Rating: 
Summary: AN EXCELLANT READ
Review: The Lovely Bones is one of the best books I have read in a long time. Alice Sebold really takes you into the mind of the main character, Susie Salmon. It makes you want to read it again when you're done.You feel like Susie looking down from HER heaven, watching her beloved family and grieving all she has lost.
Rating:
Summary: Gets My Mother-In-Law's Highest Rating!
Review: My Mother-In-Law has read many thousands of novels, mostly in the mystery genre. I suggested The Lovely Bones to my wife as a gift for her mother's birthday recently, after I read the synopses and some of the reviews posted here. Well, I scored some serious Boy Scout points on this one! Yesterday my M-I-L phoned and told us that this book is one of the absolute best she has EVER read. She said it was compulsively readable, gripping, interesting, original, but above all... "warm". Now we're trying to figure out how to get her to give The Lovely Bones to us at our next family gathering!
Rating:
Summary: A Lovely, Emotionally Satisfying Novel
Review: Don't be put off by the premise of this novel. The Lovely Bones is a wonderful, hopeful, moving read. The story is narrated by Susie Salmon--a fourteen year-old girl who in the opening moments of the novel, informs us that she is dead--brutally raped and then murdered. That's the worst of it--right there. The novel is her story, what heaven is like (Sebold's version of heaven is nothing if not comforting), what her afterlife is like--watching her family and friends struggle to move on. Susie's story is interesting and unique. This novel would have been quite depressing if told in the third person, if all we saw were the grieving friends and family. Instead, we see it all from Susie's perspective, as she tries to comfort them, tries to help them move on. The most wonderful part of the novel, though, is how it makes you feel as you read it--something difficult to convey in a review. Sebold fills the novel with emotion, without allowing it to become sappy and over the top. The ending is very satisfying. OK, maybe it tied things up too neatly--but because of the subject matter, the best it can be is bittersweet. I urge anyone who is interested in The Lovely Bones to read it. Don't be put off by what appears to be the subject matter. This really is a truly emotionally satisfying novel.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully haunting
Review: This book was absolutely incredible. Ms. Sebold captured not only the obvious processes involved in grieving, but also the hidden shards and slivers that are buried deep inside.Not only did she paint images that leapt off the page, but she managed seemingly effortlessly, to give the soft, quiet, often silent and therefore even more agonizing emotions of grief form. An invisible fog that rose up and engulfed me. I have lost two people that were/are in my heart. I have discovered, at least for myself, that the horrendous pain dissipates after time, but that the haunting longing for loved ones lost remains. It is not a constant emptiness on the surface of my emotions, but it is always there, lingering somewhere deep inside me. I have wondered, occasionally, at those times when my loved ones have popped into my mind without obvious reason, if it is because they are thinking of and missing me. And, if, in their longing they haven't come by for a visit and on some level I sense them. I wonder if just as Susie watched her family, my loved ones occasionally watch me. The person who felt that the book lost its punch and should have followed the murderer really missed the point. It was not a book about hunting down a serial killer, (try Patricia Cornwell for that)it is a book about loss and how that loss can effect so many lives. It is a book about grieving and finding ones way through the pain and confusion of devastatiing loss and ultimately finding a way to let go. If I could give this book a rating beyond the 5star scale, I would give it 10!
Rating:
Summary: A beautifully written story that I was sorry had to end.
Review: It's been quite a while since I have a read a book that I did not want to end. I felt like I was right behind Susie Salmon at every turn and able to view the story in the same method she did. Richly drawn characters, all of them necessary, and not a wasted word in this beautifully written book. I wont give a synopsis of the story as many people do because I find it a wast of time. I will say that this book took me places. I would literally have to be interrupted at a lunch counter one day with my face close to the page so my lunch could be served. Do yourself a favor and read this heartbreaking and dare I day heartwarming book.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning and Beautiful
Review: This is definitly one of the best books I have ever read. I was totally unable to put it down. I felt the pain and the grieving of Susie, her family and her friends throughout the entire book. It is beautifully written. I will recommend this book to everyone I know.
Rating:
Summary: Lovely Book...
Review: Rich, well-drawn, complete characters, a moving, emotional plot, and narrator that grips you and won't let go. These are my initial reactions to Alice Sebold's newest offering, "The Lovely Bones". Much has been said about the plot, in fact, too much has been revealed. The narrator of the book, a young girl named Susie, is brutally murdered and tells her family's story from Heaven, a profoundly unique point of view to tell this story. Susie is very much a middle school girl, and her doubts and fears ,and essential innocence serve this story very well. The different events spell out after her death, as you see her family seize the immediacy of her death and then force to deal with its quiet horror for years afterward. I can appreciate some people's dissatisfaction with a certain plot device, but taken within the whole context of the story, it worked well for me. In fact, this isn't a story that solely relies on plot to move forward, but the rich characters that you come to love. This books unfurls before you like a rich quilt, and scene after scene builds a quiet sense of beauty, moreso than the last one, so that by the time the book is finished, you are sorry to let it go. Letting go is a central theme in this book, and thanks to Alice Sebold, it has been explored in a truly unique way. Ignore the naysayers of the book... read this in the quiet of your life, and appreciate well crafted writing at its finest.
Rating: 
Summary: Creepy book, shallow charcters, and not much of a story line
Review: I do not believe that this book got a rating beyond one star! I did not find this book interesting, in fact, it was very creepy and depressing. I bought this book for the interesting details of heaven. The author failed to bring this alive...she made heaven seem like a cold and lonely place. The charcters were all lifeless and a bit selfish...they seemed more concerned with themselves.... --This text refers to the Hardcover edition
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: After reading all the hype of this book, I was very excited to dive into something worthwhile. After getting through 1/2 of the book, I was extremely disappointed and bored. I just had to finish the book since I already made it that far plus I was curious to see how all the loose ends would be resolved. Needless to say I was not satisfied with how everything ended. The author ended everything on a positive note. Yet I didn't feel justice was served and the murderer got away easy, compared to what Susie went through on Earth and goes through in Heaven. If you are looking for a exciting read and feel good read, this isn't the book for you.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book!
Review: I recently read this book. I enjoyed it thoroughly! I had a hard time putting it down, yet didn't want the story to end when I was down to the last chapters. Sebold's visions of heaven and getting to know each character was a thrill. For an easy and entertaining read, I highly recommend this book.
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