Lovely Bones

I wanted to read The Lovely Bones several years ago when it was recommended to me, but for whatever reason I got distracted, lazy; I just never got around to it.

Once I started it, however, I could not put it down! It has been such a long time since I have read anything so completely consuming - voraciously swallowing every word, at times unable to keep my eyes on the words immediately following, wanting to skip over everything in anticipation of what would come next.

Heartbreaking, yet touching all at the same time,

the simple descriptions cut to the core, making the reader believe he or she is living in that moment right there with the characters.

I dont know what I believe about God, etc. but her depiction of heaven is simply beautiful: anything you dream it to be, it is, evolving and changing as your desires do.

We all frighten at the thought of ghosts among us, watching us. Yet as Susie Salmon keeps watch over her loved ones left on Earth, they feel her and feel at ease...

The book has a wonderful way of creating an unbiased depiction of the characters: no one is to blame - not even of that of the man she knows as her killer. You know that these actions are morally wrong, but they are described as so deeply human, you dont develop such a hatred of the people themselves.

Movies made based on books never cease to disappoint in the shadow of the expectations, I still love to see how they compare, always with high hopes.

Although I cannot picture Mark Wahlberg as Mr. Salmon, not because I doubt his acting but just due to my own strange vision I developed while reading, I am excited to see how it measures up to my imagination; to see how closely it resembles the book and in what ways the scenes are embellished or even completely added in new scenes for added excitement or emphasis.

The entire time I was enthralled in the novel, I always pictured the actress that will be playing Susie, which is obviously due to the fact that I had seen previews for the movie, both a benefit of that, but also a slight drawback that I was not able to create an image myself. Im not sure, though, that I ever fully develop a picture of the characters in my mind when I read, its more a shadow, an illusion, of a person.

However, to know that she would be playing the role and to picture her while I read, and to believe she fits the role assigned is a wonderful compliment to the casting director.

Ashley and I have been planning to see it since weeks before it even came out in the theaters but due to our level of miser-ness, we have decided to wait several weeks before viewing in order to use $6. movie coupons. :) My parents saw it when it first came out and I wouldnt let them tell me anything about it, and have tried to keep my knowledge of it to a minimum so that I am not swayed by anything before I can see it myself.