A different perspective

Recently I decided to start reading again - now that I can actually enjoy reading something other than a textbook. I just finished "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold. It was... bizzare in the best sort of way.
Written from the perspective of a young girl (13 or 14) watching the world from heaven after being murdered, it turns the typical murder plot line on its head. Susie watches as her parents relationship falls apart and her mother takes off. She sees her sister become the support holding her entire family together. She watches as her younger brother has a terrible time dealing with her death and his mother leaving. She watches over her father who has become obsessed with discovering his daughter's murderer and when he does there's no evidence to prove it.
She watches her crush and a random girl from school who she accidentally touched when she was transitioning to heaven.
Susie also shares what heaven is like - how her heaven is different from anyone else's. Eventually she meets all of the other women who died by the hand of the man who murdered her.
It's pretty graphic through out the book detailing the events surrounding Susie's death - so be cautious if you get squishy about that sort of thing.
It was incredibly creative and unique, giving the reader an idea of what it might be like after death. Hard to believe a book surrounded by such ominous darkness could end with a shred of light.
While there were parts that drug on and some parts seemed like the writer was trying too hard to be literary - I liked it.