Lovely Bones

Lovely Bones
Alice Sebold
40 pages of 328 pages
Graphic Fiction Novel

Quote from the book: “Nothing is never certain.” This quote is mentioned throughout the book. The police officers say it to the parents of Susie Salmon, the girl that got murdered, when they find her elbow and her school textbook. Susie Salmon’s father says it to her mother, and that is what Susie Salmon’s family holds on to, until it is proven that Susie got murdered. Because this book is a lot about death and dying, this quote really suites the book, because nothing is certain when you die. No one knows what happens when your heart stops beating, although people have their theories.

What happened until now: Susie Salmon, a fourteen year old girl, was walking through a corn field on her way from school back home. It was snowing and really cold, and when Mr. Harvey, the guy who lived next to the cornfield, asks her if she wants to see the cave he built, she gladly accepts the offer. What she doesn’t know, is that she will never leave the cave alive again. Mr. Harvey rapes her, and brutally murders her after, by cutting off limb by limb. A dog from a neighbor finds her elbow, and that’s when the investigation around her murder begins. Susie can watch everything from her heaven, where she had everything she desired, except her friends and her family. Susie sees how Mr. Harvey gets rid of her body, but how he leaves a mark on the garage floor, because her blood is leaking out of the cloth bag; she sees how her sister and her family hold on to the thought that “nothing is certain”, because her body wasn’t found, and how they mourn over her, and how they slowly try to get rid of things that remind them of her.            
While on earth the investigation doesn’t move forward a lot, Susie discovers more and more things about her heaven. There is a school, that only teaches art, music and cooking, and there are dogs everywhere. There is always a scent in the air, smelling like a skunk, because Susie liked that smell on earth. She found a friend in heaven, and there is an older woman who cares for them. If she wants anything, she just has to think of it and she will get it, except bring her back to life or make her be able to talk with her family.

This book is very interesting so far, and I know that it has a graphic ending, although I don’t really see how, because the bad thing, her murder, already happened. There is a movie about this book too, and I would love to see it because the book sounds so great already, so the movie should be great too. Thumps up!