The Lovely Bones

Rating:
Summary: Not Quite What I Expected, but Good
Review: This was a very thought-provoking book. At first glance the book seems to be about her murder and the man who killed her and how she was killed, but then it grows into something different. It is more about how her family comes to term with her death over the passage of weeks and months and years. It's about new beginnings and saying goodbye.
I quite liked this book. I think it gives the reader a lot of things to think about. Whether or not your idea of what heaven is like concurs with the author (mine doesn't), telling the story from the point of view of someone who has died is quite interesting.

Rating:
Summary: Please read before buying book
Review: My perception of a book is to somehow enrich experience during and after the process of reading. I felt robbed of every moment spent to finish the book for the sake of finishing it. I found her characters flat, the plot typical, and the sub-plots Charles Dickens at best. Moreover, there were moments when the writing made me cringe and embarrassed for the writer. I realize this is a harsh criticsm but I felt annoyed at the loss of time spent reading this book. The only thing lovely about this book, indeed, are its bones, that is, the catchy cover.

Rating:
Summary: Missed the mark...
Review: The Lovely Bones had super potential and there are beautifully written chapters - BUT- it feels way too long and sometimes falls into the "The Lifetime Movie for Women" category -- kind of unbelievable or soap opera-ish. What the author needed was a good and ruthless editor. I'm not saying it's not worth the read, but your eyes do glaze over for periods of time!

Rating:
Summary: No to be missed
Review: This book is a pool of water for those trapped in the literary desert that is modern fiction. For one, I was relieved to be consumed in the writting talent of Ms. Sebold. Readers will be taken by the colar in the first few pages and Susie, the narrator and the victim of the book, will not let you go. I was glued to the pages and found myself releasing numerous emotions; joy, sadness, bitterness, rage, and sweet relief.
Do not be discouraged by those who say that the ending was lacking. It is not. Seabold is giving us new and fresh writting which also includes different endings as well. For me the ending was realistic and gave me a sense of resolve. Was it rushed? I don't think so. Her ending makes us realize that sometimes, after a tragedy, without even knowing it, we start enjoying life again with each and every simple passing moment. The ending is not ment to be a catalyst or grand resolution, but rather keeps in rhythm with the story; it is a release.

Rating:
Summary: A wise start turns desperate
Review: After a teenage girl is raped and murdered by a neighbor we follow her family, and other relevant characters (the murderer, lead investigator, high school friends), through the immediate aftermath and long term effects of her death. Our guide is the murdered girl herself, an intelligent and open-minded narrator called Susie Salmon. She is in heaven and able to follow the living liberally.

During most of the book, which takes place during the days, weeks, and months after the tragedy, Susie paints a harrowing portrait of how different community members cope. Among those featured: The grieving father's coddling of his youngest son, the lead detective's sincere-- but clumsy-- investigation, and the murderer's glee and utter professionalism as he disposes the dead girl's body. We are also treated to a sweet depiction of Susie's heaven: it is tailored made for her and filled with
favorite things from her days on earth.

Towards the end, the author looses her cool. Her editor must have been on vacation (there is no other explanation) and, consequently, we are treated to a glorious meltdown:

* Susie's narration, which was engaging and true to a teenager,
suddenly sounds as erudite as a graduate student consulting with her dissertation adviser.
* Her knowledge of sexual facts (in practice and theory) would make Dr. Ruth blush.
* A high school friend mingles with Susie's spirit and, after
graduating from high school, moves to New York, sports an all-black wardrobe, visits heaven (don't ask me how) and preaches to dead people about dying (don't ask me why, or how-- it's a surprise!)

I encourage everyone to read this book. It must have been impossible, after such a beguiling start, to find a resonant ending. My suggestion:

Once the narrative starts jumping years stop reading and call it a book,otherwise be brave and trudge-on.

Rating:
Summary: The Lovely Almost Found Bones
Review: This is a great book. But like so many others, you were left hanging just a little at the end. As a reader I wanted more justice for Susie. I wanted more closure. It was a wonderfully written story from a unique point of view. Ms. Sebold gives her version of Susie's heaven. But the ending was a bit a of a letdown. Justice did come for Susie, but not the way I had hoped. Then somewhere in the back of your mind you realize, a lot of stories of missing girls end this way. With not enough justice. You know this book is fiction, yet, as you are reading it, it seems it could be any family, anywhere, anytime.

Rating:
Summary: All possible emotions wrapped into one novel!
Review: I am astonished by Alice Sebold's imagination. Her vision of heaven and souls is wonderfully convincing, down to the smallest real-life details, such as the "cold chill," worked into her illustration of the movement of souls. Sebold's description of life in heaven is understandable that souls can't physically change things the way they could on Earth, yet their position is still so powerful in that they can see everything that happens, not only physically, but mentally as well. In this story, it's both awe-inspiring, and heartbreaking. The telling a story through the eyes of a young girl (who happens to be dead), casts a whole new spin on the novel.

It's true that the beginning of the novel is shocking and difficult to read, but I think it was a necessary beginning, and perfectly written too. Sebold wrote the incident that highlights the brutal reality that happens on Earth, yet she wrote it eloquently. Plus it brings you so close to Susie right from the beginning, wanting almost to protect her in some way.

Susie Salmon seems perceptive beyond her years, and it makes me wonder if in Sebold's mind, a traumatic event that Susie experienced will automatically force her to grow up in a short amount of time. Or does being a soul in heaven cause one to be more reflective, more attentive to the details of life on earth? Or maybe, was Susie herself an especially intelligent and sensitive fourteen-year old, unique to other kids her age?

It's a very positive outlook on life after death. A touching look at the many ways people live with grief and eventually move forward. So many good people's lives Susie affected while on Earth, yet after she left, the various turns they took was baffling. My favorite character was Ruth, an odd girl who was one of the very few people who could sense Susie nearby. Constantly writing in her journal, she was able to see much of what Susie could see from Heaven. Susie's mother was most perplexing. She couldn't stand the constant reminders of her deceased daughter, and sought to escape through adultery, and eventually left her family altogether. Through all of her vastly different characters, Susie?s father, Jack Salmon, who never gave up solving the mystery behind her death, the emotionally strong younger sister Lindsay, the brutally honest and hilarious alcoholic Grandma Lynn, the love of Susie's life--Ray, and of course, Susie's meticulously sinister murderer, George Harvey. The author thoroughly showed us the many ways that grief can affect people. I like the fact that not only was this a story about Susie, it was many stories, narrated by Susie. I cared for every character because each one was developed as a complicated, growing, important individual who I eventually knew intimately.

Ultimately, it's a "lovely" portrait of how deeply we touch each other without even knowing it. And if you believe in life after death, it certainly is a comforting thought that souls are among us, watching us all the time, and that it's okay to acknowledge that.

Rating:
Summary: Susie's Love
Review: Susie Salmon is a typical 14 year old, experiencing puberty and love for the first time. She is very close to her family and usually does not cause much trouble. In spite of this, one day Susie goes to school and never returns.

Susie's disappearance has devastated her family. They cannot imagine where she might be since she is not the type to run away from home. The Salmon family is feeling hurt, scared, and uncertain as they wonder if they will ever see Susie again. Instead of leaning on each other to get through this awful
time, they all turn away from each other. Ultimately, the family gets confirmation that Susie has been murdered. Meanwhile, Susie is in heaven and her heart is breaking for the family that she loves and misses. She fears that they will never find out who committed this horrible crime.

In Alice Sebold's haunting new novel The Lovely Bones, you are able to see through Susie's eyes and join her on her journey. Experiencing Susie's murder was a poignant and frightening experience. I felt a wealth of emotions while reading this amazing book. I felt sadness, fear, anger and ultimately hope. I

also found myself wondering if Susie's heaven is the heaven that we all hear about. This is a beautifully written book and I highly recommend it to others.

Reviewed by Simone A. Hawks

Rating:
Summary: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Review: The whole concept of this book is original and purely delightful. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry. It will make you wonder about life and death in a way that can be very comforting. You will definitely feel for this young girl as she speaks to us from her heaven. I don't want to give any of the story away in this review, so if you are up for something interestingly original then read The Lovely Bones.

Rating:
Summary: Ambitious, Bold, and Utterly Useless
Review: It's easy to see from this book why Sebold's first book, LUCKY, was so well-received. She's a beautiful writer--her prose is lyrical, vivid, and imaginative. THE LOVELY BONES starts off with much promise: a well-crafted murder scene, followed by a spooky transmutative scene in which a classmate senses Susie's spirit on its way to heaven. From there, the narrative splits into two separate threads: the Salmon family's battle with the grief of their loss, and Susie's observations from heaven. Sebold's conception of heaven (and specifically Susie's heaven, as heaven is realm specifically tailored to each individual) is as wild and unique and plausible as any I've ever encountered.

As Susie observes her family, friends, and her killer from her perch on high, it becomes clear quite quickly that this book is not a murder mystery. The "spirit" of Susie will not intervene and lead her family to avenge her death. She cannot give directions to her remains, or to the last uncoverable evidence which can identify her rapist and murderer. Rather, the book will be about loss, and how each individual, not only in the Salmon family, but in the community at large, reckons the inexplicable loss of a young child in order to establish sense and meaning in their own lives.

Thematically, this is no small undertaking, and ultimately I didn't feel that Sebold succeeded in anatomizing the emotion of grief, much less The Meaning of Life, the promise of which is underscored quite heavily throughout the novel. This failing is forgivable, certainly, as one can hardly think of a more ambitious goal. But it is in this ambition, among other reasons, that the book didn't work.

The narrative runs out of steam somewhere in the middle of the book. One begins to realize that the characters are just as undefined and underdeveloped as they were in the dazzling opening chapter, and that they've come no closer to anything. Perhaps the moral of the story here is that everything and nothing changes, that at root life goes on, no matter how much one might resist.

But without characters with whom to identify and empathize, the author's every labor is nullified. Stoic Lindsey is little more than a Superwoman in denial of her sister's death; her mother's escapism defines her, as we learn little else about her personality other than her inability to relate with her own mother; patriarch Jack Salmon is an insultingly glorified character: a grief-stricken father who can't let go of his perfect conception of Susie, like his delicate ships in bottles; and youngest son Buckley, is little more than a barnacle affixed to his "perfect" father.

Susie herself is a problematic figure. At times she narrates like the fourteen year-old she is at the beginning of the book, squealing with delight from her heaven at her sister's first kiss. Other times she narrates with the perspective of an adult, someone who endured and understood the things she never had a chance to. Susie's perspective fluctuates often between the two extremes, rather than as a progression towards a greater emotional maturity.

I might have gone along with all of this--for there are some very incredible and moving passages throughout--were it not for Sebold's resolution. The idea that, given the chance to live, the single thing that Susie chooses to do is disappointing and degrading. It shows us that she's learned nothing from her observations, and renders the entire novel a great waste of time for having gone along with it. Susie's Heavenly Purpose isn't a purpose at all. And in her own self-motivated final action, I feel duped for having cared about her all along, and for buying into a promise that was never granted.