Rating: 
Summary: Touched by an Elbow
Review: Let's forget, for a moment, that the basic premise of Alice Sebold's novel is somewhat puerile, or maybe it's just plain silly. Let us ignore, if we can, that the protagonist is a dead girl gazing down from heaven into the minds and hearts of everyone she observes. Although these choices do not appeal to my literary tastes, I believe I could have "bought into" them had the book been less predictable, and had the writing been above eighth-grade level. For anyone interested, I have copied from this bestseller some of the more horrific phrases and sentences.
"I watched my brother and my father. The truth was very different from what we learned in school. The truth was that the line between the living and the dead could be, it seemed, murky and blurred." Not nearly as murky as that sentence.
Here is another jewel: "When he saw her walking on the other side of the chain-link fence that separated the school from the soccer field and inside which was the most revered of the sports fields - the football one - he rubbed his hands and prepared what he wanted to say." I'm guessing you could do better, whatever your native language.
"Her eyes, on the word Salmon, had gone from closed to open doorways - dark rooms where he wanted to travel firsthand." Get me a gun.
"He suddenly felt very warm, almost close to forgetting why that morning he had double-checked the Singh's address." Almost close?
"She smiled, not showing teeth." A truly elegant turn of phrase.
"Holiday up and wiggling back and forth for my father to pet him." Yes, the dog's name is Holiday, and I can accept that, but up and wiggling? And yes, I realize that she died young, but this is not consistent with her voice elsewhere. The dog should have eaten her years ago.
In the following, George Harvey is not one of those attending to her: "In all the commotion of attending to her, George Harvey slipped... yada yada."
Another beauty: "All week rain had been promised, the kind of thunder and lightning rainstorm the area excelled at, but so far the only moisture of which Len was aware was that covering his body in a damp sweat." As opposed to that pesky dry sweat? If only that were the only problem with that sentence.
"She leaned slightly forward and her face moved into shadow, making it harder for Lindsey to see the expression on her face." I can't help laughing out loud when I read that. Where was the editor?
I wasn't looking for this "stuff" , but I was distracted by it. And there was so much more. There are literally thousands of better books.
Rating: 
Summary: Thank you Ms. Sebold
Review: I was given this book as a gift from a friend and had the nerve to scoff at its content as depressing and to scoff at its author (as a Harvard grad I thought: Alice Sebold of Syracuse??). Oh how wrong I was. This is one of the finest books I have ever read. It begins with an act of violence but unfolds gently into an exquisite sketch of love. I have never experienced such love shining off the pages of a novel. This is an astonishing, lyrical, sometimes brutal, but always moving book. It is soaked with my tears. It brought me to my knees. Thank you Ms. Sebold for your brilliant interpretation of what it means to be a family and what it means to navigate this life with its ubiquitous violence and its amazing and rare capacity for love and redemption. You must have been much loved in your life to be capable of writing this novel.
Rating:
Summary: Whatever
Review: I was intrigued by the first half of the book. The characters were likeable, but then it was like work to get through the rest. It hit a low plateau and just continued the same. I was so bored I never finished it. It lingered too long on unecessary stuff- kind of like the movie "In The Bedroom" with Sissy Spacek and Marissa Tomei where there were long periods of nothing happening to propel the story forward. I thought it was a big snore after the first 3/4ths.
Rating:
Summary: A New American Classic
Review: I was Tugged by the heart strings. This is the best book I have read in a decade. And I read everything.
Rating:
Summary: Great, but depressing
Review: This book was by far the most depressing thing I have ever read in my life. While the characters developed well throughout the story, and the plot development kept me interested, I admit I had to put it down from time to time. This was not a book to sit through in one read. The subject matter was obviously going to be tough, but I had no clue it would make me feel so sad!! So while I HIGHLY reccomend the read, I also highly reccomend a box of tissues and some Prozac to go with it.
Rating: 
Summary: A disappointment
Review: The book just doesn't deliver. A hugely dramatic beginning, the rape, described in a way that one can't help but feel the horror and pain, and then - nothing. The family and friends have to get on withy their lives, and it just drags and drags, because we don't really care about them, in the way we cared for the young victim.
What was all the hype about?
Rating:
Summary: not worth the hype
Review: The writer had a wonderfully unique premis but failed to capitalize on it. My book club (10 women) read it and we all thought that it had been over hyped. It wasn't awfull - just not great either. The first chapter is a "10" then each one that followes is less until you are realy happy to see it end.
Rating: 
Summary: The ending is well worth it
Review: Although this book sometimes reads like pulling teeth, I think the end was marvelous. Although "justice is not served" in the traditional sense, it reiterates what the book is telling the reader all along - not everything in life is about fairness. Pick this book up and stick with it, even through the dull or slow parts.
Rating: 
Summary: Very disappointed
Review: I had such high hopes for this book, after all it seemed so ethereal, right up my alley. The story context sounded great! Boy was I cruelly disppointed. I had a very difficult time understanding the style of writing, it did not flow. I am an avid reader who has read all sorts of books from various authors, however the writing style was just a struggle. Sadly I will not buy another book from this author but I do wish her good luck.
Rating:
Summary: Not What I Expected
Review: This book was good. I found it to be well written. But, what I liked most of all, it was creative. It was a surprise. It was not what I expected. For a book that I expected to be a light read, it was quite hard and heavy. On the other hand, I took another reviewer's recommendation after finishing "The Lovely Bones" and went on to read another creative book, "West Point" by Remick, and, for a book that I expected to be a heavy read, it was a surprise also --- quite easy and lighthearted. I recommend both.
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