Killing Me Softly

The Lovely Bones

Alice Sebold

Little Brown & Company

Over the years, I've known a lot of people who have read and recommended this book. To be candid, I was suspicious of its seemingly universal appeal and thought of it in the same way that I would an Oprah's pick -- it might be good for the "masses", but surely I wouldn't find it interesting. It wasn't until my boss tossed it on my desk that I gave it any consideration at all. I am so glad I did.

The Lovely Bones opens with the teenage narrator, Susie Salmon, telling you that she has been murdered by Mr. Harvey -- her neighbour from down the street. As Susie watches her family from a curiously godless heaven, her loved ones slowly start to disintegrate and then regenerate themselves in a post-Susie world. While the subject matter is a tough (Susie is, after all, killed by a serial murderer who never gets caught), the novel is uplifting in the sense that each of the characters end up in a place that feels "right" to the reader. Don't get me wrong -- it's not all sweetness and light -- but it did feel real and maybe that's the appeal of the novel. Three very friendly ghosts out of five.