The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (2009. Hachette Audio Books (audio version). ISBN 978-1-60024-842-9)
Oh to have this talent. This is one of those books that, though deeply troubling in terms of its subject matter (the rape and murder of a 14 year old girl), is so beautifully constructed as to read (or sound) like a five hundred page poem. Most of you have likely seen the movie (starring Mark Wallberg as the grieving father and Stanly Tucci as the killer) or read the book in print. So why waste space here, on my blog, reviewing a book that nearly everyone knows something about?
First, as I started this review by saying, and as the title indicates, this is a magnificent work of great literary clarity and beauty. It is quite simply one of the best books of its time. The plot of the book, the dead girl, Susie Salmon (“like the fish”, she reminds us) looking down at the world she left behind from “her” heaven could have been maudlin and silly had some lesser writer thunk it up. Not so in the hands of Alice Sebold. The author is clearly a talented storyteller but also, and more important to a novel of this length and psychological depth, an excellent wordsmith. Her depictions of Mr. Harvey, the killer, and the Salmon family, including the feisty and determined younger sister (and potential victim) Lindsey Salmon, are all spot on. You will come to know each member of the Salmon family as intimately as your own kin. You will come to love and want to embrace the omnipresent Susie even though she is no longer with us. What could have been a card trick, a literary slight of hand had someone else attempted this tale becomes an American masterpiece.
Second, the audio version is read by Ms. Seboe, the author, and she acquits herself well in this effort. I’m not sure anyone would want me to read at them from my work, even if it were as polished and well crafted as this book, for nearly eleven hours. But Seboe’s voice has the perfect inflection and pitch to make this read a memorable one.
Finally, though I have read the book, watched the movie, and now listened to the novel as our Pacifica navigated through Montana on the way to Bozeman, I have to say that having my memory of Seboe’s hauntingly striking tale of love and loss reinforced by the audio version wasn’t overkill: It was sheer entertainment. I was not disappointed in hearing Susie Salmon’s tragic story one last time, from the author’s mouth. This is one of those rare flights of literary fancy that the author, in penning the book, got right and did not have the quality of her effort diminished by the movie or audio versions of her work.
5 stars out of 5. A stunningly gorgeous story.
