Lovely Bones Summary

Author Alice Sebold became a best selling author with her first book titled “The Lovely Bones”.  The story tells the reader about the main character Susie who gets murdered by a child molester and then goes to heaven to find that she can watch her family from over there. The family gets into turmoil and then eventually they find ways to deal with the situation. Although the book received critical acclaim there are some reviews that showed criticism to the novel.

The first criticism is about the alarmingly gruesome scenes of Susie Salmon’s murder. Although the author must have put them in to actually make the reader feel the horror of the situation, the passages might be too much for some people and they are a bit too violent and absolutely terrifying.

The second major criticism is about her heaven which has no God neither Jesus. There is no one to serve justice and no one is being evaluated. That goes against what most people believe heaven to be and many religious people have been unable to digest this personal version of heaven that the author Alice Sebold has presented in the novel.

Also the indication in the novel that everyone in heaven is basically experiencing what heaven was to them, comprising of their dreams and ambitions. Since religiously that is a very grave matter this idealistic heaven is simply unacceptable for some readers who believe this can be a distraction in the face of faith.

Alice Sebold also seems to have completely negated the concept of vengeance in this novel. This is evident in the case of the murderer whom she refers to as Mrs. Harvey, who simply commits the murder and acts like any calm neighbor, offering his condolences. While Susie should have been angry and vengeful as a normal person, she behaves very differently from normal human nature. She makes it clear that it is only for the benefit of her sister that she wishes for Mr. Harvey to be caught.