A Truly Lovely Tale

So I finished "The Lovely Bones" and while I know I came very late to the party with this, I am so glad that I made the time to read this book.

Alice Sebold wove an amazingly riveting and captivating story from what most would think an impossible start - the rape and murder of Susie Salmon (like the fish). As a parent, the first chapter was intensely hard to read. As I got past that and into the story of Susie's life and afterlife I found myself wanting the same things that she did. Through Susie I was able to experience vicariously (just like Susie does) the thrill of first love (with Ray) and the intenseness of true love (Samuel and Lindsey). Feelings as strong as these are sometimes hard to describe in words yet Ms Sebold has crafted these emotions my in such that was not overly sappy nor preposterous.

The pain of the loss that Jack is unable to deal with is completely believable. I am never sure how a parent copes with the loss of child, especially in such a violent way. Jack's pain is evident in every move that he makes. How does one deal with the death of one child and the participation in the lives of the other two? One of my favorite passages in the book was when Jack helped Lindsey shave her legs the first time. Every single parental emotion is evidenced in the span of a couple of pages. I had to stop reading and just go with the tears that flowed for about 30 minutes.

Abigail's struggle is one that is again easy to understand and to relate to. Before Susie's death, Abigail was questioning her place in the world and trying to carve out an identity apart from being a mom. As a mom, I struggle with that every day as I think that all moms do. So the idea that Abigail would retreat from her family, look for comfort with Len and then just bolt is believable and quite frankly expected given the already fragile state she was in. In many ways Abigail does what so many moms might secretly want to do but never will.

I do wish that some of the peripheral characters had been developed a bit more. I felt as though the author got started with the development of Ray, Ruth, Mrs Ruana and others but then all of a sudden she dropped the ball. Especially Ruth. Ruth experienced the pain of Susie's death by accident and by no fault of her own except by being in the wrong (or right?) place at the wrong time. It opened a part of her soul to the reader that we were able to see for a bit but then it seemed like that was forgotten til almost the end of the book when her presence was needed again. The other complete miss is Buckley. Ms Sebold treated Buckley as so many younger children are treated in families every day - an afterthought and often forgotten. Thank goodness for Grandma Lynn or else Buck would have been left in the dust.

All in all, I enjoyed the time that I spent with these characters and even though I know that it will not be anywhere near as good, I will probably see the movie too just for the chance to be able to spend some time with them again.

Next up for me? I have two Kristen Hannah books and Nanny Returns on the top of the pile from Christmas. I think a trip down memory lane with Nanny and Mrs X awaits............