review of The Lovely Bones

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Page Count: 328
Last Words: "I wish you all a long and happy life."
Rating:
Description: When we first meet 14-year-old Susie Salmon, she is already in Heaven. This was before milk carton photos and public service announcements, she tells us; back in 1973, when Susie mysteriously disappeared, people still believed these things didn't happen. In the sweet, untroubled voice of a precocious teenage girl, Susie relates the awful events of her death and her own adjustment to the strange new place she finds herself. It looks a lot like her school playground, with the good kind of swing sets. With love, longing, and a growing understanding, Susie watches her family as they cope with their grief, her father embarks on a search for the killer, her sister undertakes a feat of amazing daring, her little brother builds a fort in her honor and begin the difficult process of healing. In the hands of a brilliant novelist, this story of seemingly unbearable tragedy is transformed into a suspenseful and touching story about family, memory, love, Heaven, and living.
Review: I bought The Lovely Bones a few months ago in a thrift store, thinking that I'll read it when I have nothing else to read. Well, I had to read it this summer. When The Lovely Bones appeared on my summer reading list, I jumped right into it. Honestly, I was glad that a really good book was on the summer reading list this year.
The Lovely Bones is narrater is Susie Salmon, a young girl who was murdered by her neighbor, Mr. Harvey. (P.S:Not giving away spoilers, happens in the first chapter :))Her family is torn, as any family would be, but instead of letting the police deal with the case, like Susie's mother, her father looks into it and actually has Harvey as a suspect. Unfortunatley, he has no evidence, he just knows. Like in math class when you know the answer is B, but you can't show your work for it.
The book is not just about figuring out a murder case,though. It goes back in time so we can see Susie and hers peers, like Ray and Ruth. This book also deals with absence of a parent, and learning to deal with the absense of a recently deseased child. You see the family roughly moving on, and you see the backstory of the murderer, Mr. Harvey.
I gave The Lovely Bones only 4 stars because I wanted to see what would have happened if Susie's father,(whose name escapes me ) would have found a clue, and Mr. Harvey went in for questioning. He must have made some mistake, which they point at in the end. But overall, a wonderful book, and I'll be acing the test in September :)