The Lovely Bones

This weekend my sister in law and I (Prattle) went to see a movie and of course the previews are always a favorite! There are many movies coming out that I really want to see, but there was one that gave me chills. I've read the book and I think because I know what is going on, is why I got chills.



“These were the lovely bones that had grown around my absence: “the connections – sometimes tenuous, sometimes made at a great cost, but often magnificent – that happened after I was gone. And I began to see things in a new way that let me hold the world without me in it. The events of my death wrought were merely bones of a body that would become whole at some unpredictable time in the future” (p. 320)



Looking the title up on google or wikipedia, you will get the complete synopsis of the story, but what doesn't come across is how Ms. Sebold has the ability to make you love Susie and her family and friends. I don't know if it is because I'm from a small town (not all that far from someone that sang about a living in a small town) that I can appreciate how when you know someone and they die how it effects the whole community. Or how convenient and tempting it is to take a short cut across a cold winter cornfield.

As a mother, reading this broke my heart but I couldn't stop. I didn't want to stop! I had to know what happened! There is enough action at points I think that will make the movie more than another "chick flick". I really think that parents should be required to have their children read it, or watch it if the movie stays close to the book.

There has been some controversy over whether or not teenagers should be "allowed" to read this, or if it should be on school library shelves. I don't understand how it couldn't be! Some parents let their teens watch overtly sexual movies that are rated R, or horror flicks.. This is something that has happened before (although not a true story) and unfortunately similar activities will happen again. In the 80's when America's Most Wanted came out, my parents strongly suggested that I watch it with them at least a couple of times a month. Just to reiterate the dangers that they had told me were out there. It is my opinion that reading this would reinforce what we tell our children about some strangers. Not to teach children to be cruel to strangers or to raise a family full of agoraphobics, but as a teaching tool on how to think about their safety. It is a very good book, one of my favorites.

Getting off my soap box... :) Watching the previews for "The Lovely Bones" reminded me of another favorite movie of mine, "What Dreams May Come". It has a different story line, this one is about the love between a man and a woman. The visuals are similar and very striking! As well as "Big Fish" which is a story about a father and son. The cinematography in all three of these are similar and very visually appealing to me.

See the "What Dreams May Come" trailer



and "Big Fish" trailer



It's the otherworldliness that drew me into these movies, almost fantasy and plausibly from my own imagination. I would have wanted to watch "The Lovely Bones" even if I hadn't read the book, go watch the trailer and on Friday go watch the movie!!

(or read a book, which is always my favorite!)

Scuttlebutt and Prattle, at your service.