Book Review on “The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold
參賽者：陳綺雯（企管三B）
名次：特優
書名：The Lovely Bones
得獎作品：
“The Lovely Bones” begins with an “end” – Death.
Susie Salmon, a 14-year-old girl who was raped and murdered in 1973, narrated a thrilling and heart-stirring tale full of surprises and hope. Her wish was to become a biological photographer, but her dream never comes true as she was then in heaven observing how her death had affected her loved ones’ lives in the world of mortals. She was alive in her own perfect world – where she got everything she ever wanted simply by thinking of it. However, there was one wish that heaven could never fulfill her - to be back in life and live with her loved ones.
Several weeks after the tragedy, all the things went wrong. Her father kept on unrelentingly looking for clues to find the murderer and while trying to forget the pain and emptiness inside her heart, her mother was involved in an extramarital affair. Her sister Lindsay, hardened herself so that not to get hurt from rumors from her schoolmates and Buckley, her little brother, tried to grasp the meaning of death.
When Mr. Harvey, the murderer and also their neighbor, tried to cover his tracks, Susie wished nothing more but an immediate death of him. But then her family was broken apart with her mother leaving and her father hurt himself while struggling to find out the truth. Susie finally realized that hatred never brings any good, only love and cherish can mend broken hearts. Through care, inspiration and growing understanding, Susie saw her loved ones passed through grief and began to recover as time passed.
I believe every story has its own underlying message for its readers. A good ending is always something like “The evil will not triumph over the virtuous, and the Prince and Princess living together happily forever and ever”, but “The Lovely Bones” conveys another message that a good ending can be different. It can be like the evil were meted with punishments and those who suffered can also manage a happy life no matter what they have gone through.
Before I start reading the book, I was curious about the title – what does “The Lovely Bones” literally mean? When I finished, I realized that the “bones” actually mean the connections which had “grown” around Susie’s absence, sometimes tenuous and sometimes made at great cost, but often magnificent. The events that happened after she was gone were “bones” of a body that would finally become whole at some time. I finished the book not long before my grandmother passed away. I come to understand that what will be will be and all things has its own way, we cannot change them but we can change our thoughts towards all these “bones” that grown after them.
We often take everything we have as granted and would only realize that someone or something is important until we lose them. Every person we met in our lives means something to us. It is destined. I hope all of us can learn how to love and care about others, so that we will not have regrets whatever happens to us - good or bad. And one thing I believe is that no matter what difficulties we may encounter, we can overcome with the love and support of the family members and friends and we must have confidence in our loved ones in time of needs.
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