University of La Salette

Incorporated, High School

Dubinan, Santiago City

Name: Pulido, Dranscel John L. Date: 15 March 2019

Grade and Section: 11 STEM 1 Score:

The Lovely Bones

by Alice Sebold
(A Book Review)

The Lovely Bones, written by Alice Sebold on June 1, 2002, was

a very infamous book even before Peter Jackson adapted it for the
silver screen in 2010. But its origins were modest, the book's
publisher Little, Brown and Company, would have been happy had it
sold 20,000 copies. However, a big thanks to a clever marketing
campaign and the power of word-of-mouth recommendations. It made it
the New York Time best-seller list, on which it remained for over
a year!

Having a quick glimpse onto the content of the book, the story
of a 14-year-old girl that has been mercilessly raped, murdered, and
dismembered is narrated by Susie Salmon herself, the main character
and persona used by Sebold to have a first person point-of-view output.
This dreadful experience of Susie blatantly depicts the reality in
this world, which classifies the novel to be a contemporary fictional
book. In addition, piles of literary devices such as the different
figures of speech (simile, irony, symbolism, allegory, etc.) were
used to portray the author’s thought as she linked it to the situation
of the characters in the story. One thing for more, Sebold used the
foreshadowing style to give clues on the readers what will transpire
on the latter part, and this style really left me fascinated!

Now, let us dive into the story. So, Susie Salmon was fourteen
when she was brutally killed on December 6, 1973 in Norristown,
Pennsylvania. Her murderer was a man from her neighbourhood, George
 University of La Salette
Incorporated, High School
Dubinan, Santiago City

Harvey, whom she actually believed to be a nice man. From her place
in heaven, she watches the aftermath of her murder on her suburban
family as they try to cope with their grief.Over the course of these
years, Susie get to watch her friends and siblings grow up, fall in
love, do all the things she never had the chance to do herself.

The opening chapters might be hard-hitting, holding no punches

and dealing with events almost dispassionately on some readers.
However, this is a great strength that the author makes no attempt
to shout about awful what has happened is, how evil the perpetrator.
It is a powerful book, thought-provoking and it evokes one’s worst
nightmare, especially for parents.

The reading is an emotional ride, capable of bringing the reader

to tears, anger, hope and love. And yes, even if it is embarrassing
to tell, it really made me on the verge of crying. However, I can
perceive that the entire story revolves around the theme “mortality”.
Mortality became ever-present in the Salmon family ever since Susie’s
elbow was found. It is because now they know how ephemeral life is,
they started making choices for their own lives and no longer for
the family. On the middle part of the story, Jack Salmon, her father,
gained obsession in finding who killed her daughter, and Abigail
Salmon, her mother, turns in on herself and start to question whether
she made the right decisions in her life (excluding her sister Lindsey
and brother Buckley Salmon).

The Lovely Bones is not made for us readers to feel a fuzzy feeling.
It was written for us to be awaken in the real world we are living
nowadays that it contains loads of impurities. For me, this was the
main message being conveyed in the entire story. And if you are not
convinced because this novel is just fiction, well, you are totally
wrong. This novel is actually based from the story of Alice Sebold
herself, who had been raped during her teenage years. And, this is
also true to those who are rape victims.
 University of La Salette
Incorporated, High School
Dubinan, Santiago City

But, to tell you, the latter part of the story is really

exhilarating! So, if you are interested on what will happen next,
then, you have to read it!