The Lovely Bones

I have been reading lately! A lot. Just not books that I would recommend (my Mother gave me a pile of books to read while visiting for Thanksgiving and I'm hoping to hit those next). But this one, I do recommend.

Even though this book holds ideas about Heaven and death that I know/believe are not true, it does give us hope and a way to grieve.

The Lovely Bones  by Alice Sebold is about a young girl who is murdered just down the street from her home by a neighbor. I'm not giving anything away because she comes out and tells you who, how and where. The girl tells the story of her family, friends and even herself as they work their way through grief, anger, jealousy and every other emotion that comes with death. Susie goes to her own "Heaven" where she can watch her family and friends as they struggle with wanting to know why and who and how to get through this. She watches as her father discovers who the murderer is and how to catch him. She watches her sister walk through the motions of life trying to be strong when the world looks at her as Susie. She watches as her family falls apart. She watches as her friends come together over her and come to terms with her death with each other. She watches as she cannot, in any way, communicate with the living even when she so desperately needs to. She watches as she learns that everyone will develop their own way to live with only her memory and how she can live as only such.

If you're looking for a book that will capture your heart and imagination this is the book for you! Just make sure you fully understand what you believe about Heaven and death because you may be persuaded in hope for a different version. Yes, the living keep on living and maybe we will be able to watch them. But we'll have no desire to return to the land of the living when we're in the presence of God!