When The Lovely Bones was published in 2002 it took off like a shot, catapulting its author, Alice Sebold, high into literary stardom. This dark, wrenching novel of disquietude and loss is the story of Susie Salmon, a 12 year old girl who is raped and murdered in an underground den by a neighbor one afternoon when she takes a shortcut home from school. Susie narrates the story from a place of solitude – her own personal heaven – where she observes her grief-stricken, traumatized family as they come to terms with her death while searching for answers about the crime. She also watches as her killer evades justice. Written in spare, at times lyrical, at times graphic, prose, Sebold’s novel is unsettling in its evocation of a conflicted afterlife, as well as its depiction of a terrifying, brutal crime that tears a family apart.
Now, seven years after it appeared as a book, The Lovely Bones will be a film. The bestselling novel has been brought to filmic life by Peter Jackson, the visionary director behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy, with an impressive cast that includes Mark Wahlberg, Susan Sarandon, and the amazing young actress, Saoirse Ronan. It’s even scored by Brian Eno. Watch the trailer below. To me, it’s one of the most compelling, artful trailers I’ve seen in a long time, and promises a deeply emotional experience with a searching tone and eerie, almost painted, beauty to it.
Are you a fan of Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak? Then don’t miss Alice Sebold’s first book, Lucky, a memoir about the rape she experienced her freshman year at Syracuse and the unlikely justice she eventually saw served, also available in the Loft.
I loved Saoirse Ronan’s performance in “Atonement,” and she has already drawn me into this story (just from watching her in the trailer).