Compare and contrast The Lovely Bones book and movie.

While The Lovely Bones is told from a deceased person's point of view, it is not a fantasy. The film version devotes so much time to the fantastical elements of Susie's time in Heaven, that much of the gritty reality of a family's coping with the brutal murder of their daughter/sister is somewhat lost. I think that much of the fantasy feel of the movie came from Peter Jackson who also directed/produced The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. The problem is that Sebold's novel focuses most on the harsh splintering of the Salmon family because of Susie's death--not on Susie's posthumous fantasy world. Much of what makes the novel such a popular read is Sebold's portrayal of reality; in fact, if someone first reads Sebold's memoir Lucky which chronicles her being raped and coping with the aftermath, much of The Lovely Bones becomes even more real to the reader.

So, while critics of film versions of popular books often cite characterization or event discrepancies as reasons for not appreciating the movie version, The Lovely Bones is different in that the filmmaker actually changes the book's focus and tone which to me is a more significant alteration than leaving a couple events out here and there.

In my opinion, one of the greatest discrepancies between the novel and the movie is the manner in which each portrays Susie's heaven.  The movie included many scenes that were not included in the novel, especially those showing mystical and strange parts of heaven.  These scenes were frequent and lengthy and I did not feel that they added to the power of the story; these scenes actually conflicted with my perception of what Susie's heaven would have been.  A more accurate portrayal of Sebold's book would have, in my opinion, been even more moving and meaningful than that movie version.

What are key differences between The Lovely Bones film and book?

The main difference between the novel The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold and filmmaker Peter Jackson's adaptation for the screen lies in the portrayal of the world of heaven experienced by the main character, Susie (played by Saoirse Ronan). The character of Susie is dead, having been brutally raped and murdered while still a teenager. The novel's first line is “My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.” 

Sebold's novel won the prestigious Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel, but the film garnered mostly negative reviews. Despite the book's haunting and rather disturbing story (based in part upon author Sebold's own experience of being raped), the film has a fantastical quality, full of special effects and fantasy sequences, that seems to diminish its seriousness. It is possible that Jackson sought to downplay the brutality of Susie's demise and to emphasize the world of "heaven" she now inhabits; but for many critics and viewers familiar with the novel, this approach does not seem like an effective adaptation.

Jackson, most well known for his award-winning work on the Lord of the Rings trilogy, is a director known for imbuing his works with dazzling special effects. His film Heavenly Creatures, which dramatizes the true story of two teenage girls whose obsessive friendship leads them to commit murder, is full of scenes of fantasy and romance. But this film's fantastical elements reflect the bizarre psychological circumstances of the girls' friendship, and draws upon their actual diary writings to re-create their relationship. In contrast, The Lovely Bones feels wrong-headed due to the brutality of the main character's death, which seems at odds with the strange beauty and pleasant qualities of her "heavenly" existence.