Rating: 
Summary: The Lovely Bones
Review: This book was quite interesting at the beginning and mostly throughout the book, but the end lacked a strong resolution for the main character's family. Overall, a very good book.
Rating: 
Summary: Wow!
Review: The lovely bones is an amazing book. From the second I picked it up, i could't put it down! I wished it would never end! I highly recommend this book to anybody. Warning: You WILL cry while reading this book so get the kleenex out!
Rating:
Summary: AMAZING Book
Review: This book is truly a marvelous story that no bookshelf should be without. Not only does the book focus on death and heaven. It also focuses on families working together to overcome grief. Teen girls will find the narrator recollecting her experiences as a young girl and it will touch them to see that their own experiences are represented through the novel. (school, boys, friends, etc.) I recommend this book to anyone with an open heart.
Rating:
Summary: ...But what comes next?
Review: At one point or time in our lives, we have all contemplated one question: what happens after we die? Is there really a heaven? And if so, what all does it contain? Is it the same for everyone, or does it depend on our individual personalities?One account of life after death is described through the eyes of fourteen-year old Susie Salmon (like the fish). Taking a shortcut through a cornfield from her junior-high school proved to be a fatal decision, as one of her neighbors, Mr. Harvey, sat perched, waiting for his next victim. He cons her into entering an underground hideout he has made, where he then brutally rapes, and eventually murders her. She continues the story from her new home in heaven, which seems to be accustomed to each person's desires. "Susie's heaven" resembles that of suburban high school. She attends the school with one of her newly-formed friends, Holly, but it is not quite the same as on Earth. There are no teachers there, no boys that "pinch their backsides or tell them they smelled", and instead of textbooks, they read things like Seventeen, Glamour, and Vogue. As Susie makes her new home in heaven, she continues to watch her family's life unfold without her. She struggles with being apart from her family, and not being able to help them, with the exception of a slight tap on the shoulder or her presence being among them for only a few seconds. Watching brokenheartedly, she witnesses her family's break-up, and then is warmed as things seem to come together. Sometimes in life, we take the things for granted that are most important to us. You never really come to understand the value of something until it is gone from you. Alice Sebold shows us in her novel that life sometimes takes abrupt turns, and you're never guaranteed to be able to life your life to the fullest. As Susie states after exploring her heaven, "I could not have what I wanted most: Mr. Harvey dead and me living. Heaven wasn't perfect..." This book is a great book for mature, young-adult readers, preferably at the junior-high to high-school level. It brings reality to real issues going on today, and how sometimes our lives can be taken away from us. It is also great for adults to read, and be appretiative of the life they've been able to live. What a great lesson to learn!
Rating:
Summary: Hits every emotion!!
Review: Wow! What a spectacular read! I usually take several weeks - months to get a book read, but this one I could not put down. I read it in 3 days and what an emotional rollercoaster. Like so many others, I thought "what an awful premise to a book". Having 2 young girls myself, I felt the subject of the rape and murder of a young girl to be too dark and depressing. This book was anything but that. It tugs at all of your emotions and can bring tears of joy as well as sadness to your eyes. There is nothing better than a novel that can really get to you deep inside, and this one does that and then some.
Rating: 
Summary: Could not put it down!
Review: I dont find the time to read many books, but when it came to The Lovely Bones, I couldn't stop reading it! I bought the book on a Saturday and had it finished by Monday (which for me is fast considering it takes me 10 minutes to read a stop sign :-). I was,however, also disappointed in the ending. I was hoping it would give relief to some people who found themselves in the same situation as the Salmon's, but I guess it was more about Susie's view from her heaven and not about the reality of catching her killer.
All in all I think it was a great read and highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Enthralling
Review: I found the author's view of heaven fascinating. From a Christian stand point it is totally off base, but read as pure fiction it was captivating. I had to watch this family try to put their life back together after the death of their daughter/sister. Equally difficult was watching the daughter try to let go of her family. All in all, a very good read.
Rating:
Summary: Good, Not Great
Review: I thought that I was the last person in America who still had not yet read this book. It has been on every bestseller list since its debut, appeared on Oprah (a huge endorsement in and of itself) and receives glowing reviews on Amazon. Even with those high expectations, I found Lovely Bones to be a good novel. A quick read, Alice Sebold captures her reader from the first page and keeps them until the last 40 pages. Everything you have heard about the book is true - the story is heartwarming, thought provoking, and bittersweet. However, I was extremely disappointed with the ending. Without giving anything away, the writing style in the last 40 pages changed dramatically and I was left feeling like Ms Sebold had abandoned her characters and me. All of which is unfortunate as it is apparent that until page 295 or so, she took much care in developing and stewarding their story.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointing ending
Review: The book was good to the very end, with the exception of the ending. I couldn't wait to get to the end to find out if they would find Susie's remains, find the killer, etc., etc. But, in my opinion, the ending was disappointing.
I liked the author's view of heaven, it gives us a different perspective of what heaven might be (something other that what most of us have preconceived heaven to be).
This is a tear-jerker and there is very little humor in this book (though the grandmother's arrival is a bit humorous).
I would recommend this book, but if your looking for a GREAT ending, you might be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Ruined it for me
Review: I was so excited to read this book after all the good things I had heard about it. And I wasn't disappointed with Sebold's great story idea or her very real and likable Susie Salmon. I could even deal with the rather unconventional and seemingly God-less view of heaven - one view is as good as another. But the last bit of the book ruined it for me. I felt it cheapened the whole idea of humanity and presents a warped view of maturity and ultimate peace/happiness. I should have stopped reading sooner and I'd have been able to really give the book a glowing recommendation to my friends.
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