I'm reading The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, a novel I'd been curious about for a long time. Reviewing it purely as a work of literature, I think it has a gripping plot, well-rounded characters and, unfortunately, a shopworn premise--that the dead can "spy" on the living.
I have fantasized about such a thing, on occasion, and it appeals to anyone who's ever wondered about "heaven" and the influence of the dead on the living. But it also reads a bit like one of those "Touched by an Angel" shows (was that the name of an actual show? I don't remember. But it seems like there's been a spate of them recently--shows where people from "the other side" watch and worry and even meddle in living people's lives in mysterious ways). We hunger to feel connected with the dead, and this story taps into that hunger--but I don't find it a particularly uplifting or inspired premise upon which to base an entire novel. Also--the violence that takes place in the book is so horrific that I don't believe this family would have been able to contain their rage and grief as successfully as they seem to have done. Yes, the family falls apart at certain points, but it's doesn't seem as messy and painful as I think it needed to be.
Having said all that--yes, it's a richly imagined book and I understand why it's so popular.
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