The Lovely Bones

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Though the subject manner of this book is hard to choke down, I thoroughly enjoyed The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.  I had seen this book floating around the Book Review Blogs and message boards for a while but for some reason I had no preconceived notions about what this book was about or what to expect.  I happened upon it one day when I was at the Goodwill (a great place to beef up your books shelf, with 50 cent books... But I digress), and so I snatched it up and started reading it feverishly for the next few hours.  With in the first few pages I the flood gates of emotions opened and I was happy, humored, sad, furious, and nauseated all at the same time.

So here is the plot.  Susie Salmon (like the fish) is walking home from school one day when she is brutally raped and then violently murdered.  After her horrible demise she tells her story while she is looking down at her family and murderer from heaven and watching how they all deal with the aftermath of her death.  Her sister is heart broken, her father sets off on a mission to find the man who did this to her, her crush at school is accused, the murder starts thinking about who his next victim will be, and the school loner sees Susie's ghost every so often.  All the while Susie is getting used to her new home in heaven.  She meets a new friend and starts to figure out how heaven works and what she can and can't do up there.

I thought that even though the subject matter is VERY heavy, the story is told with a touch of humor and is quite easy to digest.  Usually something very violent would turn me off but the story felt complete and right when Susie finished telling her story.  There is a little bit of a fantasy/paranormal plot line twist on the end that I thought was strange and didn't flow well with the story but I kind of enjoyed that part as well.  I was glad that Susie had the chance to do what she did on the end.  All in all I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone really that can stomach the first few chapters (it really isn't for everyone).

Book vs. Movie:  Well I am eagerly awaiting The Lovely Bones movie that comes out January 15th.  I hope they do the book justice though I won't hold my breath as I am ALWAYS disappointed in movies made from books.  Here is the trailer.  Enjoy!

The Lovely Bones
by Alice Sebold

If you liked this book then read: Peony in Love by Lisa See

Peony in Love

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I enjoyed Snow Flower and the Secret Fan so much I picked up another Lisa See novel a few weeks ago and again I was not disappointed. I devoured this novel in one sitting and was sad when it ended. I think I loved this book, where Snow Flower I just liked a lot. The culture of bound feet, quite women, and structure of ancient Chinese families had me entranced once again and I was on the edge of my seat to see what would happen next.

In Peony in Love we meet Peony, a very ambitious young girl that has a passion for an opera called The Peony Pavilion. She has read The Peony Pavilion several times and owns many different editions (which was down right scandalous in those days) and she becomes obsessed with the love affair of the main characters. She wants a love just as deep and passionate as the people in the play. Her obsession ends up killing her, but her doctors diagnose her with "love sickness", and she ends up in the after world. Peony in Love is the story of her "after life".

I don't want to go into any more details (though I am dying to tell you the whole story)! The book is full of twists and turns and will have keep you guessing as to what might happen next.  Like Snow Flower this book had me running to Wikipedia to learn new things about ancient Chinese culture and what they believe about their after lives. I hope you all enjoy this book as much as I did and as much as you liked Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. I would recomend Peony in Love to anyone that has a hankering for a great love story with a twist.

Peony in Love
by Lisa See
If you liked this book please read: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See