ย The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Blurb: The Lovely Bones is the story of a family devastated by a gruesome murder — a murder recounted by the teenage victim. Upsetting, you say? Remarkably, first-time novelist Alice Sebold takes this difficult material and delivers a compelling and accomplished exploration of a fractured family’s need for peace and closure.
The details of the crime are laid out in the first few pages: from her vantage point in heaven, Susie Salmon describes how she was confronted by the murderer one December afternoon on her way home from school. Lured into an underground hiding place, she was raped and killed. But what the reader knows, her family does not. Anxiously, we keep vigil with Susie, aching for her grieving family, desperate for the killer to be found and punished.
Sebold creates a heaven that’s calm and comforting, a place whose residents can have whatever they enjoyed when they were alive — and then some. But Susie isn’t ready to release her hold on life just yet, and she intensely watches her family and friends as they struggle to cope with a reality in which she is no longer a part. To her great credit, Sebold has shaped one of the most loving and sympathetic fathers in contemporary literature.
Room by Emma Donoghue
Blurb: To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it’s where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.
Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it’s not enough…not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son’s bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.
Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, Room is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.
Content and opinions belong to KJ.Chapman
Pictures and blurbs sourced from Goodreads.com
I remember watching the film the lovely bones. I don’t know if the story is different from the book but it was so many things, tense and yet peaceful. It depended on the pov. There’s the bit at the end when you think he might get caught and the family don’t get the closure they needed.
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Please, don’t get me started on the film. Peter Jackson didn’t just murder the book, he mutilated it. The worst book to screen adaptation in the history of book to screen adaptations. *and breathe*
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Oh right. I better read it then. Lol
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Haha. Please do. It’s one of my favourites and is beautifully written. ๐
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Well I have to now you recommend it! ๐
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I have read and really enjoyed Lovely Bones. ( I havent seen the film, sounds like I’m not missing much!). I havent read Room, but have heard lots of good things about it.
Amanda.
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Room is great and the film lived up to the book. The Lovely Bones is amazing, but the film was a let down for me. ๐
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It’s been a long time since I read The Lovely Bones, but I’ve been interested in reading Room for a while since all the buzz last year. I’ll check it out for sure ๐
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Room was brilliant, and I enjoyed the film too ๐
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I’ve only seen the movie adaptation of The Lovely Bones but I enjoyed it. Room sounds really interesting!
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I read Room years ago and loved it. The recent film adaptation is spot on too. ๐
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