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2005-12-07 14:47
From: JJ
(San Francisco)
a review of The lovely bones
 
Even though someone has complained the book being sentimental, I enjoyed it tremendously. “Devil is in the details.” I kept on thinking of this line as I listened to the story unfold in front of me as I drove back and forth between home and work. She describes every casual object and gesture in the most loving details. From the door knob of a child’s room, to the orange cones on a street marking the forbidden zone; from a child’s vivid consciousness flowing from keystone charm to her mom’s “dinner is ready, your brother draw a bear” calling, to the killer’s cold calculating meditation before approaching a new victim; she noticed them all and she recorded them beautifully.
The characters are all in flesh and bones, they were individuals bathed in their own personality and pet peeves. In addition, this book has the most reasonable mother character in a child-losing tragedy. Maybe because the author is also a woman, unlike John Irving (A Widow for One Year) and Robert Hellenga (The Fall of A Sparrow), she knows intuitively how a mother would go through a different kind of pain than the father.
Two moments that stood up in my momery:
1. When Lindsey was escaping from Mr. Harvey’s house: “So young, so gloriously young and agile, she stood up!” The word “Glorious” filled my heart with delight. It was also the moment as I drove past the cloudy City and entered the sunlight broken through clouds. I was so dreading something bad would happen, but instead it was Sunny, Glorious! Oh, so beautiful!
2. When Ruth willed Susie to enter her body and to be back on earth again, “I knew I was given a gift and it wouldn’t last forever, so I had to make every minute count. What should I do? I know I don’t want to ask Ray to chase after Mr. Harvey.” This sentence alone amazed me. Later in the interview, Alice Sebold said she didn’t want to make this book about revenge and retribution. I applaud her for that. It took guts to do. Because it would have been such an easy way out. What followed was just incredible and beautiful and so full of life and love. Sentimental? Maybe. But I love it.
The character that I liked the most was actually Ruth, the weird painter poet, who eventually “graduated from a real closet to a closet-sized studio” in New York City. She walked around the City documenting her sight of past murder victims. It sounded morbid and violent, but just like the rest book, the loving details made them real and soft. “Central Park. Bushes. Little girl, five or six, cotton dress, laces. Fancy.”
In the interview Sebold said she lived in New York City for ten years in her 20’s and went from job to job and often took multiple jobs to support her assorted but often even more miserable boy friends. Tried to be become a writer. Later she realized “Living in New York has made me a better New Yorker rather than a better writer!”
Despite what happened to her when she was 18 in a tunnel, her laughter was still so clear and whole-heartedly. She wanted to celebrate life and hope and love and being human. She did it in this debut novel of hers. She said the police told her later that in the same tunnel there was another girl who was raped, murdered and dismembered. She said that girl must have turned into “Susie” in her book.
The Lovely Bones is a lovely book.
This review is helpful to 4 person.
2005-12-20 14:05: JmeDoom
Wow, excellent review. I must pick up a copy now. I have often though about the phrase "the devil is in the details." That saying which means that the smallest components must work in order for the grand plan to be successful seems a bit pessimistic, like the devil in the details will be what unravels said plan. GK Chesterton took issue with that phrase to the point he said "God was in the details."
I prefer the more pessimistic version. Sorry for my rabbit trail.
Regardless, the excerpts you provided and the descriptions by the author were wonderful.
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2006-05-17 08:43: maz
I enjoyed the book immensely myself. It was engaging and thought provoking - I finished it in one sitting! I felt more sadness than anger at what happened to Susie; the author was brilliant in making sure the book wasn't about revenge. Easy and very rewarding read!
JJ, thanks for the snippets about the author!
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By Alice Sebold
Picador
ISBN: 0330485385
Release Date: 2003
Paperback
List Price: USD 16.50
 More descriptions and reviews
More reviews from JJ:
Black Cat, Damp Courtyard, Mirrors, and Writing  
The Obsession With A Blue Notebook
Chemistry, Anybody?
First Half: Excellent
All reviews (5)
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