Book Review: The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold

I've just finished reading this book and decided to review it. Well, this is the very first "formal" review I ever made. So...mistakes are inevitable.

-About the author-

Alice Sebold was born in Madison Winconsin and grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and
graduated from Great Valley High School Malvern, Pennsylvania in 1980. Sebold then enrolled Syracuse University. Unfortunately, she was raped while walking home one day. She reported the crime to the police, who told her that a young women had once been raped and murdered at the same location. She was lucky. This led to the existence of her first book which is also a memoir of what happened to her, Lucky. The Lovely Bones was published after Lucky.


-About the book-

Movie tie in

The story begins with the murder of Susie Salmon in 1973 during winter. She was fourteen. The age when she was about to begin her high school life while dealing with romance. But unfortunately, she was brutally raped and murdered in a wonderfully designed underground "hole" by her weird neighbor George Harvey. The story continues with Susie, now in heaven watching how her parents, siblings, friends and her murderer deal with her death. Her death eventually change their life either drifting away from each other or pulling them closer. This book illustrated perfectly how a man as a father of three child and a woman's husband was able to deal with the grief that embrace his whole family while working along with the police to look for his daughter's murderer fruitlessly. The strength of his love eventually led his wife away while tightening the bond between his two surviving child. Nevertheless, Susie follows her sister Lindsey's life from heaven watching her experiencing the things that she would never be able to experience herself anymore. Besides her family, Susie watches her crush Ray Singh as how he was accused to be the murderer and how his life goes on without her. 


This book reveals how a cruel crime that was committed due to the longing lust of a loner affected not only the victim's family but also those who meant something to her. The part I favored most while reading this book was how the strength of love of a father towards his dead daughter could stress until a point where his sixth sense identifies who the murderer was despite the lack of evidence. Not to forget the sister too. I fell in love with the sister when she tried her best to deal with the pain of losing a sister and the pressure of being shadowed by her dead sister too. This book, if you're the type that enjoys family tragedy, reality of life or even supernaturals, you might like it. But don't expect too much of horrors or thrillers from this book despite the title. 


-My Ratings-
Story : 8/10
Characters : 9/10
Plot : 9/10 [ i sort of like the way this story was plotted. it doesn't have a chronological plot. instead, it's pieces or snapshots of the livings by the dead, so it's pretty cool]
Ending : 10/10[ *spoilers* i crazily love the part where Ruth allows Susie to have her body towards the ending! awesome!]


Overall : ♥♥♥♥
This book is worth reading! My review on this book is...kinda weak...if you want to know more, check out wikisummaries! 


-Additional info-
This book has two cover:

Personally, i prefer the blue one with the charm bracelet. The other one is obviously the movie tie in.

Film adaptation: 

Director: Peter Jackson

Thanks for reading! xD

Mich