Spiritual Fiction Books – “the Lovely Bones”

“The Lovely Bones” is a spiritual fiction book that I have been a little late in reviewing, although I do have a great excuse – I never started my career as a reviewer until last month! It is very well written and I would recommend it for younger readers, particularly teens and young adults. The story line is taken from the perspective of a fourteen year old who remains fourteen for the entire book. She evolves as an observer, yet does not “get involved’ in the outcome of the plot once she is removed as a physical character. My “issue” is with the circumstances of her murder….

I read “The Lovely Bones” and then immediately went out and rented the DVD. I was curious to see how the murder of Suzie Salmon would be depicted in the movie, as it didn’t make sense to me in the book. The movie just made it even more unconvincing for me.

Suzie Salmon is a normal fourteen year old girl. She is walking home from school one afternoon through a harvested cornfield (that piece of information is paramount to my issue) when she is approached by a known neighbor. George Harvey convinces Suzie to have a look at something he has built in the cornfield, and against her better judgment, she agrees. Mr. Harvey has constructed an underground room in the middle of this cornfield, which is in viewing distance of the town’s suburbs and fairly close to the school Suzie and other students attend. Once lured into this underground room, Suzie is raped and murdered by Mr. Harvey. He “collapses” the room and disposes of Suzie’s body, leaving very little evidence. The police find some lumber and a significant amount of blood in the earth. Her hat is found by the police, and a neighbourhood dog finds Suzie’s elbow (she was dismembered). This is the only proof that she has been murdered as her body is never found.

This is a spiritual fiction book, similar to “Ghost” with less violence and a less sinister plot. Unlike “Ghost” which begins with Patrick Swayze being murdered in an armed robbery (believable), Suzie Salmon is murdered in an underground room in a field of corn. It is the beginning of December and the corn has been harvested. This means that the room would have to have been started in September after the harvest, or the combine would have collapsed the whole thing. The hole would have to be dug and the earth removed and hidden a sufficient distance away to leave no evidence that it was there. Lumber would have to have been brought in for the roof (ceiling) and support walls without the benefit of heavy machinery. ALL of this was done by ONE man in the middle of the night over a maximum of three months’ time! He would have to have left no tracks and left no great disturbance of the surrounding area EVERY NIGHT (to the point of replacing the corn rows above ground which would have been visible). In the movie, it even shows him digging at night using the lights from his car shining on him as he works.

Once he had committed the murder, he would have had to get rid of Suzie’s body, take away all of the lumber and articles he had in the room which were shown in the movie, substantially fill the hole with dirt again and cover his tracks. This would have had to have been done without a vehicle or any other assistance within the space of one night (possibly two if he was lucky) before the area was thoroughly searched.

I believe that a book needs to have a believable beginning, even if you are going to put your beliefs in as you progress. I’m not sure how many people would care that the beginning did not add up to what would be physically possible. Perhaps when you are able to believe in God, heaven, hell and other things spiritual, literary license can make the physical improbabilities irrelevant. It wasn’t the case in my experience, so it puts the book on my list of those that I give away, rather than keep on my bookshelf to read again.

I did finish reading the book within a week so the unbelievable portion did not cause me to stop reading, however a more believable beginning would have made the rest seem more real to me. I did love the slant on what heaven may be like, and I also believe there is an “in-between” that some of us will experience for a period of time when we die – kind of like being held after school when you really just want to go home. The book also has heartbreak, romance, drama and a very happy ending, so I hope you enjoy it.
By the way, I do have experience trying to dig exactly what Mr. Harvey dug. It took me and my three brothers and my sister most of the summer to get a six foot wide and 8 foot long hole about two feet deep with a couple of sheets of plywood and two by fours for a roof completed. The roof sagged, the bottom was a mudhole whenever it rained, and there was no way to hide the evidence of our activity, corn or no corn.

Laughter and love,

Rick Fess

“The Lovely Bones” Author – Alice Sebold
Little, Brown and Company www.HachetteBookGroup.com
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By: Rick Fess

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Rick Fess is a retired business man who is now focusing on his passion – spirituality and self-improvement through books, CDs, DVDs, movies and the internet. Please visit his website at www.spiritualfictionbooks.com to see some of his other articles or if you would like to know about his upcoming spiritual fiction book “Is There More?”. He currently lives near Port Dover, Ontario, Canada with his wife and two children. Thank you for your interest - you can send any comments to him through the website.