Book Review: The Lovely Bones

You may have seen the movie The Lovely Bones, but have you picked up the book, yet?

I saw the movie quite a while ago, so when I started reading the book, by Alice Sebold, I had a vague sense of what would be happening throughout, but nothing too definite. I honestly can't remember now if we had had any kids when I first saw the movie.

If you have kids, and you're sensitive to crimes against children (or even if you don't have children and you're sensitive to that), I really don't recommend you read this book. The beginning is a pretty brutal portrayal of what befalls 14-year-old Susie, and it made me a little ill to read it.

*SPOILER ALERT*

The rest of the book deals with Susie looking down from heaven and watching how her family and friends deal with her murder. She also follows her murderer at various points, which provides a different level of interest because you keep waiting and waiting for him to be found out and punished . . .

While I enjoyed the book for what I feel is probably an accurate portrayal of what families go through and how loss affects people very differently, I would not call it an uplifting book. While her family struggles on earth, even Susie is not particularly happy in heaven. It's heaven! I can't imagine not being happy and content there; and if I were to lose someone close to me (I'm talking about an unexpected death) I wouldn't want to imagine them anywhere but in a heaven where they feel every happiness all the time. I guess you could say I was a little disappointed with the portrayal of heaven.

Most of the characters in the book are likable, which is good because if they weren't I don't think The Lovely Bones would have enough redeeming qualities in it for me to say that I liked it.

As a parent myself, it's gotten more and more difficult to watch movies or read books dealing with child death. I can't imagine how I would deal with it myself, and it tends to make me a little morbid for a couple days.

I know I wouldn't re-read this book, but it easily kept me reading when I had free time. It was just okay to me, but not something I would recommend people run out and buy right now, as I would with other novels.

If you've read The Lovely Bones, you might be interested in Lucky: A Memoir, which is also by Alice Sebold. It recounts Sebold's own rape as an 18-year-old and how she overcame it. This has an even more brutal account of her victimization, but I enjoyed the uplifting and inspiring aspects of this book more than The Lovely Bones. Check it out!

Book Review: Outlander

I had never heard of the Outlander series until fairly recently when it was recommended to me by my husband's friend/coworker. She knows I love reading, and I am so thrilled to have read Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. Thank goodness there are seven more books in the series because I can't wait to read them!

Outlander is the story of Claire, a young, married woman who was a nurse during WWII. While sightseeing with her husband in Scotland, they come across some odd stones. When she goes back for a closer look at some plants she believes might have some medicinal use, she finds herself transported back in time to the year 1743. She comes into contact with her husband's ancestor and quickly (and repeatedly) discovers he is much less than the honorable man he is depicted to be in historical writings.

Claire soon finds herself married to a young Scotsman, against her will, but eventually faces a heart-wrenching dilemma: should she go back to the stones and attempt to get back to her husband whom she loves in 1946, or should she stay and see what comes of this relationship and her growing feelings for her "new" husband?

As a woman of the 20th century, Claire often finds it difficult to conform to proper behavior, and the situations that arise are humorous and, at times, chilling.

Gabaldon has a unique way of making the reader feel inclined one way, only to find his/her inclination tend the opposite way a few chapters later. I was continually surprised by the book, and fell in love with the characters and the relationships among them. It was a unique read, and as I said, I look forward to reading the next in the series . . . If only someone would hurry up and return it to the library!

Book Review: "The Other Queen"

Philippa Gregory is a master at writing historical fiction. If you've seen the film "The Other Boleyn Girl," you've seen a movie based on one of her novels. If you enjoyed it, I highly suggest you read the book as it is much richer in detail and history. It's not dry or boring in the least; her writing is entertaining and interesting every bit of the way. As she herself admits, not everything in her books is based on fact because not all the facts are known. When this happens, she fictionalizes plausible events or occurrences based on the information she knows. When you glance at the Bibliography at the end of each of her books, you'll realize how much research she does before writing her books. It's astounding.

The Other Queen features Mary Queen of Scots. She sought help from her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England when her life was threatened in Scotland. Mary fled to England to save her life, but quickly realized how difficult it was becoming to get back to her throne in Scotland. Elizabeth I felt threatened by Mary's own claim to the throne of England, and she and her adviser were hesitant to let Mary go back to Scotland without promises that she would not attempt to claim the throne of England. Mary became involved in plots against Elizabeth and soon found herself a prisoner of England instead of a guest of England; eventually, she was on trial for her life.

The book also follows the Earl of Shrewsbury and his wife, who were charged with keeping Mary during her stay in England. Both of them seemed to factor largely in Mary's day-to-day life during her time in England; gradually, she became a punishment for them, rather than the honor they first thought it would be.

What I enjoyed about The Other Queen, was the conflicting emotions I felt throughout. At times I admired and liked Mary, while at others I utterly despised her. I felt sorry for the Earl of Shrewsbury, but at other times thought he was an imbecile. His wife at times made me think she was the most selfish and cold-hearted person ever to live, while other times I empathized with her plight.

It was an enlightening read, and I went through a range of emotions while reading it: excitement, frustration, sadness, empathy, annoyance, and happiness, to name a few! Although it wasn't my favorite novel of Gregory's, it was one I'll probably end up adding to my repertoire of re-reads.

If you're interested, my favorites from this author are The Other Boleyn Girl and The Constant Princess. The first focuses on Anne Boleyn's sister, Mary, while the second focuses on Henry VIII's first wife Katherine in her younger years. Over the last few years I've become very interested in anything involving Henry VIII - so much so that I bought the history book The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir. I'm not much of a purely historical literature person (although I wish I were), but this book was excellent. It does not read like the history textbooks you might remember from school; instead, it pulls you through the lives of the wives of Henry VIII so quickly and easily that you're sure you must be reading fiction. Definitely check 'em out!

Book Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

I finally got around to reading Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs, after having it on my Amazon wishlist for about 6-8 months. Sometimes I just put books on there to remind myself I want to read them. It's a good thing I do, too, because when I remember to check it I always find myself surprised at what I have on there!

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the originality of this book. It's along the same vein of fantasy/sci-fi books that I love, but was refreshingly different.

Jacob, the protagonist, loves listening to tales of his grandpa's adventures when he's younger, but he gets to a certain age and realizes there's no way those things actually happened. The photos his grandpa shows him of children levitating and holding enormous boulders are clearly just made to look that way. Well, after his grandpa dies under abnormal circumstances, Jacob finds himself on a journey that takes him to a remote island in search of answers. He finds himself face-to-face with the children from his grandpa's photographs and none of them has aged.

While thrilled that these children are real, and so then are his grandpa's stories, Jacob finds himself faced with a very difficult choice. And, he must make this choice while in extreme danger not only to himself, but his family.

It really was an interesting read, and I'm thrilled that Riggs is working on a sequel! Interestingly, the photos peppered throughout the book are real photos that people have acquired through the years and Riggs was able to locate and use. Although, I will say the photos displayed throughout the book were more disturbing to me than anything else. They didn't really jive with the way I was picturing the characters from the descriptions given. But, that was a minor deterrent for me that didn't affect my enjoyment of the book. Definitely check it out!!

Book Review: "The Land of Later On"

I was pretty excited to read Anthony Weller's The Land of Later On. It wasn't a book anyone had recommended to me; it was one I happened across on Amazon and thought looked interesting. I had high hopes that I had found a real winner all on my own.

It was average. I don't regret reading it, but I wouldn't read it again. That is saying something, because I am an avid book re-reader. Good thing it was inexpensive and is on my Kindle, not taking up valuable space on my actual bookshelf.

You know that Seinfeld episode where George sends Jerry to get a book he left at his ex-girlfriend's apartment and it turns into a whole fiasco? Jerry doesn't see what the big deal is because George won't read it again and people just collect books as a prestige thing. Totally not true in my case. I'll re-read books (mostly series) numerous times and enjoy them every time.

Anyway, the book was fine, I just wasn't able to get totally immersed in it. Weller's writing is interesting and fluid,  but I wasn't pulled in as I am with  books I love. The protagonist, Kip, writes his account of The Land of Later On (aka the afterlife). His wife has died years before him, and he commits suicide to be with her again. Weller's depiction of the afterlife was definitely new to me.

He describes it similarly to the regular world, except you can travel any where and any when. As in, you can visit any place in the world in any time period you choose, even exact dates in history. Kip is on a desperate search for his wife because people are subtly urged to reincarnate themselves and not remain in the afterlife. Kip's quest seems impossible, of course, because his wife has been there for years, and could literally be anywhere in the world, and maybe not even in the current year, let alone century. It's devastating to think of yourself trying to locate someone in those circumstances.

Luckily, he meets Walt Whitman (yeah, that was a neat twist) and is guided and aided by him in his search. The premise of the book is really intriguing and romantic in a bleak, morbid sort of way. It was an interesting read, and pretty out of the norm for me, so I was pleased with that. As I said, I didn't dislike it; I just wouldn't spend the time reading it again.