The Lovely Bones

For those of you who are aware of the newest movies to hit the theatres, I'm sure you're no stranger to these words.

When this book first came out, I bought it thinking it sounded interesting.  I'm not much of a reader unless something really catches my eye and peaks my interest.  For me, to just grab a book and start reading just doesn't happen.  Anyway, I remember LOVING this book the first time I read it that I was extremely happy when I heard about the movie...although, I'm still deciding if I should watch it.

For those of you who are not familiar with this book or film, it is a very good book centered around the rape and murder of a 14 year old girl in 1973.  Not a true story so it makes it a little easier to swallow but a heavy topic nonetheless.  The first time I read this book, it took me a while to convince myself to finish reading it.  I was compelled because the victim narrates the story from Heaven.  The author, Alice Sebold, jumps straight into the heaviness and details the plot of the book within the first chapter.  I must say, it's hard to even think about continuing to read this when it hits you that hard within the first 5 or so pages....but, I persevered and am glad that I did.

This book was fantastic!  Since it had been quite a long time since I had read it and with all the publicity of the movie's release, I decided to read it again.  I hadn't forgotten the complete plot but was still surprised by a lot of things I had forgotten about the book.  This time, I read it in one day...technically two if you consider I started Saturday evening but, I finished it yesterday.  I have never read a book twice before but think I will start making this a trend as it was interesting to have some idea of what was going on but to still be surprised by the little forgotten pieces.

Despite the heavy subject matter, I would recommend this book to everyone.  It's a nice, easy read and really does break away from the heart-sickening disaster and share the beauties (in the author's mind) of Heaven.  It captures like a love story, the growing and changing lives of many different characters which keep you just wanting to turn the next page.  I really think I might watch the movie now that I fully remember all that the book offered.  Has anyone seen it yet?  If so, what did you think?