Grade: D-
Not recommended.
Apparently I'm one of the last people to read The Lovely Bones and I'm okay with that. The universe was trying to tell me not to bother. This is the rare case where the movie is better than the book. And the movie is not all that great either.
Susie Salmon is murdered by a neighborhood skeeve or Creepy Creeperton, whichever you prefer. This book is her story from what she sees in heaven. Susie watches her family grieve and the police look for her killer and body. The grisly stuff happens at the beginning and the rest of the book is full of cotton candy and glitter. Or so it feels. The ending is beyond weird.
The idea of the book and jacket summary caught my interest. That's where it ended though. The book is fluff plus glitter and sparkles and plays out like a tampon commercial.
Spoiler alert! The only redeeming part of the book was Susie's reunion with her dog Holiday. That had me in tears.
If you haven't read the book, do yourself a favor and watch the movie. Stanley Tucci is superb as George Harvey. He plays the neighborhood creep perfectly. Susan Sarandon is also stellar as the grandmother forever in makeup and with a drink in hand.
To those of you who liked the book, please let me know what you liked about it. I'm super curious what worked for you that clearly did not for me.
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