Challenged officially in Westport, Connecticut, The Lovely Bones starts with the rape and murder of 14-year-old Susie Salmon, who narrates a decade of the aftermath from heaven. She follows her family, friends and her murderer and describes how her murder changes them. Chicken Spaghetti has a small discussion about whether the book is appropriate for middle school, the maturity level of the readers being the main concern.

A film version directed by Peter Jackson is due for US release in December, worldwide at the end of January. The trailer looks like they are sticking to the book, and a December release of a non-holiday film usually means they are trying for an Oscar. It’s also on the Museum, Libraries and Archives Council’s 2006 list of 30 Books you Should Read Before you Die.

Here is my take. Sebold handles rape, murder, teenage sex, drugs, and adultery with tact and grace and with a tone and level of detail necessary for the plot of the book. These are things that really happen in the world and the author has refrained from gratuitous details—the equivalent of fading to another scene in the movies, in many cases. We’re not talking Cathy Coote, here.

Susie narrates how her unsolved murder sends her friends and family in new directions. It drives some closer together, others apart. Occasionally she watches as clues are found and on random occasions makes her presence felt, but can’t do much more than watch. It covers all the human things that they dismiss on the news in similar cases in favor of the sensational parts of the story.

I knew kidnapping, rape and murder happened to people when I was in the 3rd Grade in the 70’s. I can only imagine how much more kids know about now. It’s not like they can’t read between the lines in the commercials for crime shows and the “Approved for All Audiences” movie trailers. We were all more sophisticated than our parents thought when we were young; not having our sophistication taken seriously was a part of the frustration of being a teenager, remember?

That being said, “The Empire Strikes Back” taught me that it was possible for bad guys to win, but when we were assigned “To Build a Fire” in 6th grade, several children were mildly upset the man died in the end. I was reading Stephen King by the time I was 11, some friends of mine at the time couldn’t handle his books, and some could. (I was even less affected than my father, who upon finishing ‘Salem’s Lot, turned on the light in the hallway, then returned to the livingroom to turn the light off, then turned on the light to the bedroom, and went back to the hallway to turn the light off, then turned on the light to the bathroom, and turned the bedroom light off. He left the bathroom light on.)

Thinking back to school, I think everyone would have been able to handle The Lovely Bones by 9th Grade, even moreso now with children seeing pictures of abducted and imprisoned children routinely on the news. Evil happens. They need to know it exists to protect themselves. In my opinion it’s better that they learn it from The Lovely Bones, which explores the toll an unsolved murder takes on family, friends and even the poor boy falsely accused of killing the neighborhood pets, than from bits and pieces on the news that fade away before the story is complete.

It’s a great book to put on a suggested reading list for middle school, as teens can easily relate to the language and subject matter and it’s likely to get them to read. It’s possibly poor judgment to specifically assign it to a class younger than 9th grade, although it’s unlikely to do permanent harm. I don’t think it’s necessary to remove it from a school library so NO students can read it. If a student isn’t ready to handle the material, he or she is unlikely to check the book out, or get past the first chapter, for that matter. I can guarantee, however, that details far more graphic than Sebold’s are popping up in conversation at lunch whether the school is private or public.

Likes: References to “Our Town” and “To Kill a Mockingbird” deepen the story; elements of “Rear Window” add suspense.

Dislikes: After several years have gone by, Susie’s spirit possesses an old friend and makes love to the first boy who kissed her. As someone who doesn’t find “closure” validating, I found this unnecessary, but many will likely disagree.

I loved the ending, but I loved the endings of Das Boot, the Prisoner, Nowhere Man and wish they had stopped Farscape at “Bad Timing”. If you are expecting a clean Campbell ending, you may be disappointed. It doesn’t end with a trial, or the detective shooting anyone, or a car chase, or Susie driving her murderer to madness as a poltergeist. I desperately hope they don’t ruin this in the film.