I found this book rather disturbing, and, in fact, it gave me nightmares. Then, on top of that, I had a hard time getting into it. It was a little disappointing, because I had heard such good things about it, but then it just wasn't my cup of tea. And it really irked me that they never found the rest of her body.
What I liked: 1. I really liked how Sebold was so empathetic in her portrayal of the reactions of all the characters. They all had flaws and good points, but she didn't portray anyone as all bad (not even Mr. Harvey) or all good (not even Susie). It made them seem more real. 2. I liked the plot, for the most part, and the way she structured it around Susie's view from heaven. There were particular scenes that I didn't care for, but the overall idea and the way it was executed, I liked.
I'm not sure if I would recommend this to someone else. Like I said, I found it disturbing. On the other hand, it is a beautiful portrayal of a family's, and community's, attempt to deal with a death. I'm torn.
The beginning of the book was disturbing, I will agree.
The author's portrayal of how the girl experienced heaven was different than other books I have read. The author was very good at being tuned in to how a young person could be experiencing heaven.
I was not happy with the mother leaving her husband and children to work through their grief and adding to it by having to experience her absence too.
It upset me that the sheriff and the mother's indiscretion took him away from paying attention to the father's intuition of who the killer was. As a result the killer got away and murdered more people. Lives would have been saved if he had stuck to business.
I had hoped they would have found the rest of her body, too. But then that would have been extremely disturbing for the family.
2 comments:
I found this book rather disturbing, and, in fact, it gave me nightmares. Then, on top of that, I had a hard time getting into it. It was a little disappointing, because I had heard such good things about it, but then it just wasn't my cup of tea. And it really irked me that they never found the rest of her body.
What I liked: 1. I really liked how Sebold was so empathetic in her portrayal of the reactions of all the characters. They all had flaws and good points, but she didn't portray anyone as all bad (not even Mr. Harvey) or all good (not even Susie). It made them seem more real. 2. I liked the plot, for the most part, and the way she structured it around Susie's view from heaven. There were particular scenes that I didn't care for, but the overall idea and the way it was executed, I liked.
I'm not sure if I would recommend this to someone else. Like I said, I found it disturbing. On the other hand, it is a beautiful portrayal of a family's, and community's, attempt to deal with a death. I'm torn.
The beginning of the book was disturbing, I will agree.
The author's portrayal of how the girl experienced heaven was different than other books I have read. The author was very good at being tuned in to how a young person could be experiencing heaven.
I was not happy with the mother leaving her husband and children to work through their grief and adding to it by having to experience her absence too.
It upset me that the sheriff and the mother's indiscretion took him away from paying attention to the father's intuition of who the killer was. As a result the killer got away and murdered more people. Lives would have been saved if he had stuck to business.
I had hoped they would have found the rest of her body, too. But then that would have been extremely disturbing for the family.
A well written book.
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