Some people complained that this book is pretentious. If that is the case, I don't mind the pretentiousness. Pretentiousness touched me. Pretentiousness moved me to tears. Overblown sentimentality made me curl up in the corner and cry. 
 Susie Salmon was fourteen years old when she was raped and murdered by her neighbor. As Susie hovered over her loved ones and watched their struggle to cope from her death, we get to examine people's different ways of handling the grief. Susie's voice was haunting : detached when describing the life of her murderer, full of love and ache when reminiscing about her past and following her family's present life. 
 Almost everyone in heaven has someone on Earth they watch, a loved one, a friend, or even a stranger who was once kind, who offered warm food or a bright smile when one of us had needed it. And when I wasn't watching I could hear the others talking to those they loved on Earth: just as fruitlessly as me, I'm afraid. A one-sided cajoling and coaching of the young, a one way loving and desiring of their mates, a single-sided card that could never be signed. 
 Rape and murder is a difficult theme to approach in a story. Having read Sebold's memoir 'Lucky' before, I understood that this required a lot more bravery for her to write, and I applaud her for that.