Lovely Bones, a Review

The Lovely Bones

Young adults will be immediately drawn into Susie Salmon’s world, or rather, heaven, with the second sentence: “I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.” Immediately, the reader knows that Susie is dead and in Chapter One we see and feel her murder. The description is vivid and all too real, but the reader must feel it in order to be drawn into the story.
Sebold’s gift here is not in the imaginative plot of the story, but rather in the narration. Told in first person, Susie becomes an omniscient narrator from her interim heaven where she awaits her killer’s justice. She follows her family through it’s initial search, then grief, and finally, through its demise. She learns, despite her eternal age, to grow and to understand how the world exists without her in it.
Thankfully, Sebold gives us a happy-ending wherein Susie is granted a miracle and in turn is able to finally break her hold on Earth and her family. The story, despite its grim conflict, is touching, funny, and inspiring.