Best book I've read in years. It starts with a 14 year old girls rape and murder. The whole book is what Susie sees from heaven. She sees how her family struggles to go on with life and how her classmates go on without her. Its such a touching story. Its unlike anything I've ever read or probably will ever read. I cried at the few happy moments and felt genuine affection for Susie's life after death. I also reccomend reading "Lucky", Alice Sebolds biography of her rape at college. It amazing and brutally honest!

promised to another bookcrosser

Released on Friday, May 23, 2003 at Sent to a fellow bookcrosser in Tehran, tehran Iran.

sent to Oceanss. Enjoy!

Many thanks to my dear BCer "Theneedtoread" for sending me the book.
TBR

Susie Salmon, a 14 year old girl, is going back home late in the evening when she sees their neighbor Mr. George Harvey. He takes her to his house in order to show her his doll house & in this way he commits a rape just to know that she’s still a virgin .She is shouting all the time ,so he gags her with her jingle-bell hat & in this way Susie goes to heaven & tells us the whole story from there.
Len Fenerman is a cop who investigates the murder. But the problem is that the more they search, the less they find. Mr. Salmon is suspicious all the time of Harvey, but he doesn’t have a strong proof for this. Therefore, he’s not able to persuade the cops that this man is the very murderer, for he just has the sense of it & can not prove it.
Little by little the mother gets interested in this Mr. Fenerman & spends some time hanging out with him. But eventually, she leaves her husband, her daughter, Lindsey, & her son, Buckley, behind her & goes to another state. One day, after 7-8 years, she receives a letter which says that a member of her family is in hospital. She flies back to her hometown & finds out that her husband has had his 2nd heart attack. The father gets better gradually & the whole family gets together after a long time. Samuel, Lindsey’s boyfriend, announces that he wanna marry her. Many years later, they give birth to a fancy girl whom they call Abigail Suzanne, just in the memory of Susie.


Promised in a trade to Veritas9
Happy tradding!

Released on Saturday, September 27, 2003 at to Veritas9 in Autralia in Tehran, tehran Iran.

I mailed it this morning in a trade to Veritas9.
Happy trading!
Hope you'll receive it ASAP.

A lovely surprise. Thanks so much.

This is a very good book - not a great novel but a good book nonetheless. The story of a young girl's death and subsequent lives of her friends and family members is touching, distressing and at times funny. From heaven, Susie is able open a window into people's grief and allow us to hear what they are thinking in the privacy of their privacy. On earth, all those affected by her death try to get on with their lives as best the can.

The only aspect of The Lovely Bones that I didn't like was the relentless changing of the narrator. Unfortunately, this was coupled with the author's tendency to leave you in suspense for the first couple of paragraphs as to who is actually speaking. I found this fussy and annoying especially when I was getting a head of steam up with the page turning.

Aside from the well paced story and fabulous characters (Grandma Lynn - cracked me up) one of the underlying themes resonated with my particualr brand of spirituality. In Australia we are currently celebrating? the anniversary of the terrorist attack in Bali with public displays of mourning both here and overseas. Massive memorials have been erected. Countless media interviews have been granted by survivors, relatives, friends and people who went to school with those who were affected. There is even talk of Australians buying the site were the Sari Club used to be.

In my spiritual world there are a couple of places you can go when you pass over. Those who are not ready to admit they have actually passed exist in a limbo betwixt heaven and earth. These are tortured, unhappy souls who are having a huge amount of difficulty with the transition. The next etheric plane corresponds to heaven. Susie's experience of heaven is similar to how I think things would work - it is what you make it but not terribly fulfilling. Heaven is for people who are still longing for Earth - they know they're dead but yearn for people, places, touch and smell. Franny, Susie's counsellor in heaven, gently suggests that she should stop watching her family with such intensity so that they can stop obsessing about her murder. I also believe that the way we grieve, especially publically, in our society limits the extent to which those who have died can move on themselves. It's almost as if every thought, every newspaper article and every ceremony locks the living and the dead in an ever closer embrace which is difficult for either of them to escape.

I don't mean any disrespect to those who have lost people they were close to under tragic circumstances. I think of my loved ones who have died every day but I don't wish that they were here - I'm confident that their afterlives are at least as fabulous and their lives.

Released on Sunday, October 12, 2003 at Postal Release in Melbourne, Victoria Australia.


Mailed to sarieau.

Thanks for sending me this book, Veritas9. You are really generous. It will be great to read this book since I have read so much about it. I'll make sure it is sent on to another bookcrosser soon.

I disliked this book and enjoyed it by turns. Sometimes I couldn't wait to finish it and other times I found myself reading slowly as I became engrossed in it. Sometimes horrific, sometimes charming, but its a book I'm glad to have read. The theme of grief and the overcoming of grief was well-done, and the book overall is very well written. I feel the heaven concept is imaginative but somewhat trite...something between Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory's garden of lollies and its chocolate waterfall, and one of the fantasy lands belonging to Enid Blyton's The Magic Faraway Tree..to have whatever one wanted in his or her heaven I think would be a bit boring after a millennia or two. I also think it could be more of a hell than heaven to watch one's family and not be a part of it, see them struggle or in danger and not be able to help. But it is still a good book and different to what I would normally read, so I'm glad my literary horizons have been widened a little, however disturbing and painful at times some descriptions were.

To end...

"I saw a new heaven and a new earth...God will wipe all tears from their eyes, and there will be no more death, suffering, crying or pain. These things of the past are gone forever." (Revelation 21:1,4)

I guess you could say that this is 'my' heaven. :o)

Released on Tuesday, October 28, 2003 at Postal Release in Edwardstown, South Australia Australia.

Sent to fellow bookcrosser in Western Australia, Wed pm, 29 Oct 2003. Happy Reading! :o)

Got it! Thanks sarieau! Will read ASAP and pass on to another fellow BCer.:)

This book is now off to twinmaker in Perth, Western Australia!

Thank you libertine101 - have already started ready it. Will let you know how I go.

This is not the type of book I would normally read but am grateful to libertine101 for sending on to me. I have read it now and have to say that I found it interesting but not convincing. It seemed to jump about quite a bit. It would most probably make a great movie, think what Hollywood could do with the ending! I did like some of the characters, Grandma Lynne hit a chord!
Will most likely pop this into the Aussie Book box when it arrives here - unless someone else is desperate to read it?

Sending on to Arrietty in South Australia.

Thanks to Twinmaker for sending me this book. I love the idea that it's been all over the world and I received it in time to read it over the Xmas break! I'm really enjoying it; I agree with others who comment that it's one of the best books they've read! I wonder if it is destined to become a classic in the way that "To Kill a Mockingbird" has? I will pass it on if anyone else wants to read it.

Yes, I thought this book was very good but don't think it's destined to become a classic in the 'Kill a Mocking Bird' sense. I suppose I liked it because it is a 'comforting' if somewhat unrealistic fantasy of the the aftermaths of a violent crime. Since there is no way to make any sense of a violent rape/murder (and the author doesn't try to explain it), this book goes a long way to alleviate the helplessness the victims and their families must feel by presenting an interesting scenario of the afterlife.

Nevertheless the characters were well thought out and realistic, and they developed and changed as the years passed. Probably my main critisism would be that the last scene with Ray and Ruth is a little too much fantasy but is a nice finishing touch! I also liked the interesting metaphors presented throughout the book, such as the womb-like significance of the cave where Susie's was killed and the safe in the swamp where her bones ended up - compare this with Abigail's rejection of her role as a mother.

I'm looking forward to Sebold's next work of fiction. In my opinion, she can only get better!

I'm sending this book on to Lease who has requested it.

this book has officially entered its 4th country. thanks arrietty!

i did quite enjoy this book, but have to say the end part with ruth (susie)and ray was a bit cheesy. it threw me off a little. other than that it was well written and very creative. if there is a heaven like the one in this book, i hope all the people and animals who have shared my life get to be there!

passed to painteater as i think she will like it.

~lease

I'm still in it. Totally sucked in. Very disturbing.