The Lovely Bones

By Alice Sebold

Haunting and beautiful,
Honest and elegant,
Hopeful and captivating...

All of these words came to mind as I read this book.
The subject matter was tough, and often daunting, but all together well put. The characters were real and honest. The descriptions were vibrant and almost appealing. The ending was perfect. My own words do not give the book justice. Only one word comes to mind: beautiful.

Everything about it was beautiful--the characters and thoughts to the grief and loneliness. It's hard to explain how grief and loneliness can be beautiful, but somehow the author made it possible. I don't mean beautiful as in nice to look at, but beautiful as in you can't get more honest and real than that. I often think the most beautiful things comes from the flaws hidden away beneath the cracks or the comfort that comes from a loved one. I think beauty can also be found in the strength that comes from people in desperate situations, that slowly builds as their lives are put back together. Somehow this book captures that kind of beauty.

I'm always drawn to well written books and this book definitely doesn't disappoint. There is something appealing to me when a book can take a simple, straight-forward story and turn it into a complicated and elaborate story through words. Usually I find out that the book is well written, but often not a good story or just words, and not actually a story. This book was none of those things as I soon found out.

I hope you have read The Lovely Bones and if not you should. Most likely you won't be disappointed.