September The Lovely Bones By Alice Sebold Description: A story about the effects a young girl's death has on her family and her afterlife. Pages: 328 Review: A truly extraordinary book, The Lovely Bones forces us to look at many aspects of ourselves. As you read, you are encouraged to look at how you deal with grief, wonder if your life is one of fulfillment, and finally, think about your personal vision of Heaven. We first meet Susie as a middle school student. She is on the cusp of love and life, her future beginning to unfurl before her. After her murder, Susie narrates the remainder of her story from Heaven with the innocence and plainness of a fourteen year old. She combines the emotions and story of her loved ones on Earth with her new life and feelings in Heaven. Susie is able to watch her family handle her death in different ways. She watches them grieve, grow and separate. She watches her father’s desperate struggle to make sense of his life. Through Susie’s eyes we watch the killer’s descent into madness. We feel her pain, confusion and hopelessness. This is a tremendously captivating book, It has some of the usual components of a murder mystery but with a twist. However, to lump this book into a mystery genre does not tell the whole story. The Lovely Bones is a poem about life. The book has beautiful lyrics which open the doors to Heaven. Heaven is what we want it to be. Perhaps my Heaven smells like jasmine and yours like apple pie, for example. Susie learns about “possibility” while in Heaven. The possibility of life, love, and moving on. Alice Sebold has a style which helps us see the depth of the characters. They are well developed, empathetic and smart. We care what happens to them. Their loss is ours, their triumphs ours as well. The Lovely Bones made me a bit scared, a bit thrilled and definitely made me think. I would like to go to Susie’s Heaven. There is no mystery why this book is on the best seller’s list, it is a must read.