What is the definition of literature?


I picked Alice Sebold's novel "The Lovely Bones" up at a used book store because of the hype it has received since the movie has been out in theaters.  When I began reading it I was not expecting to read a piece of great literature.  To me, literature is based on a story that takes you to a place you weren't expecting, a story that makes you think.  "The Lovely Bones" did that in a number of ways for me.


For starters, choosing the story to be told through the perspective of a 14 year old girl was amazing.  It is such a crazy concept to think about being able to look from heaven and see the life that is being lead by the people you loved after you have died.   For that reason alone I believe that Alice Sebold's novel will stand the test of time and continue its popularity.  


The second reason I truly loved the novel, was the character development.  I was so interesting to see how each of the Salmon family members dealt with the death of their sister/daughter.  The reader obviously feels sympathy for all of the family members, but for me the father is who pulled on my heart strings.  What begins as a gut feeling in his mind, we as the readers know that he is correct and strive for him to be able to find evidence to support his theory.  Each family member struggles in their own way, and though it might not have been as clear, Susie's mother struggled with the death in her own way.  Some people just don't know how to experience the emotions that hit them when they are not expecting it, she was one of those people.  Her way of dealing could be seen as selfish, and for a majority of the novel I felt that she was, but I think she was just scared to feel such intense emotions that she ran away from them.


All and all, Alice Sebold is an amazing writer.  She welcomes her readers into a world that she creates in a very well thought out manner.  Good writing does not always mean lofty language, it is the ability to transport your readers and get them attached to your characters.  After reading this novel I learned that Sebold's first novel "Lucky" is a retelling of difficult events that have happened to her in her life, I will definitely be reading this novel and anything else she might write.


-Toni