Rating: 
Summary: One of the best books I have ever read
Review: I bought this book after noticing a review of it in the New York Times. Now, Alice Sebold is one of my favorite authors. Her ability to tell a story in a simple way is remarkable. She does not clutter each chapter with unnecessary detail, nor does she overdescribe each character. Enough information is revealed to give the reader a good sense of what was going on while letting the imagination do all the rest. Most importantly, I could not put this book down. It has given me a fresh new outlook on life and afterlife, which I think we all could use in these times we live in. After reading The Lovely Bones, I read Lucky and enjoyed it as well. Keep your eyes on this author. She is extraordinary.
Rating:
Summary: Truly a great book.
Review: I have read some harsh reviews. I have also read some reviews were people were selfish enough to give away some of the story. That said, I am an avid reader. I read 2-3 books per week. The Lovely Bones is an excellent book. You grow to know the characters and care about what happens to them. I found them all very believable and unique in their reactions to the crime. I have passed this book around to 6 friends, one of them male, and everyone loved it. Buy this book, you wont regret it.
Rating: 
Summary: Lovely Bones
Review: Alright, for those of you who as me are not the avid reader,this comment is for you. I am still forcing myself to finish this book,that I started a month ago,yes can u believe it. I thought, best seller, sounds iteresting,something different other than Nicholas Sparks (I adore his books), well I believe last I put down the book I was on pg. 90 and it still hasn't grasped my attention. I am very dissapointed in it. I am determined to finish it though,a promise I made before I can start reading the new Nicholas Sparks book, LOL. My opinion so far, waste of time and money, fortunately the book was a gift for me. :-)
Rating: 
Summary: Took a leap of faith to write this book...
Review: ...and another leap of faith to read it. I'm not sure why it hit the big time, #1 on NYT, etc, especially with the insipid cover. But it slowly sucked me in, in spite of the premise of a child looking down on her family from heaven, after she has been raped and murdered.
I suspect the author was as surprised as her readers when this book took off into the stratosphere. Frankly, I'm not sure it's going to stand the test of time, and I don't feel moved to reread it. But there was a quiet power in the story, and a rare kind of healing took place, in spite of the somewhat unfulfilling ending (which I don't mention for the sake of those who haven't read the book yet).
Read it. Think about it. Then give it to a friend.
Rating: 
Summary: The Lovely Bones
Review: Never mind about this book. It's a pretty good read, though I found descriptions of Heaven a bit difficult to believe.
Read Lucky. A powerful book about the 'victim's' sense of responsibility to others in the face of her own pain. An amazing story, and one for all women who need to believe in themselves.
Unforgettable.
Rating:
Summary: Don't believe the hype
Review: Although this book does an admirable job of portraying the family's shock, uncertainty and grief following the disappearance of elder daughter Susie in a way that rings true to those of us who thankfully have never experienced such a tragedy, it is on the whole an unbelievable and awkwardly written story. The description of the rape-murder early on contains an embarrassingly clumsy allusion to a mortar and pestle, made all the more ungainly by its obvious attempt at poetic style. Susie's heaven, the literary vehicle that has garnered so much praise, is really no different from the hokey limbo world of ghost stories where spirits who have "unfinished business" on earth pass eternity. The relationship between Hal, the cool twenty-something biker and older brother of Lindsey's (Susie's younger sister) boyfriend, and Buckley, Susie's traumatized younger brother, is completely awkward and unbelievable. No normal, good-looking young man in the prime of life, which is how Hal is portrayed, would really split his time between his rough and tough biker friends and faithfully babysitting a traumatized, unrelated four-year-old Buckley into traumatized teenhood. Hal even goes so far as to bake cookies with grandma and help throw little family parties like The Fonz and Mrs. C. The final appearance of the killer is unbelievable and strangely truncated, as if Ms. Sebold didn't know what else to do with him. The treatment of Susie's "love" interest, Ray, is also totally unbelievable. Fourteen-year-old boys simply do not agonize into adulthood over the end of a schoolyard crush on a girl they barely knew. The "miraculous event" hinted at on the front flap of the dust cover is just plain weird, sort of like a twisted genetically engineered cross between a romance novel and The Exorcist. The thinly veiled undercurrent of feminist dogma throughout the story makes the "miraculous event" hypocritical, involving as it does the usurpation of a woman's body for the sexual pleasure of others (does the fact that it's for a romantic interlude between those others make it ok?). The feminist slant is particularly evident in the relationship between Susie's parents, although it is also evident in Susie's heaven, the relationship between Ray's parents (no happy marriages in this story), and the treatment of lesbianism in one character. Susie's mother is portrayed as the tragic victim of the gender-repressive 1950's and 60's for whom the 1973 murder prompts a long overdue breaking-away to discover her true self, which I personally found to be selfish, dishonest and disloyal. Susie's father is portrayed as a pathetically weak man for whom the murder only casts a spotlight on his inadequacies as a husband and father as he bungles his way to an incompetent attempt at revenge and years of isolation before re-accepting his wife without question and with open arms despite her humiliating abandonment of the family. Indeed it is not the father but, in yet another unbelievable scene, his surviving 13-year-old daughter Lindsey who actually makes the heroic attempt to identify Susie's killer. Yes, this book does have its moments but they are few and vastly overshadowed by its weaknesses. Don't believe the hype.
Rating:
Summary: Realistic, Poignant, Moving
Review: I was touched by this story. It is a compassionate and hopeful vision of a family's struggle with loss. Hopeful because it is comforting to think that when we lose someone, they are still around, watching us, pulling for us. Compassionate because Ms. Sebold does not judge any of the players, most importantly, the narrator's mother, who does not deal with her wrenching loss in a "typical" or, it appears from the reviews written here, socially acceptible manner.Yet, as a married woman and a mother, I do not find the mother's reaction impossible to believe or overly harsh. Losing a child must be, as I can only imagine, the worst experience on earth. Fleeing is not implausible. Most touching is the interplay between Susie's mother and father, mostly at near the end of the story. Again, a hopeful and poignant portrait of the complications, disfficulties, bonds and tenderness of marriage. Some reviewers appeared to want more "action" from this read. Maybe our culture doesn't promote quiet studies of emotions enough anymore. At any rate, I highly recommend this book to anyone who is not afraid to read about the emotions of being on earth (or in heaven).
Rating:
Summary: Incredible work.
Review: I must admit, I had no intention of reading this book when I discovered the subject matter. I am very sensitive to issues of this nature, and didn't think that I could deal with it. However, several members of a reading group I belong to raved about it. They praised it as a deeply moving spiritual novel. So, I decided to give The Lovely Bones a chance. I couldn't be more glad that I did. The Lovely Bones follows the spiritual journey of a girl, a family and a community after a deep loss. The catch is that the story is written from the perspective of the murdered young girl. While the first chapter was difficult to read, the mood is softened by the soul of the girl. Her easiness and frankness with the subject matter make it readable. This is only where the journey begins, though. Sebold has created a novel that is emotionally powerful and gripping. Her ability to mold and create characters is both eerie and comforting. Slowly, you will recognize growth and character development. The introduction of these qualities is so subtle, it is realistic, almost as though you are really meeting someone and getting to know them in reality. Sebold has created a work of art with this novel. While the subject matter is intense, it is tastefully presented and flawlessly explored. Her exquisite talent is showcased by this beauty of a story. Enjoy 10/15/02
Rating:
Summary: It¿s a Wonderful Death
Review: In a variation on "It's a Wonderful Life," Susie Salmon observes from some heavenly place what her life meant to those who surrounded her. Except, in "The Lovely Bones" she is watching them react not to a life that never was, but rather to a death that came too soon. Each member of her family form the bones around which other members take shape and function together. When one bone, or connection, is gone, the family must learn to cope with the loss of a vital part. Susie's story, on the other hand, is how she lives vicariously through others to experience the life she never had the chance to complete. Alice Sebold captures the unique voice of a high school girl who is just coming of age. When Susie describes the milestones of her life she does so as if she were telling her best friend what happened the night before. We find out that Susie was wearing a kelly-green skirt with matching Danskin tights on the occasion of her first kiss, and her royal-blue parka, yellow elephant bellbottoms and jingle bell hat on her final, fateful night. She is angry, no so much with Mr. Harvey for raping and killing her, but that he took away her definitive high school years and the opportunity to date, fall in love, marry and have children of her own. Susie takes great pleasure in watching her younger sister go through these phases of life and yet grieves for herself for not being able to experience a long list of life events. Her greatest thrill is watching people celebrate the first anniversary of her death, and her deepest disappointment is when she is no longer mentioned years later. "The Lovely Bones" shows the personalities behind those images of brown-haired girls who disappear and get their pictures broadcast on the nightly news and in newspapers and on flyers until the inevitable becomes evident. Apparently, Sebold believes they are all happily residing in their own versions of heaven watching those they loved and waiting until they are all joined happily together one day in the great hereafter. This is the story of one of those happy endings.
Rating: 
Summary: Left me feeling bad.
Review: Not as well-written as I had hoped...I had to read some sentences several times to make sense of them. Found it hard to become engaged by the characters and care about what happened to them. Many instances of dissonance and downright dichotomy in the story.
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