Lovely Bones

The Lovely Bones is a novel that manages to be dark and uplifting all at once. The narrator is already dead when the novel opens, and is telling her story from her own unique perspective. The heaven and earth that she presents is far from your everyday interpretation. As the narrator slowly reveals the horrible events surrounding her death she constantly reminds the reader that she wishes not for revenge, but for her family to simply find a way to be happy without her. The Lovely Bones is an incredibly moving story of loss and the ways we find to cope.

When we first meet 14-year-old Susie Salmon, she is already in heaven. This was before milk carton photos and public service announcements, she tells us; back in 1973, when Susie mysteriously disappeared, people still believed these things didn't happen. In the sweet, untroubled voice of a precocious teenage girl, Susie relates the awful events of her death and her own adjustment to the strange new place she finds herself. It looks a lot like her school playground, with the good kind of swing sets. With love, longing, and a growing understanding, Susie watches her family as they cope with their grief, her father embarks on a search for the killer, her sister undertakes a feat of amazing daring, her little brother builds a fort in her honor and begin the difficult process of healing. In the hands of a brilliant novelist, this story of seemingly unbearable tragedy is transformed into a suspenseful and touching story about family, memory, love, heaven, and living.

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Distributor: Hachette Book Group USA
Publication Date: 04-20-2004
Pages: 352
Measurements: 8.25in X 5.5in X 1in X .72lb