The Tragedy of Death and Grief

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold: A Book Review

Genre: Women’s Fiction

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I found Sebold’s novel enchanting once the brutality of the main event sunk into my mind. The Lovely Bones details a journey of a family who are forced to cope after the murder of the eldest child as well as giving an inspiring glimpse into the mind of the deceased spirit’s as she learns to cope as well. I highly doubt any one would notice that the deceased is learning to cope as well unless pointed out as it is subtle in the effect that she continuously watches her family, telling her story about how she died and the events that happened after.

A movie adaptation was also created in 2009. Directed by Peter Jackson, the movie is a little over two hours long with a wide cast range. Certain things did end up changing, mainly one family completely being taken out and her heavenly friend’s death changing. This caused some changes toward the ending, some of which could be seen as quite aggravating. For example, in the novel, her body is dumped almost right away, while in the movie her body not dumped until the end. Jackson creates a suspenseful tension, however, leading the story through the movie. My personal favorite was the technique of fluttering through scenes happening at different places at the same time, most notably when the family is having dinner waiting for the eldest to return. This made the movie seem very real-like and dramatic. This is countered by the heaven and ghost scenes as seeming surreal which created an emotional attachment for the watcher.

I have to give the award for best actor to Stanley Tucci. Tucci played his character, Mr. Harvey, to the absolute degree possible and created him to be a much more unique and weird character than the book made him seem. Tucci certainly appeared to be as if he was, in fact, the dreaded Mr. Harvey.

I would not recommend the book or movie to anyone under twelve or thirteen, however, if they are advanced in their years, they are capable of making their own choice. (Personally I was around thirteen myself when I watched the movie when it first came out and I had read the book before that.) I am hesitant because of the ordeal that takes place in the book as well as the tension created throughout both the book and the movie. While the movie is not necessarily scary and I, personally, would consider the movie to be more of a chick flick than a drama or fantasy, intense feelings are drawn.

As with most adaptations, the book does not have to be read before seeing the movie, but I think that having the book’s background would be beneficial to understanding what is happening as Jackson does not show or depict anything outright while the book provides details in the area. If you are looking for an example, the steaming movie on Amazon lists a 1-star review in which they wonder what the movie is actually about. I do agree with the review in one aspect. The movie has parts where a young girl being raped and murdered should be seen as commonplace even going so far as to state “everyone has to die eventually” to the murdered girl grieving her own death. While the statement is true, it should not be taken lightly that children (and families) do encounter these events in real time and does not negate the truth that they shouldn’t have to go through these tragedies.

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Novel:

Film:

“I wasn’t looking beyond, I was still looking back”

Susie Salmon, The Lovely Bones