Why "Lovely Bones" is so popular

Many people who read "Lovely Bones" may not know that the story stemmed from the real-life rape that Alice Sebold survived as a freshman in college. Without being sentimental or mushy she manages to tell this tragic story in a way that captures and holds the readers attention from beginning to end. In brief conversations that I've had with students reading the book, many of them are finding it difficult to read for many different reasons. Some have a difficult time with Suzie's rape and murder while others are having a difficult time understanding how Suzie's family and friends are dealing with their grief.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Our current book selection "The Lovely Bones" is the winner of the American Bookseller Association's "Book of Year" Award.

"My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973." So begins the story of Susie Salmon, who is adjusting to her new home in heaven, a place that is not at all what she expected, even as she is watching life on earth continue without her - her friends trading rumors about her disappearance, her killer trying to cover his tracks, her grief-stricken family unraveling. Out of unspeakable tragedy and loss, "The Lovey Bones" succeeds, miraculously, in building a tale filled with hope, humor, suspense, even joy.