This was an amazing, gut-wrenching book. It's hard to recommend, because it follows the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl and the grief that envelopes and threatens to unravel her family. I like that the book is told from the perspective of the girl who was killed, from "her heaven". As parent, it was horrifying reading, and I cried a lot.
While the book offers a stark, emotionally raw look at life through the lens of trauma and grief and tragedy, it also offers a thread of hope.
In the book, hope does not come from justice (justice does surface occasionally in the book, but there is also an arbitrariness about it which seems more true to life than anything else), or from the capture of the perpetrator, but from survival. Even the narrator still exists after her death. She watches over her family, occasionally inspiring them or being inspired by them but with no real power or ability to interact directly with them.
You absolutely feel her frustration, her inability to intervene, as her killer goes on with his life, lies to the police, expresses his sorrow to her family. And then he goes on to kill again.
The book was very well-written, and a captivating story. I read it in two days.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
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5 comments:
Just FYI. I don't think anyone would call my new book gut-wrenching, but I am embarrassingly proud of it anyway. It just went into print today and can be ordered at http://3mpub.com/carper or at Amazon.
A Commentary on Marriage in the Bible, volume 1: the Torah by Jay Carper.
You can read more at my blog if you're interested.
BTW, Lovely Bones sounds like a great book, but I'm not sure if I could read it. It really does sound horrifying. :-(
Thank you, I will check out your book. Congratulations, btw.
I read this book a couple of years ago and agree with everything you wrote. Because it was so well written and the girl who was raped told the story, I really had a hard time reading some of it. It quickly pulled me in and at times, during the worse parts, I felt as if I was the girl and the horrible things were happening to me. I cried too.
If you want to read an excellent book - non fiction - I highly reccmmend "Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Journey to Change the World…One Child At A Time" - Young Reader’s Edition by
Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, Adapted by Sarah Thomson.
It is an inspiring story. There is a longer adult version, but I liked the Young Reader's Edition better. Half the size with real life pictures.
By the way this is my first comment, but I read your blog regularly. Always interesting posts filled with a blend of your life experiences, beliefs, and challenges. I have also found some other intersting sites from your blog. Thanks!
I also read this one a few years back. I loved it and felt very similarly to you. Lots of tears, but captivating, quick read.
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