it’s incredible. Although Susie’s voice never manifests itself beyond a quiet peacefulness, her tale of what has gone before and what is to be excites a passionate desire to know what is to happen to those left behind. Susie’s subtle delight in her burgeoning ability to influence things on this side of the shade raises hope that she will be able to fully realise her desire to bring peace to her family, who seem irrevocably fractured as the trauma of her sudden, senseless disappearance and passing lays fatal stress on already fractured relationships. It is, in the end, a false hope; but things have a way of working out in the end for how they are supposed to be, and they work out without Susie’s assistance. Well, that’s not quite right. Maybe she does help a bit.
Sebold’s bag of talents is large enough and complete enough that THE LOVELY BONES never even approaches the maudlin; readers, however, will be moved to tears several times during their encounter with this work. That Sebold is able to elicit sorrow, righteous anger, regret, and ultimately, hope through a narrative of events in a voice rarely raised above a peaceful whisper is a statement to the level of her artistry. If she never writes another word she will be known for decades for this work.
Leave a Reply