THE LOVELY BONES [Book][Eng]

Written by Funn Lim

"I myself find it an ok read but not earth shattering good that I can't put down the book."



SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

LANGUAGE

English

PUBLISHED IN

2002

AUTHOR

Alice Sebold

OFFICIAL PLOT & REVIEW

From Amazon.com

On her way home from school on a snowy December day in 1973, 14-year-old Susie Salmon ("like the fish") is lured into a makeshift underground den in a cornfield and brutally raped and murdered, the latest victim of a serial killer--the man she knew as her neighbor, Mr. Harvey. Alice Sebold's haunting and heartbreaking debut novel, The Lovely Bones, 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 like an episode of My So-Called Afterlife. 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

REVIEW

I read the book The Lovely Bones in anticipation of the movie by Peter Jackson and I found myself skipping the later parts more often than I thought I would. Put it this way, it is not as terrible as Twilight but it isn't as good as Jeffrey Archer or Stephen King sort of books. In fact it is quite an effort for a first timer but I just couldn't understand...

1. if you're 14, raped, brutally murdered,chopped to pieces and obviously dead, wouldn't you want to find God and just ask "Why me Man? Why?". The book never even point to that, maybe avoiding the trappings of religious overtures BUT heaven is a very religious concept. How can this girl be so cool with her death?

2. She may not be able to do anything much to those who are alive but she has never tried to see if she can haunt her killer, not once. I would definitely try to scare him, and even if I can't I would make up a fuss why I can't.

3. She doesn't seem to hate her killer enough. She seems...zen like about her death.

4. The book did describe one of the most difficult scene, the luring of the girl,rape and the aftermath. The rape a bit but nothing tasteless like for publicity sort of way. BUT the book missed the opportunity to describe how she felt at dying time. Her rape was given a few paragraphs but her moment of death, one sentence. After that she was in Heaven but very little to describe how she felt in her dying moment, her adjusting to the death. The book did say she can go to heaven proper sort of thing if she were to accept her death and let the living live their lives which she couldn't until the end but the problem is she didn't seem to be the sort who can't let go. Her role is more as an observer and I hope the movie will make her an active participant.

5. Her father who was convinced the killer is her killer suddenly stopped being convinced and a decade or so passed and the killer dies but not from the act of revenge by his father. Such a devastating death and not one para to describe perhaps the father's rage. And I mean RAGE, not anger. I am disappointed after a while everybody seems to let her death go whilst the grief lingers. No no no! Anger comes first, anger fuels grief!

6. Her mother has an affair with the detective but the book justified it as a meaningless sort of sex, like letting go sort of sex. The mother walked out of the family and children for a decade or so and the book justified it as well coping with the protaganist's death. The only one to show any backbone and anger to the mother's abandonment was the young son. The protaganist decided not to judge her mother as she observed the mother's actions. I find this hard to believe. Why is it when a child dies the father deals with grief with thoughts of murder but the mother goes on to have sex and leaves the family? And the anger is just touch and go. There's an happy ending for the mother. I find the mother irresponsible, living in her own la-la land and very annoying.

7. The police did not even investigate. I mean the killer killed I think more than 5 girls or so. The detective was too busy having sex with the mother. When he found out there may be connections to other murders, nothing much was done to track him down. I mean useless detective.

8. The heroine fell to earth and entered another body after a decade or so observing her family, friends and first love and what did she do? She rushed to have sex with her one time first puppy love. Only later she remembered to call her brother but that was too late. She had to go. So...not going after your killer, not seeking your beloved daddy to give him one last hug, not see your sister and say good bye but sex.

9. This book also talks about her friends and I find them irrelevant and boring because one girl wasn't even her best friend. A whole large part was about her younger sister but that was a fluke. It was more on her younger sister's love life and when she did do something for the dead like stalking the killer, it ended abruptly. She didn't even seek the killer out later on. It ws like suddenly she just let go.

10. The killer saw the younger sister stalking him and what did he do? Nothing. Very anti climax.

11. The killer's end, so no justice. So did she move the icicle or what? More like just pure luck he lived for many years and just die falling down. I want a violent end and I want justice. It was like none. And this is a child rapist and killer mind you.

12. If you find the killer's story more interesting than the protaganist, surely the author has failed. And indeed, I find the killer more interesting. I find the heroine bland, her family bland, her story in the after life bland, and not very descriptive.

13. And the final ending, whilst reaching the end where the protaganist herself was able to let go of her family and move on as her family so easily did, I find it again bland. What is acutely missing is confusion, anger or rather maybe the author didn't describe it well.

14. One part I was moved and touched was a one paragraph of her dog, dead of old age finding her in her version of Heaven, where only those who has in common or truly seek can find each other and obviously the dog was seeking her. Other than that, bland.

15. The worst part was her falling down to earth and her mind was sex.

16. The entire book, like how a female author would write is all about feelings, how I feel, how they feel, how he feels. With all the feelings, I still feel the book empty in soul. It is like missing something and after thinking about it I realise I may have set the standard too high as this was her first effort. But penmanship is so important and I find the book badly paced. After like halfway through it was like suddenly the author ran out of things to say and so just went on to reach the target of a novel or number of pictures.

VERDICT

Most fantastic debut? Nope. Great story? Nope. If I remember correctly there was a similar sort of storyline in Christopher Pike's Remember Me, which was a shorter and more exciting book, more of a thriller than a philosophical one which this present book tries to be. Interesting read? Yes, until halfway. Will the movie be better? It seems the movie cut out several pivotal scenes.

My point is read and judge for yourself. I myself find it an ok read but not earth shattering good that I can't put down the book. That honour goes to the recent book I read, Jeffrey Archer's Prisoner Of Birth. Now that is one hell of a book and definitely a page turner but in the true Archer way, his ending as in the last chapter always kinda suck but every page before the last page was indeed a page turner!

Not this present book though.

INTERESTING STUFF

The entire story here. MAJOR SPOILERS!

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WHY TWILIGHT IS A NOMINEE FOR THE DEATH OF GOOD LITERATURE

Written by Funn Lim

" "

Note
There are 4 books in the Twilight series: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. Any surprise what these books are about? The following is my opinion on the first book, Twilight. Fans of Twilight best avoid this opinion.

SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

I admit, I have never heard about this book or the author until I stumbled across the Twilight movie promos after reading how Warner Bros chickened out of releasing the Harry Potter movie at the same time as Twilight movie and that was like weeks before the movie will be broadcast. I bought all 4 books, each more expensive than the other, where for Twilight I bought the movie tie in version. My advice is wait until the movie tie in version, if not, you will have to pay RM10-00 more for the 4th book. I know the basic story; it is a love story between a vampire guy and a human girl. That in itself could stretch to 4 books kinda stirred my interest. And I was happy I had new materials to read. Kinokuniya at KLCC is my favourite bookshop.

Anyway, read it in 3 days, mostly speed read which is not good news for me. The book is appealing understandably for the young ones because it is written in simple language. How many ways can you say I love you? In this book, 1 way; simply I LOVE YOU. So how complicated can that be? The names of the heroes and heroines even reminded me of the Judith McNaught type of romance books, with a twist. The girl is Isabella Swan or Bella and the guy who is a vampire who looks eternally 17 but is actually about 100 years old is Edward Cullen or well.. Edward. Both very sturdy not very often used name, especially Edward. No Eddie, no Ed but Edward. Very aristocratic. Other character names like Rosalie, Emmet, Jasper, Carlisle, Annie, Laurent, James, Victoria, etc ... very old timer names that explains old how the vampires are. Modern names like Jessica, Mark, etc. There's one Jacob Black, a simple enough name to stick in one's mind. Nothing complicated.

The story begins with Bella moving back to a really small town that rains more than shines with her Chief police father when her mother remarried as she felt she was intruding in her mother's life. She is a sullen 17 year old who hates attention and would rather keep to herself. At school where she is mostly alone, she was first struck by the curiosity of a group of 5 pale people who sit together but never eat and she was struck in awe by one of them, Edward's pale magnificence and also the way Edward looked at her; that is with pure hatred. Later into the story we will discover why he looked at her so; he is a vampire who kills animals only so basically a vegetarian vampire forever thirsty for some human blood. Problem with Bella is her blood is like fine wine to him. He thirsts for her blood, he wants to bite her but yet because he who can usually read other people's mind couldn't read hers, he was intrigued and slowly fell for her. Bella already lost her mind to love from the beginning.

The entire premise of the story is forbidden love in a sense; Bella will grow old, so her fear is she would die before him. She wants him to make her a vampire. Edward's fear is her losing her soul so he was reluctant. Very reluctant. Moreover there is a danger in this relationship; Bella is like a prey, a very delicious prey to Edward and at any time if he ever loses control he might just bite her. The story explains that to become a vampire, a person must be bitten (not to death) by a vampire and the venom in the vampire's teeth will travel and change the physical aspects of a human being and in 3 days a human is now a vampire, an immortal. Problem is it also includes 3 days of extreme pain as the venom travels through the bloodstream. Then there is the ethical issue of killing people to feed.

I didn't quite get Edward's reluctance to change Bella. The truth is there is no major consequence to the change. The whole myth about how sunlight can burn the vampire is apparently just a myth. So the vampires can walk around in the afternoon. The only catch is if under direct sunlight, a vampire will glow like crystals so obviously no human can do that. So for me there is no stigma to change and the whole soul thing with Edward seems rather forced. We don't know much about Edward's past, except he was dying from the influenza or something like that until his adopted vampire father, a young handsome blond Carlisle, a doctor immune to blood after years of practice changed him for companionship. He didn't blame the doctor but he struggles with the killings and the soul thing. When I said struggles, it wasn't very well written. The struggle was feeble. The entire soul argument didn't make sense. A vampire who believes in soul? Was he religious? Did Edward believe in the existence of a higher power? Because I didn't get that impression.

The rest of the book deals with Bella catching the deadly interest of another vampire named James who wanted to bite her and how Edward and gang raced to save her. And also her friendship with a young Jacob Black who himself shall have a big role in the next book.

In between we have many many passages of Bella and Edward, quiet moments where they talk about each other, increasingly becoming more passionate in words but not in actions because he can't kiss her too passionately for fear of accidental biting. So the book is pretty chaste, no sex, not even French kiss.

What it does have is an overdose of repetitive description. By the 2nd chapter and thereafter every other paragraph, I know Edward is mindbogglingly awesomely mega super duper Greek god hard chest, full lips, great hair total gorgeousness. Every vampire she met has the same awesome beauty and grace. Edward smells great too, talks sweet, walks gracefully and is basically just like the most ideal royal prince ever, except he is a bloodsucker who will not age and will not die. Tragic eh? And by the 2nd chapter I also know Bella is accident prone. She just tumbles, stumbles and falls like a total klutz. Except that if someone can be as clumsy as her, her eyesight must have some problem OR she must have some balance problem because no one can be THAT clumsy. She is also quite anti-social in my opinion since she hates parties, gatherings, proms, birthdays, etc. Why Edward loves her is because she is intriguing, he can't read her like an open book and because her blood is irresistible to him as much as her companionship. She is supposed to be plain or so she thinks. The problem with all these is the repetition. Bella always hyperventilate when she kisses Edward. I know he is a supreme gorgeousness but to repeat every time she hyperventilates is really a chore to read. To repeatedly read how gorgeous he is is also quite a chore. It's like at the end of that chapter I could have sworn she repeats herself every other paragraph. I kinda felt frustrated by the lack of good description. Not much is said about appearances except for the very basic. However there are some strange descriptions like Edward's chest is granite hard and cold and yet the same paragraph, Bella says as she lies on his chest that his chest is soft. The way he picked her up is as if she is a child. All those bed talks, literally are about how I feel, how you feel, how we feel. It is quite obvious a woman wrote this book because to me women authors place more emphasis on feelings when it comes to love story. The entire book is more about feelings and each discovering each other's feelings.

It doesn't mean it is a badly written book. But to say it rivals JK Rowling's expressive and expansive words is ridiculous. Stephenie Meyers' way of describing feelings is question upon questions and then to end it all with I will die for you, I rather die than live, I love you. Pretty standard and unimaginative and cringe worthy words as well as unromantic.

The better passages were mostly the action parts, how Bella confronted the sadistic James and escaped, barely. Now sadistic is the word used, often we also read how Edward said he could read the minds of those 4 men following Bella at some dark alley and he could read what they wanted to do, enough for him to want to hunt and kill them. And James torturing Bella. Exciting stuff but in the end inadequately written mainly probably because the author could not bring herself to describe them? In that part Anne Rice was more poetic and forthright and I see familiar elements between these 2 authors, especially in the 2nd book where she was describing the ancient vampires, which reminded me of the ancient ones in Interview With The Vampire. But I do enjoyed these passages and especially those that concentrates on Edward, the more fascinating character than every other in the book.

I don't get the friendship between Jacob and Bella and I feel it was too sudden. This book makes assumptions; Bella just likes Jacob. Edward just falls for her. No rhyme, no reason. But I have a theory about Edward and Bella. Bella sees Edward as total perfection and I suppose a vampire has this mesmerizing aura that makes people see perfection, beauty, etc when in actual fact maybe they aren't? I mean how then to explain all vampires are gorgeous. So when Bella becomes one she too is total perfection.

The one scene that was off putting is the scene where the Cullens decided to play baseball in the thunderstorm and Bella was there to watch and then they knew 3 dangerous vampires were in the vicinity and Bella was in danger. The entire baseball scene was supposed to be family gathering, fun time but I just don't feel the closeness between the Cullens. Even the baseball scene felt forced; I couldn't read even between the lines the affection between the Cullens or even Cullens and Bella except for example they just like her. They like her for the sake of liking her and that to me is not very well written.

In the end, I feel this book feels more like some teen vampire story than a proper adult mainstream book that the cover suggests. It feels and it is a first time published story, not as terrible as The Rule Of Four but not in the same breath, or even in the same parameter as Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone. What this book lacks is descriptive moments that plays out a scene, more choices and varied words other than I love yous and a better storyline. Bella seems to have a boring life. If Edward wasn't a vampire, his life would be totally boring too. They go to school, come back from school, sometimes chased by vampires but other than that the entire story is set in a rainy bleak foggy boring non happening town. The movie will suffer from the colour wouldn't it? Always bleak and bland. No one in this town seems to know how to use an umbrella since they always walk in the rain. No one has died of pneumonia yet and no one questioned how a 30 year old doctor could have a 17 year old adopted son.

And the best (or worst) of all? When Bella was told by Jacob about the legend that the Cullens were vampires, she believed it. No questions asked. She just believed it. Gullible? And when she asked Edward, not like are you a vampire but you know beating around the bush, he didn't deny and just launched into his vampire-hood. She wasn't shocked that mythical being is real. She didn't ask the all important question how he became one but rather why he hated her so. Only later she asked how he become one and the details are vague at best.

Put it this way; this book would probably make a better movie than it is as a book. The plot is there, it is pretty intriguing and Robert Pattison may not look awesomely gorgeous but he does have awesomely gorgeous hair with a very animalistic look to his face as in raw and passionate. The actress as Bella whose name I forgotten is pretty but not over awesomely gorgeous but both looked rather dead serious. Which made me realise what this book seriously lacks; humour, wit and more importantly, playful banter between these 2 main characters. They do banter, but in cringe worthy way. He teased her, she teased him but not in the way that is well written.

Overall I enjoyed the book but I am surprised at the accolades given to what I feel is a mediocre book. But then if a crap like The Rule Of Four can garner favourable reviews, anything is possible.

End Notes
My opinion is in no way comparable to the excellently written opinion by someone who put all my thoughts into great funny sentences complete with a parody that had me rolling on the floor laughing hysterically. Not even the author of this book could hope to write that well. Do have a read of the article "I want to beat Edward Cullen with a stick" by Otahyoni at http://otahyoni.livejournal.com/130432.html

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TWILIGHT [Fiction]

Written by Funn Lim


"Overall I enjoyed the book but I am surprised at the accolades given to what I feel is a mediocre book."

There are 4 books in the Twilight series, Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. Any surprise what these books are about? The following is my opinion on the first book, Twilight.

SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

Author
Stephenie Meyers

Comments
I admit,I have never heard about this book or the author until I stumbled across the Twilight movie promos after reading how Warner Bros chickened out of releasing Harry Potter movie at the same time as Twilight movie and that was like weeks before the movie will be broadcast. I bought all 4 books, each more expensive than the other where for Twilight I bought the movie tie in version. My advise is wait until the movie tie in version, if not you will have to pay RM10-00 more for the 4th book. I know the basic story; it is a love story between a vampire guy and a human girl. That in itself could stretch to 4 books kinda stirred my interest. And I was happy I had new materials to read. Kinokuniya at KLCC is my favourite bookshop.

Anyway, read it in 3 days, mostly speedread which is not good news for me. The book is appealing understandably for the young ones because it is written in simple language. How many ways can you say I love you? In this book, 1 way; simply I LOVE YOU. So how complicated can that be? The names of the heroes and heroines even reminded me of the Judith McNaught type of romance books, with a twist. The girl is Isabella Swan or Bella and the guy who is a vampire who looks eternally 17 but is actually about 100 years old is Edward Cullen or well.. Edward. Both very sturdy not very often used name, especially Edward. No Eddie, no Ed but Edward. Very aristrocratic. Other character names like Rosalie, Emmet, Jasper, Carlisle, Annie, Laurent, James, Victoria, etc ... very old timer names that explains old how the vampires are. Modern names like Jessica, Mark, etc. There's one Jacob Black, a simple enough name to stick in one's mind. Nothing complicated.

The story begins with Bella moving back to a really small town that rains more than shines with her Chief police father when her mother remarried as she felt she was intruding in her mother's life. She is a sullen 17 year old who hates attention and would rather keep to herself. At school where she is mostly alone, she was first struck by the curiosity of a group of 5 pale people who sit together but never eat and she was struck in awe by one of them, Edward's pale magnificence and also the way Edward looked at her; that is with pure hatred. Later into the story we will discover why he looked at her so; he is a vampire who kills animals only so basically a vegetarian vampire forever thirsty for some human blood. Problem with Bella is her blood is like fine wine to him. He thirsts for her blood, he wants to bite her but yet because he who can usually read other people's mind couldn't read hers, he was intrigued and slowly fell for her. Bella already lost her mind to love from the beginning.

The entire premise of the story is forbidden love in a sense; Bella will grow old, so her fear is she would die before him. She wants him to make her a vampire. Edward's fear is her losing her soul so he was reluctant. Very reluctant. Moreover there is a danger in this relationship; Bella is like a prey, a very delicious prey to Edward and at anytime if he ever losses control he might just bite her. The story explains to become a vampire, a person must be bitten (not to death) by a vampire and the venom in the vampire's teeth will travel and change the physical aspects of a human being and in 3 days a human is now a vampire, an immortal. Problem is it also includes 3 days of extreme pain as the venom travels through the bloodstream. Then there is the ethical issue of killing people to feed.

I didn't quite get Edward's reluctance to change Bella. The truth is there is no major consequence to the change. The whole myth about how sunlight can burn the vampire is apparently just a myth. So the vampires can walk around in the afternoon. The only catch is if under direct sunlight, a vampire will glow like crystals so obviously no human can do that. So for me there is no stigma to change and the whole soul thing with Edward seems rather forced. We don't know much about Edward's past, except he was dying from the influenza or something like that until his adopted vampire father, a young handsome blond Carlisle, a doctor immuned to blood after years of practice changed him for companionship. He didn't blame the doctor but he struggles with the killings and the soul thing. When I said struggles, it wasn't very well written. The struggle was feeble. The entire soul argument didn't make sense. A vampire who believes in soul? Was he religious? Did Edward believe in the existence of a higher power? Because I didn't get that impression.

The rest of the book deals with Bella catching the deadly interest of another vampire named James who wanted to bite her and how Edward and gang raced to save her. And also her friendship with a young Jacob Black who himself shall have a big role in the next book.

In between we have many many passages of Bella and Edward, quiet moments where they talk about each other, increasingly becoming more passionate in words but not in actions because he can't kiss her too passionately for fear of accidental biting. So the book is pretty chaste, no sex, not even French kiss.

What it does have is an overdose of repetetive description. By the 2nd chapter and thereafter every other paragraph, I know Edward is mindbloggingly awesomely mega super duper greek god hard chest, full lips, great hair total gorgeousness. Every vampire she met has the same awesome beauty and grace. Edward smells great too, talks sweet, walks gracefully and is basically just like the most ideal royal prince ever, except he is a bloodsucker who will not age and will not die. Tragic eh? And by the 2nd chapter I also know Bella is accident prone. She just tumbles, stumbles and falls like a total klutz. Except that if someone can be as clumsy as her, her eyesight must have some problem OR she must have some balance problem because no one can be THAT clumsy. She is also quite anti-social in my opinion since she hates parties, gatherings, proms, birthdays, etc. Why Edward loves her is because she is intriguing, he can't read her like an open book and because her blood is irresistable to him as much as her companionship. She is supposed to be plain or so she thinks. The problem with all these is the repetition. Bella always hyperventilate when she kisses Edward. I know he is a supreme gorgeousness but to repeat everytime she hyperventilates is really a chore to read. To repeatedly read how gorgeous he is is also quite a chore. It's like at the end of that chapter I could have sworn she repeats herself every other paragraph. I kinda felt frustrated by the lack of good description. Not much is said about appearances except for the very basic. However there are some strange descriptions like Edward's chest is granite hard and cold and yet the same paragraph, Bella says as she lies on his chest that his chest is soft. The way he picked her up is as if she is a child. All those bed talks, literally are about how I feel, how you feel, how we feel. It is quite obvious a woman wrote this book because to me women authors place more emphasis on feelings when it comes to love story. The entire book is more about feelings and each discovering each other's feelings.

It doesn't mean it is a badly written book. But to say it rivals JK Rowling's expressive and expansive words is ridiculous. Stephenie Meyers' way of describing feelings is question upon questions and then to end it all with I will die for you, I rather die than live, I love you. Pretty standard and unimaginative and cringe worthy words as well as unromantic.

The better passages were mostly the action parts, how Bella confronted the sadistic James and escaped, barely. Now sadistic is the word used, often we also read how Edward said he could read the minds of those 4 men following Bella at some dark alley and he could read what they wanted to do, enough for him to want to hunt and kill them. And James torturing Bella. Exciting stuff but in the end inadequately written mainly probably because the author could not bring herself to describe them? In that part Anne Rice was more poetic and forthright and I see familiar elements between these 2 authors, especially in the 2nd book where she was describing the ancient vampires, which reminded me of the ancient ones in Interview With The Vampire. But I do enjoyed these passages and especially those that concentrates on Edward, the more fascinating character than every other in the book.

I don't get the friendship between Jacob and Bella and I feel it was too sudden. This book makes assumptions; Bella just like Jacob. Edward just falls for her. No rhyme, no reason. But I have a theory about Edward and Bella. Bella sees Edward as total perfection and I suppose a vampire has this mesmerizing aura that makes people see perfection, beauty, etc when in actual fact maybe they aren't? I mean how then to explain all vampires are gorgeous. So when Bella becomes one she too is total perfection.

The one scene that was off putting is the scene where the Cullens decided to play baseball in the thunderstorm and Bella was there to watch and then they knew 3 dangerous vampires were in the vicinity and Bella was in danger. The entire baseball scene was supposed to be family gathering, fun time but I just don't feel the closeness between the Cullens. Even the baseball scene felt forced; I couldn't read even between the lines the affection between the Cullens or even Cullens and Bella except for example they just like her. They like her for the sake of liking her and that to me is not very well written.

In the end, I feel this book feels more like some teen vampire story than a proper adult mainstream book that the cover suggests. It feels and it is a first time published story, not as terrible as The Rule Of Four but not in the same breath, or even in the same parametre as Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone. What this book lacks is desriptive moments that plays out a scene, more choices and varied words other than I love yous and a better storyline. Bella seems to have a boring life. If Edward wasn't a vampire, his life would be totally boring too. They go to school, come back from school, sometimes chased by vampires but other than that the entire story is set in a rainy bleak foggy boring non happening town. The movie will suffer from the colour wouldn't it? Always bleak and bland. No one in this town seems to know how to use an umbrella since they always walk in the rain. No one has died of pneumonia yet and no one questioned how a 30 year old doctor could have a 17 year old adopted son.

And the best (or worst) of all? When Bella was told by Jacob about the legend that the Cullens were vampires, she believed it. No questions asked. She just believed it. Gullible? And when she asked Edward, not like are you a vampire but you know beating around the bush, he didn't deny and just launched into his vampire-hood. She wasn't shocked that mythical being is real. She didn't ask the all important question how he became one but rather why he hated her so. Only later she asked how he become one and the details are vague at best.

Put it this way; this book would probably make a better movie than it is as a book. The plot is there, it is pretty intriguing and Robert Pattison may not look awesomely gorgeous but he does have awesomely gorgeous hair with a very animalistic look to his face as in raw and passionate. The actress as Bella whose name I forgotten is pretty but not over awesomely gorgeous but both looked rather dead serious. Which made me realise what this book seriously lacks; humour, wit and more importantly, playful banter between these 2 main characters. They do banter, but in cringe worthy way. He teased her, she teased him but not in the way that is well written.

Overall I enjoyed the book but I am surprised at the accolades given to what I feel is a mediocre book. But then if a crap like The Rule Of Four can garner favourable reviews, anything is possible.

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SUZANNE'S DIARY FOR NICHOLAS [Fiction]

Written by Black Eyed Susan

"This is a love story that has managed to touch my heart. Throughout the story I already knew that something awful will happen and even though I had time to prepare for it, it crushed my heart when I read it."

Author
James Patterson

First published in
2001

Publisher
Headline

Characters
Katie Wilkinson: she is a senior editor at a publishing house in New York that specializes in literary novels and poetry. This is also where she first met Matt. She originally came from North Carolina where her parents still lived and with whom she still has a very close relationship. She is a fighter who always had the courage to do what she had to do.

Matthew Harrison: he is a house painter in Martha’s Vineyard and in his spare time he writes poems. His father, a doctor, died when he was only eight years old. He was hurt badly by his sudden death as he never had the chance to say goodbye to him. From then on, he’s terrified he might lose someone he loved.

Suzanne Bedford: she was a physician at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. At 35, she had a heart attack. While she was recovering from it, she had time to think for the first time about her life. Her boyfriend dumped her not long after her attack. That’s when she decided to leave Boston behind her and start afresh as a country doctor in Martha’s Vineyard where she had spent her summers with her grandparents.

Summary
Katie Wilkinson found herself to be in seventh heaven when she was together with Matthew (Matt) Harrison. To her, their relationship was perfect. He was a good listener and thoughtful. They had the same interests and he made her feel at peace with herself. Basically, Matthew Harrison was The One for Katie Wilkinson.

After eleven blissful, glorious months though, Matt had ended their relationship, offering no reason whatsoever. Katie was devastated and had never been so hurt in her life for she had lost the only man she had ever loved.

The next day, she found a package at her front door. Great was her surprise when she recognized Matt’s handwriting on it. Inside, there was only a small diary with a note on the first page from Matt. He asked her to read the diary because it will explain why he had to break up with her. The diary is about his wife and son, and him… On the front cover, there’s written Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas.

She knew Matt had a wife called Suzanne, yet he had sworn that they weren’t together anymore. And that was it. That was all she knew about Matt’s past. As open as she is about hers, so closed is he about his past. This was the only thing they had arguments about. Soon, Katie discovered that Nicholas was actually Suzanne’s and Matt’s son. This came as a huge shock to Katie for the day that Matt had left her; she planned to tell him that they were expecting a child together.

The diary was written by a new mother as a memory for her baby son in whom she confided all her secrets. She told him how she met is father, how their romance developed into a fairy marriage that was blessed with a baby. Of course, she has written down everything that has to do with Nicholas. Next to all the wonderful things, she also wrote about her heart disease and the loss of her second baby due to her weak heart. Then the diary ended abruptly with Matt writing the last entries instead of Suzanne.

Finally, Katie learnt the truth about Matt’s past and the burden he’s been carrying with him ever since. Now she fully understood, it’s time to go look for him.

Favourite paragraphs
p. 24 The story of the five balls: Imagine life is a game in which you are juggling five balls. The balls are called work, family, health, friends and integrity. And you’re keeping all of them in the air. But one day, you finally come to understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls - family, health, friends, and integrity - are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered. And once you truly understand the lesson of the five balls, you will have the beginnings of balance in your life.

p. 109 Diary entry: I hope when you grow up that everything you want comes your way, but especially love. When it’s true, when it’s right, love can give you the kind of joy that you can’t get from any other experience. I have been in love; I am in love, so I speak from any other experience. I have also lived long periods without love in my life, and there is no way to describe the difference between the two.
We is always so much better than I.

p. 129 Diary entry: Matt: Well, I can’t help thinking of this whenever we’re together. I think, isn’t it lucky that Suzanne didn’t die in Boston and we have today to be together. Now we get to watch this sunset. Or isn’t it lucky that Suzanne didn’t die, and we’re sitting out on her front porch playing hearts or watching a stupid Red Sox game. Or listening to Mozart, or even that smarmy love song you like by Savage Garden. I keep thinking, isn’t this day, this moment, incredibly special, because you’re here, Suzanne.

I had started to cry, and that’s when Matt took me into his arms. We cuddled on the beach for a long time and I never wanted him to let me god. Never, ever. We fit together so well. I kept thinking, Isn’t this moment incredibly special? Aren’t I the lucky one?

p. 224 Diary entry: I did a strange thing, then, and I’m not exactly sure why. I knocked on the door, and I knelt on the first step. Maybe I was tired and drained from the long, stressful day. Maybe it was something else, something more important, something I still can’t explain.

Maybe I was remembering the English king who had knelt in the snow hoping not to be excommunicated, and to be forgiven by Pope Gregory.

I had been hurting badly out on the beach, but I also knew I had acted selfishly, I shouldn’t have run away and left you and Matt alone at the house.

‘Forgive me for running off like that,’ I said as Matt opened the screen door. ‘For running away from you. I should have stayed and talked it out.’

‘You know better,’ he whispered and gently stroked my hair. ‘There’s nothing to forgive, Suzanne.’

Matt pulled me to my feet and into his arms. A feeling of relief swept through me. I listened to the strong beating of his heart. I let him snuggle the top of my head with his chin. I let his warmth seep into me.

‘It’s just that I want to keep this baby, Matt. Is that so terrible?’

‘No, Suzanne. That isn’t terrible. It’s losing you that I couldn’t bear. If I lost you, I don’t think I could live. I love you so much. I love you and Nicky.’

Favourite quotes
p. 119: Bad stuff happens. Sometimes it makes no sense at all. Sometimes it’s unfair. Sometimes it just plain sucks.

p. 192: One today is worth two tomorrows

p. 290: The longed-for ships.
Come empty home or founder on the deep.
And eyes first lose their tears and then their sleep.

My opinion
For a long time I’ve been hearing good reviews on James Patterson’s books, but I never seem to come around reading them. Then recently, I found this book in the library and I simply had to take it with me. My expectations were quite high before reading Patterson’s books as my friends kept on telling me how lovely his writing is or how wonderful his stories are. I’m glad to be able to tell you that “Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas” didn’t disappoint me.

This is a love story that has managed to touch my heart. Throughout the story I already knew that something awful will happen and even though I had time to prepare for it, it crushed my heart when I read it.

It is written in a simple and sweet way and I could actually feel the love between Suzanne and Matt. They had this perfect relationship that I think a lot of people will envy them for, they knew they loved each other and that’s what really counted for them. No doubts, no jealousy, no complexity, just happy to be together and to share their life.

And then their blissful life ended abruptly, it felt so wrong and I couldn’t help but feel indignant about it. It was so unfair that that had to happen to them. That fatal day begun so well, preparing the celebrations for Nicholas’ first birthday. Suzanne went into town to get Nicholas’ present and on the way, she had a heart attack. Her car dropped into the water and landed on its side. It wasn’t until two entries further that I found out that Nicholas was in the car as well. My heart immediately went out to Matt. How can one grasp this kind of news? God, I can’t imagine what was going through him when he was told that the two most important people in his life weren’t there anymore.

The short extracts provide for a fast pace, but because of the gentle writing style it doesn’t come over as harsh and abrupt. The plot may sound predictable to some, but some parts have enough suspense to keep you reading and that may surprise you, or not. It did surprise me. Of course you can’t compare this suspense with the kinds in his detective stories. This isn’t a mystery and it’s intention is not to surprise the readers.

Cynics will probably find the characters too sweet, too unbelievable and too perfect. And in a way perhaps they are, but as a romantic girl it presents me with hope. Hope that such people do exist, that the world hasn’t completely turned cold.

What I find to be most interesting is the story of the five balls. It talks about the pressures of modern life. Something that’s very typical for our generation. We all want so much that we are constantly juggling with friends, family and work/school to fit them in our diaries. But do we really stand still and just enjoy it? Probably not, cos we have to rush to our next appointment. Something dramatic always has to happen to open our eye. Luckily this book can also serve as a wake up call.

Verdict
I would definitely recommend this book, especially to those romance lovers. This is one book you must not miss.

Rating

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