The Lovely Bones, by author Alice Sebold, came out in 2002 but it wasn’t until this past winter that I picked up a copy to read. I knew that a movie version of the book was due out in January 2010, and call me masochist if you will, but I am big on comparing a best-selling novel to its over-hyped theatrical offspring.
This book is one of obvious discomfort, from its very first few pages with the grisly murder of young Susie Salmon, a teenager living in a small Pennsylvania town. The feeling of dread as you follow Susie walking home from school turns quickly to revulsion as you “witness” her killing at the hands of a pedophile.
The book’s narrative is that of the young teen girl as she follows her family’s life in the aftermath of her death. Susie’s “heaven” is one of her own making - - a combination of technicolor imaginative scenes, vignettes of things that bring joy, and being ghostly present as her family members move through their day-to-day lives.
In the years following Susie’s tragic death, we see how her younger sister and brother grow up under the caption of being the dead girl’s siblings, how her father obsesses over catching Susie’s killer, and how her mother becomes distant and estranged from the family, even to the point of moving to California for a period. All the main characters are wonderfully deep and move through their existences just how you might imagine in the wake of this family trauma. Even the peripheral characters, such as Susie’s schoolmates, neighbors and her grandmother, who comes to stay with the family, are deftly created so that you really get to know each of them and feel their pain. It’s like watching a character study focus on not the primary victim – Susie – but the secondary victims and their personal torture following Susie’s death. It very much felt real. In happens countless times in countless corners throughout the world. I don’t know how families and loved ones deal with murder, but The Lovely Bones gives an enlightening, although depressing, view of the grieving process and what it might be like. Somehow the description of both the afterlife and aftermath for the characters of the story brings some peace to the heinous act in those first few pages.
Of course, I did go see the movie version. I’m usually a thumbs-down kind of person because no film ever seems to live up to the original book and my own imagination. I would call this a “draw” though. The movie starring Saoirse Ronan as Susie was surprisingly good – not an A+, but not an F either. Maybe that can be chalked up to the star presence of director Peter Jackson, worthy actors Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, and Susan Sarandon. And then there was Stanley Tucci who was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role at the 2010 Academy Awards for his portrayal of George Harvey. The hairs stood up on the back of your neck when you saw the window into his character’s predilection for preying on females.
After reading the book and being the mother of two teenage girls, I couldn’t help but go through the cautionary signs and warnings yet again with them about who to stay away from and what to avoid. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare that harm will come their child’s way. The Lovely Bones is an all too painful reminder of the world in which we live.
