Sebold is a rape survivor herself. I read her book Lucky, and it was devastating. I would guess that is why she went with that theme. The book actually doesn’t spend a lot of time on the crime and most of the time with explaining what the crime and aftermath does to her family.
I thought Lovely Bones was a good book, but mostly because of how I imagined everything to be while I was reading it. I don’t think I could watch it as a movie.