AUTHOR Alice Sebold
PUBLISHED: 2006
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Drama
PREMISE: A girl gets raped and killed and watches her family cope with it from heaven.
MY REVIEW: It honestly makes me really confused about what becomes a bestseller and what does not. I just don't get it. I mean you have the Millaneum Trilogy which I get because Lisbeth is a fascinating character and the mysterys draw you in and all the characters are interesting in their own right and it has things to say. But then things like Fifty Shades of Grey or Twilight make "phenomenons" and well...lets face it: there's no real quality there and while I understand teen girls eating up Twilight, I don't understand everyone else doing it as well. I just don't get why some good books become bestsellers and others get ignored, and why some bad books become bestsellers and others get rightfully ignored as they should. Then you have books like The Lovely Bones which are frankly just average but they become these huge things. Seriously book market, what the hell?
Because I'm sorry: Lovely Bones is just average. The most gutsy thing going on here is the rape scene. Once you get past that, it's the usual chick-lit drama that makes me go "Why? WHY should I care?" I mean, I applaud Sebold for tackling rape and painting it as what it is: a horrible crime. To all of you who complain about the rape scene making you uncomfortable: GOOD. It should make you uncomfortable. Rape is horrible thing even though I know todays culture makes that hard to believe, what with comedians who joke about women getting raped, and then proceed to get away with it and even have people defending them. Not to mention all the rapists who get away with their crime and even all the people who go as far as to blame the rape on the person who got raped. Rape is a crime. It's kind of refreshing seeing it painted as such for a change.
But that was seriously the only gutsy thing in here. The rest of it? BORING. Then to top it off: the rapist gets away with the crime. He is not punished at all. Oh and to send even further mixed messages, somehow (I do not get how at all) the girl who gets raped somehow lands in one girl's body as an adult and the first thing she does? Uses said body to have sex with the boy she crushed on in her teens. Wow, author. Um...what about the girl in question? I'm sure she may have objections to Susie using her body to have sex. Because you know, IT'S HER BODY. Especially wierd when one considers that Susie was a rape victem. Wouldn't she want to stay far away from sex? This whole ending made NO DAMN SENSE. Ultimately it made me wonder why the hell I bothered with the book in the first place if that was all you were going to end it with.
The writing is sound. It it had some interesting character ideas. The idea of heaven was vaguely interesting but really Christian of course (hence why this book has probably gotten the Christian seal of approval), but ultimately that's all this book was: a interesting concept that never really got off the ground. Honestly, this is what becomes a bestseller? Book market, you baffle me. You really do.
WHO SHOULD READ: I don't know, Christians? Those who are curious?
MY RATING: Three out of Five yawns
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