Rating: 
Summary: Learning To Cope
Review: The Lovely Bones is a book that should be read by anyone who has ever lost a loved one, by anyone who needs cheering up. True, the story is about murder and death, but the novel itself is so uplifting that you end up feeling rejuvenated once you finish reading it. It is the kind of novel that you want to take your time reading because you just do not want it to end. Quite simply put, The Lovely Bones is a pure gem, a rare literary work that will appeal to all readers. Susie is a young teenage girl who thinks she has a bright future in front of her. Unfortunately, her life is cut short when she is brutally murdered by one of her neighbours. Death comes to take her away and she finds herself in heaven. From there, she looks down on her family and loved ones and witnesses how much her death affects their lives. She looks down on her parents, who's relationship deteriorates after her murder. She looks down on her younger sister and brother, who both misses her in their own ways, but who both also have to compete with her death for attention. She looks down on her grandmother, a woman who wasn't all that much loved but who will find a new life for herself after the tragic incident. And she looks down on two friends from school, who will be forever changed by her death. And she also looks down on Harvey, the very man who murdered her and who may very well do it again. As she sees these people grow and age, Susie narrates the story with a nostalgic grace that is always touching, never annoying. The story she narrates spans for over twenty years, a period during which many things will happen to these peoples' lives. Alice Sebold created a story that is always touching, always emotionally striking and very entertaining. It is not a murder mystery. Nor is it a highly literary exploration on death. The story feels real, the characters feel real and Susie is one of the most interesting and memorable narrator ever put on the page. The characters in this novel are in constant flux, always changing and evolving. So is the reader. This is the kind of book that changes you, that makes you feel better about yourself. It is the kind of book that will stay with you for a very long time. It is an unforgettable read, one of those rare novels that comes only once in a lifetime.
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Summary: "The Lovely Bones" illustrates the anatomy of grief
Review: On the first page of "The Lovely Bones," the incredible first novel by Alice Sebold, 14-year-old Susie Salmon reveals she was murdered. She describes her brutal rape and murder by a soft-spoken neighbor in harrowing detail. She continues to narrate the story from heaven, where she watches her family and friends cope with her death. Susie's heaven is based on her memories and experiences and therefore resembles her hometown. She meets people who share her vision of heaven, like her roommate Holly. A former social worker, Franny, takes on the role of Susie's intake counselor. Susie spends her time gazing down on Earth from a gazebo, her favorite spot in heaven. Susie's murder has shattered the innocence of her idyllic hometown. Susie's father becomes obsessed with catching her killer. Her parents' marriage crumbles when Susie's mother flees to California in an effort to escape her pain. Two of Susie's classmates, both social outcasts, bond over Susie's loss. As her friends and family react to the trauma, Susie tries to comfort them with her presence. Susie worries most about her younger sister, Lindsey, who is forced to grow up too fast in the wake of the tragedy. Susie even watches her murderer, Mr. Harvey, a loner who has filled his basement with the corpses of stray animals. Harvey tries to control his violent urges by designing and building intricate doll houses. His unassuming nature is enough to fool the police, who in their gullibility dismiss him as a suspect. Eventually, Susie begins to realize she has not gotten to heaven yet. She is stuck between heaven and Earth until she can come to terms with her own death. Franny tells her she will make the switch when she stops worrying about her family and friends and gives up on Earth. The task seems impossible to Susie. There are too many "whys" to answer, such as why she was killed instead of someone else. The above description does not do justice to this imaginative novel which, in spite of the subject matter, does not stray into sensationalism or schmaltziness. The story aches with sorrow. In one scene, Susie's father retreats to his study where he examines ships in bottles he built with Susie. After smashing the bottles, he sees his daughter's face reflected on each piece of glass. Sebold's astonishing empathy for her characters reflects her personal experience with trauma. She was raped as a college freshman, an experience she explored in her memoir, "Lucky." In the midst of the sorrow and horror, hope permeates this story like oxygen. In spite of what has happened to her, Susie does not become bitter or lose her sense of humor. She manages to learn from the experience. The people who loved Susie move on with their lives. Ultimately, "The Lovely Bones" is about how death severs the normal connections between people and how, through their grief, they manage to create new connections with each other.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific book - even for the jaded!
Review: Wow! I loved this book. As a veteran of many books of promising potential, this book seemed one of many. However, I couldn't put this one down! There has been some criticism of the ending - well, what did you expect? The whole book is based on looking at life from the eye of the faithful. Highly recommend - I am going to send it to my mother - can't do better than that!
Rating:
Summary: A truly great read....
Review: I'm slightly confused that there are people on this site who have actually said that this book was a. not well done and b. trite. It makes me wonder what they are reading. This book deserves the hype. The characters are well drawn, the story intriguing, the writing well-paced and the fact that Sebold was able to take such a horrible and sad subject and make the novel neither horrible or sad is a tribute to her skills as a writer and storyteller.
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Summary: Lovely Bones is a Gut Wrenching Ride Worth Every Page
Review: The Lovely Bones is an amazing, gut-wrenching ride that takes you through the Hell of a little girl tortured and killed, to her beautiful Heaven. The story follows the events following her death and how that affects her, her family and friends. This book tore me up, in places, tears flowing and a heart-ache that wouldn't quit. It is an amazing emotional ride, well worth the read. I too agree the ending was a bit abrupt, but it doesn't diminish from what is the best book I have read in a very long time. Wonderful job, Alice!
Rating: 
Summary: Overhyped and oversentimental
Review: The concept of a dead girl living in heaven and watching her loved ones is not an original concept, but it is an unusual motif in modern American literature. This uniqueness among literary novels and the great reviews that Ms. Sebold garnered from the press were what drew me to buy this novel. While it was a noble effort from a first-time author, the novel was sorely lacking. Despite the serious nature of the topic--a young girl is brutally raped and murdered--Lovely Bones fails to describe Susie Salmon's story with any kind of depth. Most of the characters (the father, the mother, the detective, Ray) are weak and superficial, one of the characters is extremely weird (Ruana Singh), and a number of the characters are simply not believable (Mr. Harvey, Lindsay, Ray, and especially Ruth Connors, the girl who "sees dead people"). Everyone in this novel has the same personality. All are sad, hurt, and have no control over their lives. Few of the characters show real anger. They're simply sad, defeated, and helpless. Sebold tries to give the book some color by adding in a variety of different kinds of characters, but even in this, she fails. Ray Singh, for example, is described as an "exotic" Indian from Britain and is one of the only nonwhite characters in the book/town. Yet only Susie and Ruth seem to be aware of this fact. No one else makes reference to this fact, and most treat him like any other white character. Even Ray himself seems to think he's white; the poor lad himself has no ethnic identity whatsoever. Is this realistic? As an Asian American, I would say no. What is the point of having ethnic characters without developing their unique perspectives? If you talk to real Indian-Americans, you'll never find one like Ray. Most Indian-Americans are proud of their culture. To add to the vapid character set, the book suffers from a lack of originality. Sebold often resorts to cliche. Grandma Lynn, for example, is the stereotypical, spunky, not-afraid-to-talk-about-sex grandmother. Ever see the character Mona on the sit-com "Who's the Boss?" That's Grandma Lynn transported from literary form--just change the name. I don't want to give too much away for those who decide to read this book, but there was also one scene which is borrowed almost exactly from the movie "Ghost," only instead of a dance, there's sex. Sebold even speaks of the "cloudy mass" of dead spirits that come to escort Susie back to heaven. If this doesn't sound familiar, go to BlockBuster and see for yourself. "Ghost" even has better special effects. In short, I would recommend passing on this book. Good concept, but it just doesn't pull through.
Rating: 
Summary: Lovely Writing - Somewhat Long
Review: When I first started this book, I did love it. I was misty-eyed several times in a chapter, was heartbroken by the girl's innocent writing, was interested in the place she now called Heaven, and liked to hear about those she left behind. And to the end of the novel, I loved the writing and the dialogue, and I was still hoping that the character's murderer would face some sort of justice. But, then, after years and years passed...
It became sort of long. The book seemed to be going nowhere in particular, and though I did not grow bored at any time - I grew somewhat impatient. Where was this going? Was this all necessary?
Well, no it wasn't. In the end, there was a sort of resolution. But, it didn't need to be as long as it was. And to tell the truth, the character's reuniting with her life 'boyfriend' seemed sort of strange, as she always seemed like that 14-year-old girl, and not a day older.
So, it was worth the read, but not the perfect novel.
Rating:
Summary: A Moving Classic
Review: This was a wonderful book - full of emotion, suprise, and insight. It captured me throughout although the story does tend to skip but then again that is what makes it real. Susie is curious and sweet and the fact that she is able to reveal so much with her adolecent voice makes me positive that this book will become a classic. The last sentence absoultely got me -I was reduced to tears.
Rating:
Summary: Pick it up...you might like it.
Review: By the time I picked this book up two months after its release, I had read numerous rave reviews and held fairly high expectations for Sebold's first novel. The first 70% of this novel is outstanding. It is written with a quiet passion and innocence of a 14-year-old girl that touches the reader very deeply. Each scene is delicatly crafted and serves a very distinct purpose. I admit that I cried at least three times. Sebold painfully develops each character from the dead girl's perspective (I say painful because it's very hard to read about how much this girl loves her family and can't be with them). Sebold is also able to touch very well on how different people handle catastrophic events and grieve for lost loved ones. However, the last 30% of this novel, apparently, is supposed to be dramatically climactic. I found the ending to nearly destroy all that Sebold worked to build. Susie's version of Death Take a Holiday felt very out of place. In addition, the end of the book found all the characters happy and everything wrapped up a little too conviniently. Yet, all in all, the book is extremely well written and fairly realistic. I liked it.
Rating:
Summary: One of those rare special books
Review: I'm a book worm and I saw such a big fuss about this title I got curious. All I can say is wow! I laughed at times and cried at times. Even though the subject sounds so depressing - a young girl who is raped and murdered, I found the book anything but dark. I especially found Lovely Bones comforting and optimistic. It is a great book for anyone who has loss anyone they loved. It handles grief and all that grief involves realistically but at times light heartedly. There is no over the top melodrama here. Read the book. Let Susie tell you her story. After she is done you'll appreciate your family and life so much more.
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