The Lovely Bones

Rating:
Summary: GOOD BUT NOT GREAT
Review: it's a good catchy read, but the story does seem a bit far fetched. I won't go over the entire story, considering everyone else has already described the 14 year old's rape and murder. This book is we'll really a sleek feminist book. HOw the poor mother has been wronged by having 3 kids with a man. When her 14 year old dies, she sleeps with the investigating detective and dumps her husband and then the detective to head to california where she doens't know anyone. She knows how painful it is to lose a child and for her other 2 kids to lose their sister so she walks away from the other two kids for years on end until the husband has a heart attack. The mother is forced to give up her career/educational dreams to have kids is what it comes down to. Even though she is well capable of not getting pregnant. Meanwhile, the dead girl's friend Ruth is also giving diatribe about women not wearing make up or shaving and so on.....so really it is a book about how the world has wronged women.

Rating:
Summary: The Author Has Potential
Review: I rated this book 3 stars with the potential for 5 and I will tell you why. The concept was very unique, being written from the prospective of the recently departed. However, I felt this book couldn't decide whether it was a book geared toward young teens or adults. The chapters relating to Mr. Harvey were well written, building up in intensity like a flame to a raging fire. The author manages to dowse her own fire in every alternating chapter writing in an adolescent tone that only a young teenager could relate to. This happened throughout the book and I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat full of mounting tension, only to turn the page to the next chapter and find myself reading about schoolmates, teachers and soccer games, losing the entire momentum of that storyline. It was a very unsettling feeling and I only realized what the problem was when I reached the middle of the book and saw the pattern. I thought that the girl's father trying in vain to convince the detective of the killer's identity was good but fell short when that storyline wasn't developed fully and petered out. The detectives actions throughout the book were unrealistic and almost ruined the entire book. I think that Alice Sebold would be successful if she tried her hand at murder-suspense novels, I think she has a strong potential and talent in that area and could very likely find herself on the bestseller list if she does pursue that avenue. I think her style of building up to a crescendo and then taking it down a few notches, then building up again is good, the material has to be sharper and more on an adult level. I am surprised that her publishers didn't pick up on her potential talent! I would not recommend this book to young teens because the Harvey chapters are way too intense and would probably give them nightmares. I would not recommend this book to any adults because aside from the Harvey chapters, the remainder of the book is way to immature to hold an adult's attention. So I give this a 3 with a potential for 5- a murder/suspense bestseller is out there waiting for Ms. Sebold to pen it. I sincerely hope she takes my advice.

Rating:
Summary: These bones need some flesh!
Review: This is the type of novel where you read the opening chapters over about 30 times but struggle to finish the rest of it. Alice Sebold excels at the sections which are her own experience thinly disguised as fiction but on the evidence here she's no novel writer. Unfortunately Alice paints herself into a corner by killing off her best character right at the beginning of the book (ok she's still around to narrate the story, but she has no interaction with the other characters which limits her effectiveness). Instead of carrying on with the story of Susie's murder and the consequences she fills the remaining chapters with boring stock characters and situations gleaned from popular fiction and films such as 'Ghost' and 'The Sixth Sense' (the alcoholic grandmother in particular seems to have wandered in from another novel). I felt very cheated by the conclusion - especially as the author teases us by suggesting that Susie's body will be found and then moves on to a completely different - and ridiculous payoff. The only thing that kept me reading was the hope that the killer would be caught (in real life even the dumbest cop could hardly fail to suspect him); that Susie's body would be found and buried; that her family would be granted some kind of peace and that Susie herself would be empowered to move on to some new stage and break away from the past. I'm not going to go into the bad writing, unbelievable behaviour of characters (sample: a recently bereaved father tacitly encourages his only remaining daughter to break into the house of the [person] who murdered her sister!) or numerous continuity errors here but where was the editor? Someone should have told AS that her manuscript needed to be completely redrafted before it got to the publication stage, but then I guess they know this kind of stuff will sell shedloads of copies so why bother?

Rating:
Summary: Lovely Bones = lovely book!
Review: There is something different about how this author writes-every word is so perfect and really gets into your soul. This was a very well written book. It didn't end the way I wanted it to, but then I realized that it's LIFE..life isn't supposed to always have fairy tale endings. This is definitely one of my favorites!

Rating:
Summary: Quaint
Review: Not something I would have normally read, but an interesting story all the same. The perspective is somewhat unique (which is why I picked up the book in the first place), a teenager in her own self-made Heaven. Several of the supporting characters seem two-dimensional; the detective is simply obtuse and dealing with his own emotional issues acts in a manner which is degrading to the profession. And the 'miracle' at the end, oh good grief. I think the idea is to create a sympathetic audience, and while it took a mere few hours to read, my only sympathy is for the person who wastes more time on it.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing, Heartfelt, Honest, Complex, and Bitersweet
Review: This book was Amazing, heartfelt, honest, complex, and bittersweet all mixed into one inthrowling reading experence. One I began reading I couldn't tare myself away, finding myself reading and clutching the book at odd times just to get through another page. Alice Sebold's writing is beautiful; 300 pages of poetry and lyrics that told the story of a young girls life cut short and her own stages of grief as well as her families. I recomend this book to anyone, I don't think that theirs a person of this earth who couldn't read this book and walk away with something. Amazing, I can't wait for Alice Sebolds next book.

Rating:
Summary: Hollywood or Not
Review: I was deeply moved by this book. Suzie is murdered at fourteen by a neighborhood monster. She goes to heaven and watches for years -- and describes in the first person -- how her bereaving family and friends cope with that fact. That the ultimate denouement is a bit too Hollywoody (as some other reviewers have said) doesn't detract, in my opinion, from the grace and the insight about family relationships and about life's miracles with which the author imbues her story. When Hollywood brings out the movie, it may turn out to be quintessentially tacky (but I still hope they do!). But the writing is poignantly beautiful, magically inspired. A definite must-read.

Rating:
Summary: An Elite and Distinctive Book
Review: My reading group and I found THE LOVELY BONES to be wonderful on many levels. It is as distinctively interesting as PLEASURE OF MY COMPANY (Steve Martin) and MY FRACTURED LIFE (Rikki Lee Travolta). It is meanwhile as lusciously developed and plush as THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES (Sue Monk Kidd) and THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE (Audrey Niffenegger). I speak for myself when I say that I consider it among the elite 20 or so books I've read this year.

Rating:
Summary: review
Review: i got this book for christmas and at first, i didnt think it would be an ok book but nothing special. You have probobly already read the discription of the book so i will tell of my opinion. It captures your attention from the first page and is very hard to stop reading the book as you get further and further. You may not notice the unique way the writer writes and how different yet good it really is until the end of the book. It doesn't tell you about her life because thats not the point of the book, but to show you what happens to those of who she loves. The ending ties a little bit too well but in ways it doesnt.The only thing to say is that, to read this book, you have to really understand it and the right age, like 9th grade and up. to find out if you like ti or not, you are just going to to have to read it.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written and incredibly moving
Review: Lovely Bones is told from a rape/murder victim's point of view who is already in heaven. Susie Salmon watches her family fall apart, her true love as he tries to cope, and her murderer covering up his tracks. At first I thought this would be a murder mystery, told from a different view, but a murder mystery nonetheless. No one could have prepared me for the raw emotion rolling through the pages. I am sure Sebold's experience in rape added to the heartrending tale. This is a book that will certainly cause you to consider the good things in your life. As some would complain, the ending does come together nicely, but I was struck by the irony of the neighbor's murder. I think Sebold goes further than many authors would dare to go, not being afraid of the cruel events that people try to avoid. The message Lovely Bones portrays will stay with you forever. I highly recommend this book to anybody who is ready for a 'lovely' yet harsh novel.