It was in high school that I was assigned this depressing, yet educational novel by Alice Sebold.  My task for the book project was simple; gather information from the main narrative about how different individuals deal with loss.  Using the charted out five stages of grief as a reference, I scanned Alice Sebold's well known novel for the psychological aspects I was tasked to find.  While finding the psychological aspects of the novel, I was surprised to see myself getting engaged into the narratives, getting emotionally attached to the Salmon family in the process.  By the book's end, not only did I have a vast amount of content for my report, but I now knew I had read a special type of book that needed to be talked about.

  That was back when I was sixteen in high school and only just getting the craft of analyzing books down at a mediocre level.  Now that I am twenty-one and have gotten the analysis aspect of reading down, how do I feel about The Lovely Bones now?  To tell the truth, I find myself even more attached to the novel now that I have had more life experiences to connect me further with the main characters.

  Sebold's novel The Lovely Bones is about two ongoing narratives.  The first is of the fourteen year old Susie Salmon, who has to come to terms with an untimely death.  In her version of paradise, she struggles to let go of her family still on Earth, constantly viewing their everyday lives to feel as if she is in a way more with them.  Despite being dead, Susie still goes through the well known five stages of grief, slowly but surely coming to terms with what happened.  In order to truly enjoy the afterlife, Susie has to let go of her Earthly connections.  However, doing that for Susie is easier said than done.

  The second narrative involves the surviving members of the Salmon family.  Slowly coming to terms that Susie will never return home, they go through grief in differing ways that fits each of their characters.  Susie's father Jack Salmon focuses intently on getting revenge on the person that took Susie's life, becoming consumed by the anger and pain these growing feelings give him.  Abigail Salmon, Susie's mother, tries to find escapism from the grief, making rash choices that badly affects her relationship with the surviving parts of her family.  Susie's sister, Lindsey Salmon, has become from the tragedy a constant reminder of Susie's departure, now being the sole sister alive in the family.  This new position puts intense pressure on Lindsey, whose only escape is in the love she feels towards the loyal Samuel Heckler.  Finally, there is Susie's little brother Buckley Salmon, who is forced into a position of responsibility he didn't want as things unravel back home, growing up way too soon.  Every member of Susie's family reacts differently to the grief, becoming stronger in the process as the years start to tick by.

  These two main narratives in The Lovely Bones is what in my opinion gives this book some real meat.  The story gives the audience a very realistic glance at the grieving process, and the reactions that follow a tragic event such as Susie's.  However, the novel is solely not focused on this depressing subject.  It is about coming through the hardest of times as a family, and slowly finding lost hope.  Though there are parts of this book hard to read from the realism of the darkness surrounding the main conflict, it is not a depressing crying festival throughout the story.  Characters grow and evolve, just like in any other novel.

  I am not going to say that the book is perfect though.  Throughout the second half of The Lovely Bones, there is this strong feeling of certain plot points being dragged out just to make the book a little bit longer.  Though the material is still interesting to read, it becomes more like a sappy TV drama, and resolves some of the story arcs for the characters a bit too smoothly.  This is especially true in the case of Susie Salmon's ghost, who for no explainable reason at all gets to live in the body of her former classmate Ruth Conners for a day.  Instead of using this time to talk to her family one last time, Susie decides to use it to reconnect with her high school crush Ray Singh.  Although the moment is sweet, it is kind of questionable as to why Susie got this random chance to return to Earth while many other spirits with more unfinished business might have been better candidates.  It is a flaw to the novel that can be overlooked, but one that I personally do not like that much as an experienced reader.

  Despite the flawed pacing of the second half, I still highly recommend reading The Lovely Bones for yourself.  Alice Sebold is a master at depicting the deep emotions all of the characters are experiencing, as if she had gone through something similar herself.  It is a memorable read that might need some tissues on the side in case of some of the harder to read emotional scenes.

  As for the movie adaptation of the novel, avoid it at all costs.  The movie does little justice to the novel, and does not even have half the heart behind it.  It is a movie made purely to profit from the iconic book.