The Lovely Bones

I finally read The Lovely Bones!  I purchased the book about five years ago, and for whatever reason, never felt inspired to read it.  I guess with the movie coming out I finally wanted to give it a go.  I have to say that I was completely sucked into it in the beginning.  I thought the writing was amazing.  I thought the concept was unique.  And while the circumstances of the people in the story are heart wrenching, I enjoyed reading it because it was so well written and the ideas were so thoughtful.  In the end though, I was disappointed.  I spent the whole book waiting for that "moment"...the climax, if you will, and it never happened.  And in the end it was just kind of flat.  I don't know what I wanted to happen in the end... some kind of revenge by the family of the girl who was murdered... another kill prevented... I don't know.  But when I finished the book I kind of felt like "that was it?"  My expectations for it were much too high.  I did feel that the insights the main character, Susie, brought to the forefront were unique and thought provoking...from our idea of what is heaven, if one believes in heaven, to our relationships with others, how they are perceived by us versus them, and how we relate to our families and what our role in our individual family is defined.  I'm just not sure it was all tied together as well I was hoping for that "big ta-da" I was looking for in the end.  I guess I'll see the  movie on this one because I don't think it can ruin the book for me.  I think this book showed much more of how a family that is victimized deals with things and that made it unique as well and it was told from the unique perspective of someone after they have left the living.  This was definitely a complex story... just not all tied together in the end.

This story was based, in part, on Alice Sebold's real life rape.  Her story, and her talent as a writer, make me interested in reading more, perhaps in hopes of finding what was missing from The Lovely Bones.

Suggested Reading List:

Lucky by Alice Sebold (non-fiction/biography/memoir)
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (young adult fiction)
What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman (fiction)
Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott (young adult fiction)

The 19th Wife

I'll admit...I was first drawn to this book by the cover (*gasp!*) and the title.  When I turned it over to read what it was about I was immediately more intrigued.  Having spent three years living in an area with a very high Mormon population, and always having an interest in spirituality and how beliefs shape people's lives, I thought this could be a great read.  As always, I sat down right there in Borders and gave the first few pages a read to see if I thought it was good enough to hold my attention.  Boy, was it!  I haven't been able to put it down (In case you're wondering...I bought it, I'm not still sitting at Borders, that would just be rude :p )

First let me say that this book is a wonderful and unique mix of factual history and and modern day fiction.  The story blends the history of Joseph Smith and the Mormons or the "Firsts" as they are referred to in the book, and more centrally, Brigham Young and his 19th Wife, Ann Eliza.  What is unique about this book is that it flashes back and forth between a modern day murder among a polygamist family in present-day Utah and the lead-up to Ann Eliza Young separating from her prophet husband, Brigham Young.  The book documents Eliza's plight to end polygamy, including actual excerpts from her autobiography "Wife No. 19" published in 1875. 

Among other things, it raises the question of the role of law in ones faith, or vice versa.  It also makes the reader question faith....what we believe...why we believe it...and how we live our lives because of it, in spite of it, or inspired by it.

Futher reading that I hope will be helpful in my quest to understand this history and modern-day news-maker:

Wife No. 19 by Ann Young (non-fiction)
Escape by Carolyn Jessop (non-fiction)
Sister Wife by Shelley Hrdlitschka (young adult fiction)*
The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams (young adult fiction) *
Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer (non-fiction)
No Man Knows my History:  The Life of Joseph Smith by Fawn M. Brodie (non-fiction)
Joseph Smith:  Rough Stone Rolling by Richard Bushman (non-fiction)
Banking on Heaven (DVD)*

*I've read/watched and were worth the time!