The Lovely Bones #2 (spoilers)

I finished the book this week, and to be honest the end was disappointing and I feel that the whole book dragged on for too long in general. We get it, Susie died and she wants to still be alive, she’s dragging her whole family down. Then the book randomly skips like 20 years ahead and gives us the setting for a bunch of events sloppily tied up. Ug. This ending was distasteful to say the least. Although the end was really bad, the book in a whole was great! I loved all of the detail and nuances about the in-between world as well as the presence of spirits.

Nobody believed Ruth or Buckley when they proposed the possibility of the after life. It was thrown aside because it was ridiculous, yet the family believed in Heaven. Aren’t these ideas one in the same? What makes something believable? This reminds me of skepticism, doubting everything in order to see both sides of things. How can Susie’s family believe in Heaven and not the after life, or the not heaven? It seems like positive improvable things are more believable than negative improvable things. Perhaps this is because our society wishes to only see the brighter side of every situation, to comfort themselves.

This belief of questioning everything makes religion weak at the knees since it questions both good and bad myths and beliefs. To those who question, finding the answer, if there is one, is more important than finding comfort in your life and spirituality. For those who are religious, the idea of everything being taken care of, putting the blame in a higher being’s hands takes away the pressures of life simply because it forces you to do good. Or at least I think that. From a spiritual point of view, having rewards for your good deeds and repercussions for your bad ones encourages people to really think about what they are going to do because it matters where they will go after death.

Susie’s family uses this idea of a “better place” as a crutch to help them heal from the tragic death that has stricken them. I don’t even think they truly believe it, I think they use the idea as a way to not worry about things they can’t control. Susie’s mother even ran away from the fact that things were getting worse, creating a new identity for herself and erasing her firstborn daughter completely. The characters, even Susie seem to believe it is better to believe in something untrue, than accept the truth. I think its better to accept the truth because living a lie is like living with your brain shut off to all of the other options that exist.