these are the lovely bones

Today, I finished reading Alice Sebold’s book, The Lovely Bones. (My bus-ride is worthy after all, yay!). What a breathtaking story. The best ever book I’ve read since John Grisham’s, A painted house. The Lovely Bone will turn into a movie directed by Peter Jackson, The one who brought us The Lord of The Rings and King Kong.

The story was set in 70s. The years when your high school crushes can last a lifetime and become your better half. And as Sebold says, it’s the year before kids of all races and genders started appearing on milk cartons or in the daily mail.

The story revolved around Susie Salmon, 14 years old on December, 1973 when she was brutally raped, murderer and dismembered by her seemingly shy neighbour Mr. George Harvey who lives alone and built dollhouse for a living. Over the next few years she watches from a personalized heaven as her family and friends deal with their grief over her death.

Will it turn out better than the book? I really hope so. I want to see how they’re going to visualize susie’s heaven. I’ve checked the list of actors and actresses. My favourite, Rachel Weisz will play Abigail, Susie’s mother who has a short affair with the detective and leave her husband because she’s too weak to accept the fact that her oldest daughter is dead. I’ve loved Weisz since her roles in The Constant Gardener. (She won an Oscar for this). Susan Sarandon plays Grandma Lynn, who moves into their house after her daughter leaves to help her son-in-law care for the remaining children, Susie’s precious sister Lindsey and beloved little brother, Buckley.

My favourite character is Ruth. I pictured her with a gothic sense of dressing. At some point Ruth had break all the rules by exchanging her soul with Susie, so Susie can once again kiss the boy she truly love from her high school years using Ruth’s body. Hal Heckler, the brother of Samuel Heckler, Lindsey’s boyfriend from high school to college and later become her husband, is another character of my favourite. Mark Wahlberg will play Jack Salmon, Susie’s father whom she loved most.

I’m so gonna watch this movie. I even read the movie’s script. Teeheehe. I’ve watched the official trailer and I hope it won’t be as disappointing as Twilight have been. While reading Twilight, I pictured Bella as someone self-reserved, cute and not pretty. I pictured Ellen Page as Bella while anyone can be Edward because no matter what, no human can be as handsome as Stephanie Meyer had described Edward’s look. Haha. Anyone plays Edward will going through long hour of excessive make-up. And Kristen Stewart made Bella looked too awkward.

What’s even more disappointing is too much have been left out in the movie. Summit Entertainment should have spent more on Twilight. The Sequel of the ridiculously popular saga will come into cinema some time in November. But I’m more eager to watch The Lovely Bones than New Moon. After all, Peter Jackson has reputation of turning book into good movie. The Lovely Bones will be release in US on 11 December and UK 29 January 2010. Haven’t seen release date for Malaysia or any part of Asia. Maybe we’ll get to see it some time in February next year. Du’oh.

I will blog about New Moon and The Lovely Bone after I watch it. In the meantime I'm moving to Alice Sebold's 3rd book and Second Novel, Almost Noon. Oh and by the way, her 1st book is a memoir described her experiences of being raped while walking home through an underground tunnel on campus. The book’s title is Lucky. This memoir of her ultimately tells the story of a brutal rape, the emotional trauma, and the aftermath of recovery. Now I know what inspired The Lovely Bones.