The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
It's hard to predict which books will become best sellers, but when they do reach that plateau, it seems as if that's the time to hop on the bandwagon.

Sometimes I like to read a popular novel and pick it apart (even if there isn't really anything wrong with it) just to be an antagonizing jerk. So when The Lovely Bones was recommended to me, I assumed that it would be another such case; I was completely wrong.

The book starts off on a very somber tone. It introduces Susie Salmon, a teenage girl living in a Philadelphia suburb, as the main character and shortly after the reader witnesses her rape and murder.

Afterwards, she begins telling the story of her family, friends and killer from her point of view in Heaven. The book doesn't really move very fast, but it does move around a lot. There are numerous characters and each of them are a masterpiece in that their humanity is so well described. From Susie's parents to even her killer, they are all understandable on some level.

As for the events of the book, they don't focus so much on what happens or will happen - we already know, Susie is dead and her family isn't - but more on how these things happen. Susie tells the story of not only how her family copes with losing her, but how she deals with losing them.

What's unique about the book, is that Susie is at once the main character and narrator. She is only physically involved in the story for a very brief period and from then on an observer. Still, her presence is felt intimately as she describes what happens and her feelings toward the event taking place. Sebold writes the story as if it were told by a young teenager and less as an author, adding much more credibility to the character.

What sets the book apart is how remarkably emotional it is. You watch Susie's family right beside her and you can almost feel how they feel. Your emotions serve as a marionette beneath Sebold's fingers, dancing from sadness, to joy, to anger, to sympathy, to pride, sometimes all in one chapter. Sebold concentrates on one character's life long enough to understand what they are doing and how they feel and moves on to show how that makes everyone else feel with near flawless skill.

The book can be hard to read at times due in large part that some parts can be so incredibly depressing - Susie's killer approaching her family and offering his sympathies, hiding any trace of evidence for example - but by the time the novel ends and things are finally resolved, you realize that all the pain this family went through wasn't as important as how they overcame it.

The Lovely Bones is a great read. It's compelling and unique. It's easy to relate with and still stands far apart from other books, there are few like it (though I have read that there were a few very similar titles that followed it by other authors, but that issue can wait). It may not be action packed, but it's more than enough to satisfy.