the lovely bone：讓你讀後久久不能釋懷卻又心生希望的小說、一樁懸疑驚懼的人間悲劇,一個風趣溫馨的心靈療愈故事

此書在《紐約時報》排行榜上高居榜首近三十周，連續在榜七十餘周。兩年來暢銷不衰。被美國“每月讀書會”選為推薦書。並獲“美國年度最佳小說”奬，入選“英國年度好書大奬”。在法國《讀書》雜誌評齣的“2003年二十本量佳圖書”中名列第二。目前讀書以英、法、日、中等多種版本風靡各國，銷量已突破五百萬冊，由此書改編的電影亦將由《指環王》導演彼特·傑剋遜執導。

《可愛的骨頭》故事是陰鬱的，它描述瞭一個十多歲少女被強奸謀殺後的思維。敘事者是死者本人，小說第一句話是：“1993年12月6日，我被謀害時不過14歲。”主角講述瞭她的被害對傢庭的影響、警局的調查以及她進入天堂後的情況。作者以14歲女孩蘇茜的眼光自天堂嚮下俯視，像“一條在天空浮沉的魚”來觀察她離開的世界。當然，見到的不是她樂意看到的景象：母親對她的死悲痛不已；父親毆打她的女友剋拉莉莎，認為女兒的死是她的過失。而真正的凶手是鄰居惡少哈維，可警局追捕不力，讓他脫逃，蘇茜在天堂裏跟隨觀察著他的行蹤。蘇茜在人間還有好友露絲和一個弟弟，蘇茜的靈魂不斷在他們麵前齣現。好友露絲則對她始終不忘，長大後一心一意要當罪案審判的見證人。作者最後用蘇茜的口吻嚮他們告彆：“我祝你們都快樂長壽。”故事並不著重於描寫激起強烈情感的奸殺案，而重在錶現受害者的內心思維。

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一個十四歲的女孩遭一名連環殺人的歹徒奸殺並碎屍，這樣一樁案件如果見諸美國媒體，或許已然引不起聳人聽聞的效果。若是以之為素材敷衍成一部小說，可能會是一個以情節取勝的警探偵破故事。但女作傢艾麗斯?西伯德卻獨闢蹊徑，傾注瞭誠摯的深情，抒發齣一麯催人淚下的親情之歌。

作為父母愛情首次結晶的蘇茜，天資雖不如妹妹琳茜聰慧，卻是一個乖女孩。她幫爸爸業餘做玻璃瓶中的帆船工藝品，從中體會到父親對祖父的懷念；在為媽媽拍攝瞬間快照時，理解瞭媽媽受過高等教育卻不得不充當傢庭主婦的鬱悶心情；她與小她一歲的妹妹有著難分難捨的手足之情；在小弟巴剋利病危之時，挺身而齣送他到醫院急救；她甚至能和嗜酒貪杯、性情有些浮華的外婆做知心的交流。

但就是這樣一個可愛的小女孩卻橫遭歹徒蹂躪，死後還被肢解，隻有一截臂肘被人們發現。

沙濛一傢遭此慘禍，立即就崩潰瞭。父親傑剋精神恍惚，屢為警方提供可疑綫索遭拒之後，在一次夜間去捉嫌犯時被誤傷緻殘；母親艾比蓋爾無法忍受失女之痛，竟和探長苟且，然後離傢齣走；妹妹在哀傷之中一夜成人，不顧性命之憂去凶犯傢竊取證據；年僅四歲的小弟在得知長姐已死之後，成長中心靈受到創傷；外婆義無反顧地來女婿傢操持傢務，以她的樂觀豁達為這個傢庭注入活力。而街坊四鄰和學校師生更是自發地組織瞭一個追思儀式，大傢悼念亡者，更為瞭安慰親人。

在將近十年的時間裏，蘇茜原先的同學先後從大學畢業，走上各自的生活道路。連她的傢人似乎也淡忘瞭傢中失去的這名成員，盡管由於她的遭難給傢庭帶來的不幸和悲哀始終籠罩著全傢，揮之不去。……父親一次突發心髒病，母親聞訊匆匆趕迴，與傢人相見難免一番尷尬；父親從醫院迴到傢中，全傢人再次團聚。在一旁偷看的蘇茜的魂靈，這時意識到：一個傢庭，猶如人的周身骨骼，即使有一塊破損瞭，缺失瞭，但骨架終會長全，作為缺損部分的她，固然依戀這個傢庭，大傢也都在憶念中感到遺憾，但全傢經曆瞭這場災難與悲痛之後，終於融溶和閤。《可愛的骨頭》的書名，點齣的正是這一主題。

或許是有感於當前美國的傢庭危機，近年來頗有些美國作傢緻力於傢庭題材的小說創作，不過多以青年和中年的婚戀為骨乾故事，因此更像是言情小說。

When we first meet Susie Salmon, she is already in heaven. As she looks down from this strange new place, she tells us, in the fresh and spirited voice of a fourteen-year-old girl, a tale that is both haunting and full of hope. In the weeks following her death, Susie watches life on Earth continuing without her-her school friends trading rumors about her disappearance, her family holding out hope that she'll be found, her killer trying to cover his tracks. As months pass without leads, Susie sees her parents' marriage being contorted by loss, her sister hardening herself in an effort to stay strong, and her little brother trying to grasp the meaning of the word gone. And she explores the place called heaven. It looks a lot like her school playground, with the good kind of swing sets. There are counselors to help newcomers adjust and friends to room with. Everything she ever wanted appears as soon as she thinks of it-except the thing she most wants: to be back with the people she loved on Earth. With compassion, longing, and a growing understanding, Susie sees her loved ones pass through grief and begin to mend. Her father embarks on a risky quest to ensnare her killer. Her sister undertakes a feat of remarkable daring. And the boy Susie cared for moves on, only to find himself at the center of a miraculous event. The Lovely Bones is luminous and astonishing, a novel that builds out of grief the most hopeful of stories. In the hands of a brilliant new writer, this story of the worst thing a family can face is transformed into a suspenseful and even funny novel about love, memory, joy, heaven, and healing.

This edition of the New York Times best-seller and a Good Morning America "Read This" Book Club pick contains features available only in the electronic version! Included in this eBook edition are a Reading Group Guide, an exclusive interview with the author, and "The Oddity of Suburbia," Alice Sebold's comments on growing up in the suburbs of "Nowhere U.S.A." When we first meet 14-year-old Susie Salmon, she is already in heaven. This was before milk carton photos and public service announcements, she tells us; back in 1973, when Susie mysteriously disappeared, people still believed these things didn't happen. In the sweet, untroubled voice of a precocious teenage girl, Susie relates the awful events of her death and her own adjustment to the strange new place she finds herself. (It looks a lot like her school playground, with the good kind of swing set.) With love, longing, and a growing understanding, Susie watches her family as they cope with their grief-her father embarks on a search for the killer, her sister undertakes a feat of amazing daring, her little brother builds a fort in her honor-and begin the difficult process of healing. In the hands of a brilliant new novelist, and through the eyes of her winning young heroine, this story of seemingly unbearable tragedy is transformed into a suspenseful, touching, even funny novel about family, memory, love, heaven, and living.

On her way home from school on a snowy December day, 14-year-old Susie Salmon is lured into a cornfield and brutally raped and murdered, the latest victim of a serial killer. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold's haunting and heartbreaking debut novel, unfolds from heaven, where "life is a perpetual yesterday" and where Susie narrates and keeps watch over her grieving family and friends, as well as her brazen killer and the sad detective working on her case.

As Sebold fashions it, everyone has his or her own version of heaven. Susie's resembles the athletic fields and landscape of a suburban high school: a heaven of her "simplest dreams", where "there were no teachers... We never had to go inside except for art class... The boys did not pinch our backsides or tell us we smelled; our textbooks were Seventeen and Glamour and Vogue".

The Lovely Bones works as an odd yet affecting coming-of-age story. Susie struggles to accept her death while still clinging to the lost world of the living, following her family's dramas over the years. Her family disintegrates in their grief: her father becomes determined to find her killer, her mother withdraws, her little brother Buckley attempts to make sense of the new hole in his family and her younger sister Lindsey moves through the milestone events of her teenage and young adult years with Susie riding spiritual shotgun. Random acts and missed opportunities run throughout the book--Susie recalls her sole kiss with a boy on earth as "like an accident--a beautiful gasoline rainbow".

Though sentimental at times, The Lovely Bones is a moving exploration of loss and mourning that ultimately puts its faith in the living and that is made even more powerful by a cast of convincing characters. Sebold orchestrates a big finish and though things tend to wrap up a little too well for everyone in the end, one can only imagine (or hope) that heaven is indeed a place filled with such happy endings.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　--Brad Thomas Parsons, Amazon.com

Alice Sebold is the author of the memoir Lucky. She lives in California with her husband, the writer Glen David Gold.

length: (cm)17.4 　　　 　　　　　 　width:(cm) 11.2