Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing.....
Review: I borrowed this book from the library, and read it fairly quickly and was very disappointed in it. While I like the theory of our loved ones being able to view us and share in our lives from heaven, I found the book disappointing. I agree with the other reviewers that the only character one could relate to was the father. And to think of the mother having an adulterous affair and then later abandoning her family because she couldn't deal with the pain, I wanted to slap her. One reviewer said that she had a "heavy" feeling when she finished the book, and I agree with her, but I also have a nauseous feeling as well. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: Hauntingly curious novel
Review: A haunting tale of a beautiful 14 year old girl who was raped and murdered by her neighbour back in the 1970s. The book is a narration done by Susie from her place up in heaven. She starts off with the fateful day she decided to take a shortcut through the cornfield, to the time she finds herself streaking up to heaven where she keeps her watch over her family. From up there, Susie proceeds to tell the lives of her family after her death and how each member coped in their own different way. She tells of emotions and feelings experienced and people's thoughts as she hears them. Heaven according to Sebold, differs for each person. It is not a large communal place, but rather individual compartments where each soul can "decorate" it to their wishes.
As you read this book, you can hear Susie's ghostly voice, thats sorrow ridden, telling the tale. You can hear the regret in the words and the sadness of a child who will never get to grow up, but will remain trapped in the body of a 14 year old, never going forward nor backwards.
In some ways this is not a book for all due to the fact that it deals with death and the afterlife with every turn of the page. But it is a sad, haunting tale that moves you.
Despite some of the negative reviews on this site, you should pick the book up and flip through it to see a sample. There is nothing to be lost, but rather you just might gain an insight into the world of the afterlife.
Rating:
Summary: Inspirational
Review: How unusual. In early creative writing courses, we often had to retell a story (such as Cinderella) from the point of view of one of the characters (say, the mouse). At the time, I thought it was silly. But the telling of this story by the dead victim is brilliant. And gives me hope for all of us about the "Great Beyond" and the "Rainbows Bridge." What a great story. A real page turner. Geared more to womens' feelings, than mens', I think.
Rating:
Summary: very disappointing
Review: After all the hype, I expected more. I kept plugging away, but could not get interested and finally gave up, something I rarely do.
Rating: 
Summary: Sad and touching, yet full of heart
Review: The whole premise, at first seemed a little contrived: A young victim of rape and murder watches the unfolding grief and anger from a heaven that sounds like Earth with no problems. Still, the characters drew me in, as their grief and anger took center stage, even as they tried to get on with their lives. Susie's father, in particular, seemed real and torn by his grief. Some have criticized the way her mother responds to the loss, but to me she sounds believable in the way she runs away from her grief. Perhaps it's because I can see such tendencies in myself. The scene with Ray and Susie/Ruth at the end was a little contrived, though it was really sweet and it would be nice to have something like that happen in real life. Ruth was a character who was a puzzle. Her motivations were never truly clear. But still, I loved the book and would read it again.
Rating: 
Summary: Strong gripping start;dragging to end;weird characters
Review: The idea of a girl who was raped and murdered quickly worked up a hype nationwide that allowed The Lovely Bones to even reach the hands of middle school students. I have to admit; the idea of which was so gripping that I bought the book judging from the "advanced praises" and the pre-release hype. Well, I should have known better. The leading chapter of the book about 14-years-old Susie Salmon was so well-written and promising that anybody who riffled through it at the bookstore would have paid and taken it home. What came after the opening was a different story. The book then meandered through a diverse string of characters who were if not emotionally dead, sad and pathetic. Susie's mother, who seemed to have withdrawn her emotion about her daughter, was so self-piteous and nonchalant. No less annoying was Lindsey, whose character seemed to have faded out after she shut down emotionally (actually I rather not to read about her after her embarking on a sexual relationship at such a young age). While the book did not follow a conventional plot, Sebald had to rely on the diverse characters whose stories Susie told from Heaven. (Is that really Heaven? I felt no sense of joy and happiness from that Heaven.) The attempt just did not pull through as much as the author intended. The result was a bunch of people doing weird things that were meant to enrich the novel but gave the impression as fillers. The epitome of such weirdness was Ray Singh, who was some sensual Indian from Britain. Well, Sebald tried too hard to include all the ethnic minorities in her little book. How about that Ruth who claimed to see dead people? Was she supposed to be like Cleo who possessed a divine psychic nature? And I have never encountered a grandmother who was as annoying as Susie's. Oh this is my favorite one: Holly. Holly was Susie's deceased friend who believed that there should be no other languages spoken in "Heaven" besides perfect English with the perfect accent. That's flat out annoying and racist. While there were so many open threads, Sebald rushed to an ending that was too contrived, too "neatly-done" and flat-out weak. So many things were left "as is". What happened to the villain Harvey? What happened to detective Len? Some of the characters change by 180 degrees with no reason. The investigation of Susie's murder never followed through and Sebald never bothered to tell us what really happened. The destinies of her diverse characters were left to readers' imaginations as they were abandoned at the end. The take-home message from The Lovely Bones is hype does not mean great literature. No wonder tons of used copies are making their way back to the bookstores (I'm usually a pack-rat but I got rid of this one). Readers shouldn't even take it seriously as a piece of fine literature but read it as a light-fare in one sitting. 2.0 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Give her a break!
Review: Despite all of the negative reviews about the ending of this novel, I decided to prep myself for a disappointing let-down when I was finished, and give it a try. Maybe I'm the only one who feels this way, but I loved this book, beginning to end.
I felt like I knew every character personally, from the poor victim, to her family, friends, and even the murderer himself. Rarely do you find such developed personality among all characters in a novel-- they all seemed so real.
One of the criticisms of a previous reviewer stated that many things, such as the mother and father suddenly accepting each other at the end, was left unexplained. To the contrary, I think the author did an excellent job of describing their awkwardness, and the mother's indecision about staying home for good. Like I said, by the time I reached the end, I felt like I knew the characters so well that every little thought they posessed did not NEED to be explained. If you read carefully, you can explain it on your own.
Finally, I found the author's choice of fate for the murderer to be very appropriate. I don't want to go into too much detail for those who haven't read it, but although it wasn't an "ideal" outcome for him (i.e. a torturous death or capture or SOMETHING), there is much irony in his fate if you follow carefully. I also do not belive that Susie, the ghost, used "special ghost powers"-- what happened to the killer simply happened while she observed-- nothing more.
I felt so many emotions while reading this novel-- fear, anger, sadness, joy-- it is definitely one of the best books I have ever read. The language is beautiful, and the souls of the characters will make you want to know them. This is a beautiful novel that inspires you to make the most of your life and appreciate your friends and family. Although it has been described as "fantasy," it is realistic, nonetheless, and it is something I will never forget.
Rating: 
Summary: LOVELY BONES
Review: I finished the book last evening. I didn't want to read the book because of the subject matter but our book group selected Lovely Bones for April.I must agree with some of the reviews. The first half of the book was well done. I found the second part where she enters Ruth's body for the sexual experience she lacked in life a bit too much like the movie Ghost. It was not necessary and made it too much like a Hollywood plot. I agree with the other reviews that she may have hurried the end of the book as authors so often do.
Rating:
Summary: lacking in anger but still a good read
Review: I read the book in 4 hrs because i was expecting something dramatic to happen, nothing happened. Mr Harvey got away with a quite death and was never discovered the other strong character was broken so much that he became too weak that was suzie's dad and buckley who had a budding anger building was simpered away from the plot, the blockbuster scene between Ray and susie/ruth was uncalled for.
At the end i did know if i should be sad which i was because i did shed some tears or angry for being so unfulfilled however am still looking to her next novel
Rating:
Summary: Could have become hopelessly maudlin, but escapes...
Review: I was wary of this book. After all, the whole premise--girl murdered, girl watches over family from above and sees how they MOURN her--hopelessly teenage. But the book is more, I think, a commentary on how the death of the child, a parent's essential inability to totally protect their child/daughter reverbrates through the family over and over, uniquely touching each member. This family isn't all right--the mom bugs out, the dad gets obsessed and is viewed as a little freaky, the remaining daughter tries to be perfect and becomes touchingly protective of the father, the younger brother is angry about the sister who goes away (is murdered) and then the mother who just goes away, too. There's no healing these scars. And that is how it would be for a family in this situation. And it is accurate and touching how Susie's character becomes frozen in time, forever 14, even as sister marries and has a baby, brother grows up. We'll never know what Susie would have been. The one discordant note for me was how Susie serendipitously returns to earth briefly through a strange friend she touched on her way out of the world at the time of her death. She returns to have sex with her old Junior High boyfriend. Hmmm. Why did we need this moment in the book? She's actualized now--she's had sex--she can rest in peace? How fifties. While I find the fleeting moments when Susie is seen or sensed or felt by her family as all too true of a sensation of a grieving family and therefore good and comforting, I found the little sexual episode as unnecessary and a moment when the book threatened to lose its' credibility. But the the notion that the family does not "get over" the death but integrates it as a fact of their family history is satisfying as is the little plot twist about the eventual death of the uncaught perpetrator. Read it; it's great.
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