The Lovely Bones

After two years I want to resurrect this blog and use it for discussion of our novel.

You can read the material if you need to reinforce what we do in class or if you want to do some exta readings.

Here are some off-the-cuff response type comments based on my reading of the first five or six chapters. (What do you think of the cover of the Russian version of the book?)

I think one reason for the book's success is its constant forward narrative thrust. Very quickly we hear that how Susie died. Before we know where we are, we read that Susie's father quickly begins to suspect Harvey. It's different from a whodunnit but has some of the gripping features of mystery/detective fiction.

At Level 3 you should be able to step back from a piece of literature and go beyond whether you like it or not. Think about what Alice Sebold is trying to achieve here. What do you think of her techniques?

The art of telling a story or of narrative is an important aspect of a novel. I also like the way that Sebold jumps back and forth in time as Susie tells her story. She tells what happens to her and her family after her death and then she might go back in time to tell us about what her life was like before her death. This is a 'treatment of time' which I find useful and interesting for this sort of narrative. What benefits does it have?

What about accusations that the book is morbid? Maybe the topic itself is a morbid one, but I think Sebold treats the subject so sensitively (so far) and in such a kindly and matter of fact tone. She even tries to understand the motives of the killer and rapist.

If I have a criticism right now, it is that the book sometimes seems to lapse into a high school romance style!?