The Lovely Bones

Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece of voice and tone -- for a while, anyway
Review: You can believe much of the hype about THE LOVELY BONES. It's a sensitive, keenly-felt novel -- that's the part you can believe in. But then it falls apart into a cliche or two, a disappointment here or there, and you realize it's not the Perfect Novel the hype would have you believe it is.

Which is not to say this isn't an excellent book. The first half of it alone is enough to make me apply the word "masterpiece." The voice of the dead teenaged narrator is achingly lovely and the bittersweet, wistful-and- accepting by turns tone walks such a fine line, and so skillfully, I practically held my breath as I read. I especially loved the narrator's descriptions of what her personal heaven is like. I kept thinking to myself that Alice Sebold was doing the impossible. I couldn't imagine that she'd be able to sustain this mesmerizing, delicate voice and tone for the entire book.

And she doesn't. About halfway through, there's a shift, and some characters make decisions that seemed cliched (the mother and the detective, for example). I also found the ending unsatisfying, with regard to what happens to the narrator's murderer, but that's just me. The ending is certainly realistic, and I can see that it would satisfy many other readers.

But these are trifles when you consider the tremendous achievement of the first half of the book. THE LOVELY BONES is worth a whole lot of the vast amount of hype it has gotten.

Rating:
Summary: Utterly compelling and appealing
Review: I don't often read contemporary fiction that isn't science fiction or fantasy, but this book was more than worth it. When I finished, I passed it on to my daughter (who's 15), who loved it and lent it to a friend of hers when she was done. The narrator, Susie Salmon, is a murdered 14-year old girl in Heaven, observing her family and friends as well as her murderer on earth. The premise sounds morbid, but the book is compelling and appealing in many ways. A lot of the appeal has to do with Susie's voice as she describes her experience of Heaven and her observations of her family and friends as they try to cope with their grief and find a way go on with life. We see Susie's characterization fully fleshed out as she reveals her love for her family as well as her regrets for the life experiences she'll never have. At the same time she has a kind of wry humor and growing insight as she learns more about the the flaws and virtues of the people she observes. The other characters are also very well-developed even to the older brother of Susie's sister's boyfriend. The novel is starkly realistic yet humane in its point-of-view, and it is infused with magic at the same time. As my daughter said, the novel is very original, the characters are well-rounded and you can't help caring about them, and the opening paragraph is so gripping that one can't help wanting to keep reading.

Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended
Review: In terms of Must Read books, The Lovely Bones is one I highly recommend. It is on the same level as The Time Traveler's Wife, My Fractured Life, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Middlesex, Life of Pi, and The Secret Life of Bees.

Rating:
Summary: It depends on what you're expecting...
Review:
It's not a murder mystery or a thriller, so if you're expecting that you'll be disappointed. Rather, it's a story that follows the simple struggle of a family as they cope with a tragic loss. As "Susie" tells the story from her "Heaven", she also works through the loss of a life she will never get to live.

The story is well-written and compelling, and although there is a message of hope hidden in there somewhere, it never quite compensates for the sad nature of the story.

So if you want a somewhat typical crime drama, where the bad guy finally is gunned-down in a hail of righteous violence and all of the loose ends are tied up and no psychological scars remain - this isn't the book for you. But if you'd like a well-written, more true to life exploration of the after effects of a terrible crime, told from an interesting perspective and with a few twists - then you'll enjoy this one.


Rating:
Summary: for spite you might
Review: what is the deal, Amazon people? i have sent about 5 or 6 reviews of this terrible book, and you have yet to put it up. Nothing I say is that bad- so why the censorship? You didn't seem to have a problem when I ripped Maya Angelou for being a fat, black and ugly woman with no writing talent- therefore the reason for why people buy her books- out of pity. So I don't understand why I can't voice my opinion about this wretched novel. You prob won't post this either- but just for spite you might. Have a nice day.

So I see you took the Maya review down- unbelievable! I actually gave reasons why her crap is bad & recommend Gwendolyn Brooks as a good poet to read. I could also write an essay longer than the length of "The Lovely Bones" itself saying why this novel is so terrible but for some strange reason, you refuse to post even a slice of it, yet you have no problem posting so many of these silly reviews saying "this is boring" or "this sucks"- that offer nothing. Boo Hoo on you Amazon people! And boo to all Maya Angelou fans!

Rating:
Summary: So sad.
Review: I spent the week reading this book and finished it tonight. I only have a small amount of time each day to read or I probably would have finished it in a day - I didn't want to put it down.

All week, I have felt weepy and have gone about my daily business with a lump in my throat! The book was so sad, but so well written.

I'm almost relieved to be done reading it. Now I need to go have a good cry!

Rating:
Summary: MARVELOUS!!!
Review: This is the best book I've ever read.... It is so beautiful. I cried first when Susie's father broke all of the bottled ships he had built with her. And I mean I SOBBED! I've never cried while reading a book and I've read more than I can count. By the time I finished reading (1 day! I couldn't put it down!) I must have cried at least 7 times. And I love the ending. Never saw that coming! Amazing! A must read!!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Emotional Rubbish
Review: Sebold's number one bestseller The Lovely Bones starts promisingly as the reader expects a thrilling criminal story after the first couple of pages. But it finally becomes a soppy catastrophe with a predictable happy-ending.
Susie, the protagonist, is murdered by a crazy dollhouse-making neighbour, who is the most interesting character in the book. She tells the story from heaven and describes what's happening on earth. But the only things she talks about are the boring, emotional and calculating developments of her family and friends e.g. an irrelevant and adolescent relationship between her sister Lindsey and her boyfriend Samuel, her mother's senseless escape from the family and her midlife-crises combined with her affair (of course!) with detective Len Fenerman who tries to solve Susie's murder and finally the father's heart attack hence the mother (who would have expected this?!) returns to her family.
The plot is long-winded as the story doesn't have a real climax. Furthermore Sebold puts tons of stereotypical characters (like Ruth, "the loner") and clichés into her novel. All in all I was very disappointed and I wondered why this emotional rubbish was on the bestseller lists for such a long time.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and Haunting
Review: Shortly after this book was released I read a snippet concerning it in my local paper and I knew I had to read it. I bought in in the morning finished it by nightfall and then proceded to immediatly reread it. Within the first paragraph I was hooked, it's the type of book that is hard to describe you simply must read it for yourself. A book that when you read it you feel as though you have a slight knot in your stomach and then by the end you feel like a warmth has passed over you and you are possibly slightly wiser for having read it (possibly somehow mirroring susie's own journey). While some might see Susie's experiences as fantastical I went along for the ride never doubting for a second that it was all a possibility. Alice Sebold has written a beautiful, touching, elegent book...a book that I hope doesn't fade too fast....this is the type of book that twenty years from now I would like my children to read...it helps you if you are willing see life for what it is a gift made up of thousands of small gifts, while reading you mourn for susie not because of the physicality of her death but because of the "could have been" of it, the moments that are huge when your a fourteen year old girl but somehow thirty years later they simply only become faint memories that make you smile, or cry or even laugh....but here we are faced with a character who will always be the same age, her first kiss will come long after her death, her life will have ended but in a way she continues to live...Hmmm...perhaps this review doesn't make much sense, but that is simply because I believe that this book stirs up personal feelings in the majority of people who read it and it is simply something that must be experienced to be understood.

Rating:
Summary: Trapped in a perfect world
Review: 14 year old Susie Salmon likens her "life" in heaven to the penguin in the glass globe--"trapped in a perfect world". Susie narrates this story from heaven, which is where she wound up after being brutally raped and murdered. She's in heaven, shouldn't it be perfect? Shouldn't everyone be happy and surrounded by everything and everyone they love? Sebold's vision of heaven is an interesting one. While Susie will never again want for anything, she is still bound to her family and friends on earth. She accompanies them through their daily lives and chronicles their pain while telling us her story.
Susie's was a typical happy family. The horror of her disappearance and its effect on each member of her family seem genuine. You cringe when she details how she ended up in heaven, and you can almost feel the paralysis that sets into her family. I know if she were my daughter, getting out of bed in the morning would be close to impossible. But life goes on, as Susie tells us. They've turned a corner, but they are still living.
Sebold does a wonderful job of character development in this book. We don't learn much about Susie's mother, or really like her much, but that all seems to me a result of her incredible pain. She is completely turned off to life. Susie's father is the one holding the family together, such as it is. Her sister is in the unenviable position of being close to Susie in age, and looking very much like her. Buckley is too young to understand, but he fills in the gaps in his life the best he can. One of the more interesting characters in the book is a schoolmate of Susie's, Ruth. Ruth is one of those kids we all knew in school, without really knowing her. The bond she forms with Susie is a fascinating one.
The story of what happens to the people in Susie's life is interesting and not completely predictable. After all, if you've not experienced anything like this (thank God) how can you know what will happen or how people will change? It's an interesting study of a family dealing with loss. Sebold has done a marvelous job of making us feel Susie's loss, and the parts of her life she feels she has missed out on. The love between the characters is almost palpable, not an easy task for a writer to make us feel. By mixing in some humor, everyone seems more genuine, and the book does not become maudlin.
An interesting, gracefully told story of real people. Highly recommended.