The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

I started this novel yesterday and I finished it today. I must have been reading for six hours continuously before I fell asleep. And then when I got up this morning I finished the last 50 pages.

Sometimes you read good books, and sometimes bad books. This novel is a good one. It keeps your interest from the start. It turns what is a sad brutal crime into an account of how to live. The novel also ends on that note - "I wish you all a long and happy life".

Recently in Lodhi Gardens I overheard a discourse on what one wants from life. In the answers given, a lady stated, that all one wants from life is to be happy. The last line of the novel adds to this, saying that we should all have a long life as well. A brief life, no matter how well lived, is still a brief life. That's why in India, when you see the body of an old person being taken to the cremation ground, there will be balloons attached - to signify that the person lived a long and happy life.

It is well written. Even though I can't understand why the mother did what she did. Why the father said that he'll let her be herself. There seems to be this underlying thought in the novel that if you're a housewife, you really aren't yourself. Ofcourse, things did fall apart after Susie was killed.

I seriously recommend this novel for all those looking for a novel to read.