Tolog Review: The Lovely Bones

The Lovely Bones
by Alice Sebold
reviewed by Natalia Cruz

The Lovely Bones, written by Alice Sebold, is truly a treasure in itself. The Lovely Bones is a fictional story about a young girl who got murdered, and how her family and the community learns to cope with a devastating sudden loss. Susie Salmon, a fourteen year old girl, returns home from school through a shortcut in the cornfield, not knowing her entire life was about to change when George Harvey, a sexual predator and rapist to women, killed her. Alice Sebold lets the reader into the thoughts and point of view of the dead Susie She comes to an understanding of her heaven and observes helplessly from above, watching her parents, and younger siblings, Lindsey and Buckley, cope with her sudden death, tracking their daily life. The reader can see how Susie yearns to find a way to communicate with the ones she has left, all while figuring out the life after death itself. 

As Susie slowly understands her reality of death, the police search for clues about her murderer. George Harvey is able to hide his true identity and crime by blending into the natural world of ordinary humans, surrounded by the mask of normality. We see how he is accustomed to his crimes, “He wore his innocence like a comfortable old coat.” (Sebold 26). As the police find little evidence of Susie’s body, her parents become heartbroken, their methods of coping affecting their relationship and family. 

The novel moves slowly as the Salmon family find different ways to battle against Susie’s death. Neighbors recognized the heavy cloud of depression the family developed, not one of them knowing how to deal or help with something that they never faced before in their own lives, “Our house looked the same as every other one on the block, but it was not the same. Murder had a blood red door on the other side of which was everything unimaginable to everyone.” (Sebold 206). As time passes, Mr. and Mrs. Salmon drift apart, their minds consumed elsewhere. Mrs. Salmon becomes tired from the pain of motherhood and responsibility, dreaming freedom. Her thoughts distract her from the importance of her family, causing her to commit an action that affects the entire family dramatically.

Sebold uses her special writing technique in a way that lets the reader see the point of view as a dead child. The reader has the pleasure of witnessing the development of the forever ageless fourteen year old and her understanding the simplicity of being alive and watching the world grow and develop below her, including lives of the people that she was connected with. She discovers the secrets about life itself, Sebold showing us her deepest understanding to life and death through Susie’s thoughts.

The Lovely Bones fascinated me with every chapter. I was impressed with the author’s writing technique, understanding the author’s thoughts on death and life. I strongly recommend this novel to anyone who wants to read any about the concept of life as human beings.