The Lovely Bones

Just finished reading The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. I started reading it again yesterday (as I repeatedly tried and failed to do so last semester), stopped at chapter three because I fell asleep. And finally, I'm done.

I'm giving the book three stars out of five (3/5). The writing was pretty good. I'm not going to compare it with the other books that I love, like how well Nicole Krauss has perfectly written The History of Love or how Milan Kundera blew me away with his Ignorance. However, this book is a hundred times better than The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffeneger, which by the way is having its movie adaptation released on August 14. The tone of the book is altogether sad (for lack of better term). And at the same time it makes you want to strangle the maniac who raped and killed the poor girl! I loved Jack Salmon's character and how the sister Lindsey struggle to break free from the Walking Dead Syndrome -- which the author described to happen when other people see the dead person [in you] and don't see you -- and at the same time mourn for the tragic death of her sister. Why -2? Well, the long wait for the crime to be solved was a little dragging for me, got a little bored towards the end, and I didn't like the part when Susie took over Ruth's body and made love to her high school crush Ray. I was also kind of hoping for a little more action. Middle to end seemed to be all about the drama. I was anticipating Mr. Harvey to attack Lindsey (at the latter part when she was alone in the house) given that she was the one who led the police into solving the mystery of Susie's death when she broke into his house. I thought the 5!5!5! nightmares he's been having would drive him crazier than his normal self and get back at Lindsey. Yeah he tried, but I wish he tried a little bit harder, hehe. Oh well, if this had happened in the book the author wouldn't be able to establish the Icicle part in the end. To those who haven't read it yet, yeah I'm a big spoiler, boo me haha! All in all it's a good read and I'm excited for the movie. After all, it's going to be Peter Jackson's. Mark your calendars; December 11, 2009, about a month after Veronika Decides to Die movie premier.