The Lovely Bones... by Alice Sebold

This is one of those books that has been on my shelf for years - literally years. I bought this when the movie with Saoirse Ronan and its been on my to-read list ever since! Recently, as I said on here, I've been wanting to expand on the genres that I've been reading and after reading Sister by Rosamund Lupton (review here) I gave The Lovely Bones a go!

Here's what the blurb says:

'My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973. My murderer was a man from our neighbourhood'.

Watching from her place in heaven, Susie Salmon sees her suburban family devastated by her death, isolated even from one another as they each try to cope with their terrible loss alone. Over the years, her friends and siblings group up, fall in love, do all the things she never had the chance to do herself. But life is not quite finished with Susie yet...

Here's what I thought:

Having already seen the movie adaptation of this story, there weren't really any major surprises for me. However, that doesn't mean that I enjoyed it any less - if anything, I liked being more inside Susie's head than the film allows.

One of my favourite parts about the book is that you get to know Susie's family a whole lot more. I really liked how her dad and sister, Lindsay, were characterised, I felt connected to them and completely empathised with their grief - which in my eyes, shows how great Sebold's writing is. Having the opportunity to live with them through their struggles, there was a lot more understanding for their actions and why they did the things they did.

Like most book-to-movie adaptions, a lot of details get lost or overlooked, which is why I enjoyed this book so much. Obviously, I already knew the outcome and the person who killed Susie, but throughout the development of this story you learn so much more about George Harvey than a film can show. The fact that there were multiple murders of young girls prior to Susie was lost on me while watching the movie, and it really is harrowing to think that there are people out there who do get away with such acts.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book but having already known the plot outcomes etc, there is a limit to the amount of surprise and excitement levels. I would, and have, recommend this story to other whether you have seen the movie or not! A well-written, heart-stopping read..

You can purchase The Lovely Bones here!

Thanks for reading, 

Orlagh

xoxo