Rating: 
Summary: Uneven
Review: After reading the reviews accompanying the book's release, I was very excited, expecting to find "These Lovely Bones" not only entertaining, but a good literary novel. While certain aspects were well done -- Sebold is both a reasonably good writer and writes creatively and compellingly about Susie's experiences in heaven -- the book succeeds only for the first half.After setting up the characters and their relationships, Sebold apparently doesn't know what to do with them. While the point of the book is the characters' growth in the wake of the tragedy that begins the book, the story peaks and then falters, unable to progress past the arc toward an effective resolution of both themes and plot. The ending is appalling. Even apart from the horrific "Ghost"-like chapter near the end, the book's "happily ever after" ending feels false, especially when compared to the refreshing lack of formula employed in the set-up. If only the creativity and authenticity of the first half could have been sustained, what a novel it would have been. I remain hopeful that Sebold may have such a novel in her. Maybe next time.
Rating: 
Summary: Engaging
Review: This novel is really engaging. It is a subject I have never read before, i.e. the dead person watching the reaction from heaven of her family and friend after her murder. I do wish there could have been a bit more character development. I loved Samual and Hal but it seemed that they just appeared in the book. I wanted to love them more but couldn't because I didn't know them well enough. I was a bit taken aback by the sexual encounter, it made me think of the movie Ghost. But overall this is a great novel, I really could not put it down. Alice Sebold has a beautiful voice.
Rating: 
Summary: The Lovely Bones
Review: As everyone else on this site, I read this book with very high hopes. It started well -and I was intrigued by the voice and character of Susie Salmon. The idea for the book is also brilliant: the voice of a victim. But after the first chapter or so, the book wanders off into the lives of undeveloped, uninteresting characters. The people are similar to television actors: very rote, predictable and identified through their sex lives. I was interested in Susie and began to feel she was being set aside so the novel could develop the romantic/sexual involvements of everyone else. This is what turned a rather bold idea into a mediocre meandering. Which is sad, because a very brave idea becomes just another formula novel of sex being the only thing really interesting to anybody. I don't know about other readers, but picking up a novel supposedly focused on the rape and murder of a child hardly sets the proper mood for "romance". Extremely disappointing.
Rating:
Summary: Pearls of wisdom
Review: I really loved the book and give it 4 stars only because of some character flaws that made me feel a little empty at the end (especially Susie's mom). Alice Sebold said some beautiful things about death and how the dead hold unto you until their through with you. I liked that and won't forget it. She also gave me insight into the mind of the serial killer when she said he had "wild and bottomless lust." In many ways she writes like Joyce Carol Oates. Very observant and deep. I will remember Susie and the horrible Mr. Harvey for quite a while.
Rating: 
Summary: lovely, shmovely
Review: After reading this novel, I couldn't help but wonder, why did Alice Sebold bother? This read like a rough draft with some much needed editing. Frankly, it seemed contrived & tired and unneccessarily brutal. However, the hokey back-to-earth experience and the family reunited proved that even though Sebold tried to work on a tough subject she couldn't leave the "happy ever after" mentality behind. Make up your mind and quit with the blather, I say.
Rating: 
Summary: AWESOME BOOK
Review: Okay, first I'd like to say that I havn't read a book unless I was forced to in high school. I got bored after i graduated and decided that maybe I should pick up a book. I searched for Fiction and got "The Lovely Bones" as a result. I loved this book with a passion. The only thing that bothered me was the ending. It was like a cliff hanger to me. "[Spoiler]?" is what I said when I closed the book. Other then that, I was impressed with this book. It's now one of my favorites. I recommend it to everyone! This was one of those books you couldn't put down because you were interested on what was going to happen next. It was AWESOME!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Wait for the movie
Review: I found this book a bit disappointing. It definitely did not live up to the hype. Do yourself a favor and wait for the movie. Its one of the rare instances where the movie will be better then the book. It was a nice read though. The concept of the murdered girl's point of view from heaven was inventive and uplifting. However, I think the story falls off toward the end and left me disappointed overall.
Rating:
Summary: An intriguing debut - and an excellent read
Review: Alice Sebold has written a remarkable debut novel. The narrator, Susie Salmon, was raped and murdered in 1973 and now resides in her heaven; yet, her voice contains none of the bitterness one would expect. She is able to see into the lives of those who touched her in life and death. At times wistful - for she will never be able to experience growing up - and others matter-of-fact, Susie witnesses the changes and growth within her family and small circle of friends. Her story is not one about death, but about loss and affirming life in its face, about moving on not only for those she left behind but for herself. The reader won't be able to escape the sadness in these pages - I came close to crying several times - but the overall tone is hardly grim. Because Susie is secure and happy in her heaven, she keeps the story full of light and optimism. This novel is not flawless, nor should it expected to be. The narrative loses some of its momentum near the end. In addition, Sebold makes the mistake of adding a scene (which I won't describe here) seemingly designed to lessen the reader's regret about Susie's missed coming-of-age, but instead the scene falls flat. Susie's loss is as much a part of this book as her family's is, and to pretend it can be reversed, even if only temporarily, defeats the story. Still, given the first two-thirds of the book, this misstep and others can be forgiven.
The Lovely Bones is one of those books you can pick up and not want to put down again until you finish. At roughly 325 pages, this novel demands to be read on a plane, or on the beach, or when you have good chunks of time available to sit with it. Don't frustrate yourself by allowing a half hour here and there. This is one book that deserves its spot on the bestseller list.
Rating:
Summary: Poignant tale of the connection between life and death.
Review: Alice Sebold's "Lovely Bones" is a surprising best seller, in that it deals with the aftermath of a girl's death. In 1973, Susie Salmon is tragically raped and murdered at the age of fourteen by a serial killer. Although Susie is dead, her spirit lives on in heaven, where she is gradually getting accustomed to her new environment. She looks down sadly as her grief-stricken father, Jack, her mother Abigail, and her siblings, Lindsey and Buckley, try to come to terms with their horrible loss. Susie longs to comfort her family. She even brings her spirit down to earth to be near her loved ones. She aches for her father who feels her loss the most. Susie agonizes when she sees that her parents' marriage is suffering because Jack and Abigail are unable to share their grief with one another. Equally heartbreaking is Susie's regret at never being able to grow up and experience adult life with all of its possibilities. However, as depressing as all of this sounds, there is something upbeat about "Lovely Bones." It is a touching exploration of the possibility that there is always some connection between the dead and the living. Not only do our departed loved ones live on in our memories, but their spirits may be with us in a more concrete way than we realize. Sebold also touches on other meaningful themes: How do those who survive when their loved ones die manage to face the future with a feeling of hope? How do they achieve closure? The author suggests that with patience and understanding, families can heal. Human beings are surprisingly resilient. "Lovely Bones" leaves us with the feeling that death may not really be the end, after all.
Rating:
Summary: This is a special novel indeed...
Review: It is thought provoking, entertaining and compulsively readible. With some free time I had before meeting friends at a movie, I picked up this book. Several hours later I put it down, regretably, as there was no more to read. The Lovely Bones is about grief, healing, relationships and most of all spirituality. What happens to us after we die? What has happened to the loved ones that we have lost? The key to the book, in my estimation, is the complementary relationship Susie has with her loved ones on Earth. Susie tries desperately to intervene in the lives of her loved ones to ease or guide them, and she is occasionally successful. But Susie is also dependent on her loved ones to find her "real heaven." It is one thing to believe or feel that your loved ones that have passed are here with you in some fashion observing or intervening. It is quite another thing to take on or assume some responsibility for your loved one letting go of matters related to the Earth and finding their "real heaven." This book will ask you to explore your spirituality. Whether you do or not is your choice. Either way, the book is worth reading.
| 
