The Lovely Bones: A Novel by Alice Sebold Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Lovely Bones: A Novel
Book Review: Packed full of emotion
Summary: 5 Stars
I can understand why some people may have found this book a disapointment - I suppose it depends on the individual's taste. I, however, adored it. I thought that the concept of a personalised heaven from which Susie could watch her family was beautiful. It was one of those few books that kept me thinking about it for days after I finished it.I have heard criticism about The Lovely Bones that it is depressing. It is true that it is a very sad tale, but I think that the ending helps the reader to understand that it is possible to live life after the death of a loved one. I cried a number of times whilst reading it (something which I do not normally do), because the sentiments expressed made me think more about the people I have lost in my life and how much I miss them. Yes it was sad, but the strength of emotion which the book produced displays the power and quality of the writing.
The novel also highlights a new idea (new to me anyway) of seeing a person's death from their point of view, and not the people left behind. Usually we only think of the pain which we feel when somebody dies. In The Lovely Bones the reader sees the pain that the dead person feels after having been wrenched from their family and loved ones. A criticism I have heard levelled is that Susie has the ability to see the whole world from her heaven, but she uses it only to watch her family. This was one of the main points of the book and shouldn't be looked upon as a fault in the writing - only when Susie could move on from the people she left behind would she be able to be with her already deceased grandparents in heaven; just as her family would only be able to really live their lives when they started to move on after Susie's death.
The Lovely Bones is a beautifully written novel with a charming and emotional sentiment that I find hard to believe would leave anyone unaffected. I would reccomend everyone and anyone should at the very least try this wonderful book.
Book Review: A must read!
Summary: 4 Stars
The Lovely Bones is about a teenage girl who gets murdered by a neighbour. She watches, from her heaven, the people she loved on earth grow up and try to solve her murder, but as there is no body people slowly forget about her. This book was absolutely brilliant. The sort of book you can't just read one chapter of at a time. I read half of it the first time I picked it up and I was only supposed to be looking through to see what it was about! I was disappointed when I got to the end but only because the book finished not because, as is the case with most books this good, it didn't end well.Book Review: The Boring Bones
Summary: 3 Stars
I cant understand why people would think this is an original idea.Is it just me or is this not an idea that has done before in TV & film.Hello!? (Ghost!)Easy to read whilst I was on hols but could of been so much better.The author is one of those over descriptive types who have a chapter dedicated to the "smell of the rain"
I give it 3 stars for the fact I was bored on the beach when I read it .
Book Review: Dry old bones
Summary: 2 Stars
Having read the synopsis and some other reviews, I thought I would never be able to put this book down! The formula is a good one, but it tries too hard to be clever, rather than getting on with telling the story and delivers too little in terms of readability. Sebold's writing is highly poetic, but you just don't feel like you are `in there' with any of the characters. The story is of a young girl, who is raped and murdered on her way back from school, and describes the rape, murder and her death in some detail, follwed by her her viewing the world, her friends and family, after the event. The book failed for me, mainly because of the overly bleak and lonely view of heaven, which appears to be where you've just come from, only with no friends, family or loved ones - the `heavenly' part being that you can do what you like eg: run down the school halls,letting off the fire alarms. I just couldn't see why anyone would want to spend any time there at all! Heaven was a bleak and isolated place in this book, and as one of the central points, should have been much more developed and better described. I dragged my way through to the inevitable, confusing and less than satisfying end. As a mother, the rape and murder - or as the book portrays it -the disappearance of a child is one of the worst things - no, it's THE worst thing that you can imagine. I find it hard to believe, and feel guitly to admit that I have read a book on such an emotive and painful subject, and actually found it boring.Book Review: Enough to make you question the bestseller lists
Summary: 2 Stars
A girl is raped then murdered, but the story continues with her watching her family go to pieces from heaven. Original? Well, Christopher Pike got there first apparently with Remember Me, but yes, hasn't this been done on tv before? Even so, it promises much, but unfortunately, delivers very little.You'd expect this to be gripping stuff, but it's not. The depiction of "heaven" (or is it purgatory?) could have been explored much further, and would have made things far more interesting, but instead the focus remains on the dull lives of Susie's grieving family. You can see what's coming right from the start and you know it's going to try and make you cry, which good novels in this genre should, but for me at least, it didn't.
Why? It think it's mainly because I didn't connect with any of the characters. Susie didn't gain any sympathy from me - she was utterly flat for a protagonist. Her family were rather better crafted, notably her sister but oddly, I had more time for Susie's lover, who hardly figures a huge amount. When I start rooting for somebody who makes little more than a cameo appearance, and care little for the members of the main cast, I start to worry. In the end I was thrilled to have finished this and got onto something rather more rewarding.