TW: This episode includes topics of graphic violence, rape, and murder. Please take care of yourself and only listen if these are safe topics for you. If you need to talk to someone or need further resources, the national sexual assault hotline is: 1-800-656-4673. Please listen at your discretion. In our possibly heaviest book ever covered on Throwback Paperback, this week, we read The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Susie Salmon watched her hometown from heaven after her violent murder. She follows her family’s deterioration and breakage, her friends‘ forlorn futures, and her murderers efforts to evade justice. Susie slowly comes to terms with the tragedy in her life as she lives vicariously through her sister and loves her family from a distance. This book is poignant and heavy and takes a new approach to discussing tragedy. The focus is on the aftermath for those left behind, and we commend the effort to build a realistic response to unspeakable tragedy for each unique character. Next week we will be reading a new book in one week, Elsewhere.

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

Transcript

Related