The Lovely Bones

I just finished reading The Lovely Bones today. Wow. I'm surprised I even have anything to say about this book because it has truly left me speechless. It is a moving story about loss, hope, love and the innate human need to survive. It is a story that takes a hold of your heart, and remains there long after you've read the last line and closed the cover.

Something I noticed about the characters of The Lovely Bones was the extreme interconnectedness of them. Each character seemed to be intertwined closely with that of another, yet entirely separate and individual simultaneously. I often mistook Lindsey and Samuel for Susie and Ray and I'd have to back track a little to realize exactly who I was reading about. In any other story this would probably have somewhat irritated me, but in Sebold's The Lovely Bones, it simply adds to the over all intellect of the novel. It makes it what it is, and reflects the characters as being an interwoven mesh of humanity and the relationships shared between them.

There are two specific parts to this story, that I will never forget. The first being when Susie is reunited with her dog Holiday in her Heaven. I'm not entirely sure why but this part made me tear up. The novel focuses alot on Suzie's family and how they are coping with their loss of their daughter/sister/friend but Suzie has lost everyone, so for her to be reunited with her beloved dog, who recognized her instantly when he entered Heaven, just brought tears to my eyes. The second part that I will never forget is when Susie falls from Heaven into Ruth's body to be reunited with her love, Ray Singh:

""Susie," he said, "you know I'm not like that."
My heart seized up. "What did you say?" I asked.
I focused my eyes on his through the white translucent liner Hal kept for a curtain - he was a dark shape with a hundred small pinpoints of light surrounding him.
"I said I'm not that kind."
"You called me Susie."
There was silence, and then a moment later he drew back the curtain, being careful to look only at my face. "Susie?"
"Join me," I said, my eyes welling up. "Please, join me." (The Lovely Bones,347-8).

This passage made me cry. And cry alot is what I did. I am not too sure why this had such an effect on me, although I do have a few possibilities in mind. Ray recognized Susie straight away, despite being in Ruth's body and despite the many years that had passed since Suzie's death, they both held a deep and intense love for one another. Beautiful. Simply, wonderfully, sadly beautiful. I wanted to scoop them up, both Ray and Susie, and put them in a bubble. A big safe bubble where they could float away together from the horrific memories that surrounded them, and where they could remain as light as air as they lived and revelled in their love for one another.

As for the other characters, I felt deep sympathy for both Buckley and Jack. My heart went out to them and I wanted to be able to hug them and tell them everything would be okay, just as Susie had wanted to. I wanted to say 'ROCK ON' to both Lindsey and Grandma for being the rocks or anchors of both the story and the family. They were like the glue that holds the shattered glass of a beautiful vase together. And I despise Abigale. I despised her right until the very end of the novel. I understand she may have had her reasons to have ran away but I despised her for it. I despised Mr. Harvey up until the last quarter of the novel where I began to feel numb toward him. Like Susie and her family, I realized that other things were more important than Mr. Harvey and were more deserving of my attention.

This book really took hold of me and I almost felt as if I were witnessing and experiencing all the events and emotions that the characters were experiencing. I felt like I knew the Salmon's or that I was one of them. I have to remind myself that this novel is a work of fiction yet no matter how many times I tell myself, a little voice whispers in my ear 'It is real. It is all real.' ...I think it is Susie.

Happy reading,
Ash Bee.