Rating: 
Summary: Hard to Read, Hard To Put Down!
Review: I've waited several weeks after reading this book to try and write a review.
My expectations of The Lovely Bones was it was a mystery novel from a very unique viewpoint - namely from the victim's narrative from an afterlife. I'm enthralled with the process of crime scene investigation and quotes "that the victim herself would tell her story" that come from investigators and law enforcement. So, obviously, I got something more and different than I expected!
After reading Lovely Bones, I can say that it is a book that hit me on many different levels. In a secondary way, Lovely Bones is a mystery. But it's more. In an odd way, because of the perspective of the narrator being in Heaven, it's a coming of age story. Somewhere, in the critical reviews from 'PAID" reviewers, this book was compared to "To Kill a Mockinbird". And it ISin the same league, or very close. "To Kill a Mockinbird" showed Kit, the main character in TKAM, the adult's world of hatred, violence, bias. And the ways different people both are affected and deal with hatred and violence. The Lovely Bones shows us another child, Susie Salmon, and her family dealing with violence.
And seeing how each member of Susie's family has to deal with her death, and how a whole town eventually comes to grips with the violence and loss. Each person healing from the grief and anger. I enjoyed the perspective of "heaven" that Alice Sebold describes. I found it broke my lifelong concepts of heaven in a reassuring way. I guess what I'm attempting to say is "Yea! That's what heaven should be like!" Susie was able to see how others (family, friends, even her killer) dealt with her death and overcame the tragedy. Thus, helping her to come to terms and to "move on" on her journey. I must say that "To Kill a Mockingbird" is an all time favorite book AND movie of mine. I can honestly say I've read the book probably 50 times and viewed the movie almost the same amount. So, I had to wait a bit to review The Lovely Bones in comparison to the all time classic.
There are a few uneven parts to Lovely Bones. It isn't perfect, but The Lovely Bones can be favorably compared to Mockinbird. And Bones could very well become a classic with time.
I enjoyed it on many levels. I cared about the characters. The "plot" was unique and interesting. And I can say I'll pick my copy up many times in the future to read the story again. Lovely Bones has so much going for it, most readers will forgive it's shortcomings. A Happy Reader
John Row
Rating: 
Summary: Disturbing
Review: The only word I can use to describe this book, is "disturbing." This author obviously has some serious emotional issues that she needs to deal with.
Rating: 
Summary: Kept my attention...
Review: This book kept my attention, but I was a little "let down" in the end. Flowery and wordy...but OK.
Rating: 
Summary: gotta read this book people
Review: Desite the popular opinion...the ending was strong in my opinion. I dare you to start this book and even try to put it down.
Rating:
Summary: WOW!!! An amazing book!
Review: All I have is complements about this book. My mother suggested that I read this book. I am glad that she suggested it to me because it is one of the best books that I have read. I am not an avid reader, in fact I don't enjoy it. THE LOVELY BONES had my attention the whole way through. I could barely put the book down. I finished it within days. This touching story about a girl's family, friends, and community after she dies is very imaginative. I like how Alice Sebold relates her characters together and how they were connected with Suzie Salmon. WONDERFUL WONDERFUL WONDERFUL!!!! This is a must read!
Rating:
Summary: TRIUMPHANT
Review: Alice Sebold captures the essence of youth lost in her lovely novel. From the heartache of the first pages and the tragedy that befalls an innocent young girl, Susie, the reader is catapulted into another dimension where a young girl tries to make sense of what happened. The writing is so magnificent that the reader experiences the events first hand; i.e., the effects of the tragedy on her family; the differing, yet basically similar emotions of her mother and father; the devoted love of her brother which allows him to feel her presence in a room and the experiences of her sister as well as the love of her grandmother as each grieves and adjusts and heals in their own way and their own time.
Absorb the friendships of the spirit of Susie with the soul of Ruth who remains to me the dearest living character in the book.
Alice Sebold explores the poignant scenario of first and only intimate love between a young teenage boy and a young teenage girl's longing to explore. It was intimate without vulgarity and most of all it was innocence's personified.
As a grandmother, I would recommend this book to every teenage child to make them aware of the dangers lurking and ever present that the author brings to the foreground but mostly because it is a beautiful story where, in the end, justice does prevail and love can conquer all.
Rating:
Summary: An unbelievable experience
Review: I rarely read anything other than murder mysteries... but the rave reviews of "The Lovely Bones" grabbed my interest... I read the first few pages at the bookstore and was hooked... Susie Salmon came to life in a way no other character ever has... at the end it started to get a little wierd... granted, the reader must suspend disbelief from the get-go, but Susie's last earthly visit seemed too far-fetched for me... but the last two pages of this wonderful book moved me so deeply... as soon as I finished reading, I closed the book and held it to my chest and wept for a few minutes... just a couple weeks ago, I saw the book at Costco... I touched the front cover as I fondly recalled those two days when Susie was part of my life... I picked up a copy and opened it to the second to the last page... there I was at Costco, crying in the book section...
Rating: 
Summary: First two chapters get five stars...
Review: I blazed through the first two chapters, awake to every word. Immediately thereafter I felt a lull and found myself drifting. To the end the lull never lifted except for a brief moment or two at a few places along the way. The book begins with the emotional climax and then stretches into a 300+ page denouement. That's not fair to the reader, nor is it satisfying. I began by caring intensely, but by the end I found I couldn't care for any of the characters at all. It's too bad when the greatest satisfaction comes not from the closing content of the story, but from the physical closure of the book.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling
Review: This is one of the most lovely, most compelling books I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: 2 sleep deprived yet worthwhile nights
Review: Started this at 11pm in the midst of an exhausting week and didn't put it down 'til pg. 139. Finished it the next evening. While it is true that the book shifts gears about half way through and the character development was limited in some cases it was adequate to make her point. Her stress was on the connections between both her live/dead selves, her family and her friends. She stayed in character with the concerns, priorities and observations of a 14 - 24 yr. woman in the 70's-80's. I appreciated the window and it rang true with my own perspective from those years.
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