I put off reading "The Lovely Bones" for some time, and was treated to what wound up being a strong start to an interesting story with a unique storytelling perspective that kept me interested - for a while.

At one point, however, it felt as though the story derailed itself from one of the terrible murder of a young girl, and became one that was more specifically about the lives of the other characters related to her or affected by her death (or its investigation). The transition into this part of the book seemed a little rocky, and did not seem to remain consistent; the perspective remained the same, but elements from the story's beginning seemed to abruptly end. Furthermore, a small handful of "supernatural" twists seemed out-of-place and even dulled the otherwise real-seeming emotion within the story. They didn't really serve as reminders of where the story was coming from. At many points in the book, I almost forgot about the murder and the murderer, only to be brought back at a few points by comments by the narrator about "being dead" or "[her] death". Nevertheless - and this may have been the point - these separate stories were both interesting and admittedly well-written (there are pockets of colourful description and almost-poetic, if somewhat-cliche, discourse), even if they were awkwardly separate-yet-intertwined.

All-in-all, it was a decent read, and I'd recommend it to most anybody who's looking for an interesting story told from a different perspective. Several elements of the story range from dramatic mystery to awkward romance, and are generally appropriate for mid-teens (there is sex and talk about it, but nothing is particularly graphic or densely descriptive) and up (though if you're looking for any action or unpredictable plot twists, look elsewhere). I liked it as an inspiration to write more in this type of perspective, myself.