Wow. A book about murder, death,
abandonment loss and depression, that leaves you feeling happy, joyous and
longing for more. Wow indeed.
This book got some good reviews when it
first came out and was of course made into a film (which I saw a few
years ago), but like most of the books I read, I read them when I feel ready,
not when the hype or the movie release dictates.
Told in the first person by a murdered
fourteen year old girl, (Susie) the book takes you from the high of a teenager's
first kiss, to the low of her death. Raped and killed by a neighbour, in a hole
he'd dug in a corn field, (and then dumped in a sink-hole), Susie's body is
never found; so her family never really find out what happened to her.
Once dead, Susie is unable to rest in her
heaven, so she visits her family and friends as often as she can; her brother
repeatedly comments on how he can still see his sister, but as a reader, we're
never really one hundred percent sure if he can or not. This, I think, adds a
nice element of uncertainty to the book.
We witness her father's slide from
successful businessman and loving husband, to a broken man who's lost his
daughter, his wife and his mobility, (he suffers from a heart attack later in
the book), all whilst Susie's brother and sister grow up, with their mother in
California.
There is great drama when Susie's sister
goes in search of clues in the killer's (neighbour's) house, and then there's
chapter 16, where the family, her school friends and the local community, go to
the field where she died, in recognition of the anniversary of her death. This
is one of the best chapters I have ever had the pleasure of reading, in any
book, ever. It is so moving, so perfectly timed within the story and just has
you reeling for more.
Powerful stuff them? You bet, and Alice
Sebold keeps it coming until the very end, but I won't reveal any more here, I’ll
just finish by saying whatever you do, READ THIS BOOK.
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