"My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973." (pg 5)
The Lovely Bones starts off strong, and after having read the first two lines, I already began to have several questions. Why was she killed? Will having a dead narrator make the overall story more or less interesting? There is rape and murder in the first chapter and the narrator is dead.
Books and movies usually start off slow and build up suspense for a climax; Alice Sebold, the author, decided to put the climax in the first chapter and that really caught my attention. After reading a few more pages, I had a positive impression on the book. Another thing that caught my attention is that it seems Alice Sebold never intended to make The Lovely Bones a religious book. In Susie's heaven, heaven is whatever she wants it to be; there is no sign of God, and religion is never mentioned. Instead, heaven is where Susie begins to be able to keep an eye on her family and friends. Nevertheless, she becomes frustrated that she cannot communicate with anyone on Earth, and she is also bothered by some of her family members' actions. So even though she was in heaven, she was not completely happy all the time. Her mother, Abigail, had an affair with the crime detective, Fernerman, and then she later left her husband, Jack, for years.
Not many stories have a dead narrator. The idea of having the main character in heaven from the start is really interesting because it is difficult to make a good plot. However, Sebold creates a heaven where Susie, who is an omniscient narrator, can see her family and see how they are handling their loss throughout the years. Most of the action happens down on earth where the Salmons look for Susie’s murderer and try to recover emotionally. Susie learns that she cannot talk to or communicate in any way with anyone on earth and she wishes she could tell her friends and family that her murderer is Harvey, but she is unable to. So while all the action happens on earth, heaven is where we see Susie's deep personal thoughts. Eventually, detectives find out that Harvey is a serial killer after he moves away from Susie’s neighborhood. In heaven, Susie grows and matures, and learns to let go and accept the fact that she will never be able to speak to her family or friends.
So having a dead narrator actually turned out to be an excellent idea. Sebold knew that Susie would never be able to contact her family and friends, but she still knew how to make a good story. Susie explains to the reader what is happening down on earth while she explains what she is feeling. She describes how helpless she feels and how she wishes to be able to do something about her murderer. These and much more are ingredients for a good book; that's why Peter Jackson will be making a movie of it in late 2009.
