The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Lovely Bones
Book Review: I Really Tried to Like It
Summary: 1 Stars
I had heard how good this book was from so many people...and I really tried to like it.
I felt like the author wrote from an interesting and unique perspective, but didn't know what to do with the story once she got it going.
The supernatural parts were unbelieveable to me and distracted from what could have been a much better book.
Book Review: I loved this book!
Summary: 5 Stars
Yes, it is hard to read about the rape and murder of a young girl, or anyone for that matter. But this book is about so much more than that. It is about family, life, death, love, and the cold hard fact that this world is not always a sunny place. This was my first Alice Sebold book and after I finnished it, I was compelled to buy Lucky, her memior, and The almost Moon, her latest novel. If you're read Lucky, then you know that Alice sebold is not just some freak who can make up a gruesome story about the rape and murder of a child. She knows the details because she's been there herself. Anyways, I got a bit frustrated when I read some of the reviews for this book. Some people are just so mean. If you didn't like the book, fine. But don't sit there and bad mouth everything about it or question the author's abilities. All in all, I thought this book was amazing and I would definately recommend it.
Book Review: I read this book with a hook in my heart
Summary: 4 Stars
I read this book with a hook in my heart--a deep sadness, which pervaded my reading to the very end. In this regard, I believe the author wildly succeeded in creating an emotional tale of loss and separation, in which the surviving family and friends of our dead 14 year old heaven-based narrator never quite reach happiness as much as acceptance.
I was immediately drawn into the novel by the harrowing description of the rape and murder of Susie Salmon, our narrator, and kept there by the author's fine writing and unexpected plot twists. Through Susie's eyes, the author alternated Susie's experiences in heaven, and those of a handful of families and friends, to move the story along. I found the characters to be well developed and intelligent (these are smart people), and not stereotyped in the least. Even given the fantastical nature of the plot device, with one exception addressed below, I found the characters' reactions to be uniformly realistic and reasonable.
I particularly appreciated the lowkey manner in which the author presented the life and fate of George Harvey, Susie's killer. Had I been the author, I would have been tempted to turn this lovely book into a standard detective story. While the novel contains some elements of that genre, the author wisely steered clear of that treatment, instead opting for a much more nuanced (and may I say) realistic treatment of the killer's life and fate.
My one quibble: The novel requires the reader to accept that Susie has died, that she is in heaven looking down, and that she has limited interaction with family and friends. Because the author presented her world (heaven and earth) as one governed by its own logic, consistency and rules, I was able to easily accept that premise. Unfortunately, at a crucial point in the book, the author created a "device" to give Susie one more earthly experience outside of her heavenly bubble. I found the author's decision to violate her our internal rules to be a serious misstep. Not only did it come off as being a "Ghost" ripoff (yes, the movie with Demi Moore and Patrick Swazey), but it sacrificed some of the pervasive sadness and loss of Susie's eternal separation, in favor of a Hollywood ending. In the preamble, Susie recalls her father's description of the penguin in the snow globe as "being trapped in a perfect world." Susie's fate mimicked that of the penguin, until the author lost faith in her own vision for the disappointing expedient of a "happy ending."
But even with this significant flaw, this is a truly extraordinary book which I would heartily recommend to all.
Book Review: I was resistant to reading this sad storyline
Summary: 4 Stars
But friends kept telling me I ought to. I finally did. It is gruesome, in that the rape of Susie is very true to life. You get to know her rapist/killer, and that is disturbing.
It is very sad in that Susie in Heaven can't have what she most wants, her family. But, I thought it was truly worth reading, even if I felt nauseous at times. It is highly original. I would recommend it, but you have to be in a mood to be okay with upsetting emotions.
Book Review: Incredible.
Summary: 5 Stars
I just finished reading The Lovely Bones for the third (possible fourth?) time. This time I read it because it had been assigned for my Junior AP American Lit. course, which I thought to be a rather strange pick for an actual class. The Lovely Bones, while being a beautiful novel, did not strike me as something school-friendly because of the violence and shock-factor of the first hundred pages of the book.
I read this book for the first time when I was 13 (which horrified my mother). Every time I read it, one thing stays the same - I cannot stop crying for the first fifty-odd pages, and at other points during the novel. While I would suggest that this novel is certainly not for those looking for an emotionally light right, I will also say that to not read this novel is to do yourself a disservice. Yes, it will upset you quite a bit, and yes, if you are a parent it might worry you a little about your own daughter's safety. However, the protagonist's voice and Sebold's narrative powers are stunning - this is not the book that you read and then put down and don't think about again, it stays with you, and I do not say that about anything lightly.
While I found the Lovely Bones powerful the past few times I read it, it was this time that I found it to be the most powerful. I think that as you get older and can truly understand the depth of grief, this book touches you in more and deeper ways. All of the characters are flawed and each deals with grief in their own captivatingly human way. I have heard others who read this claim that the protagonist's voice was too juvenile or that the storyline was trite. I would have to say that while Suzy Salmon is fourteen, her narrative is anything but juvenile - it is matter-of-fact and cathartic, not childlike, and hers is a voice that will resonate with people of all ages.
Anyways, I didn't mean for this review to be so long, but in closing, I would have to say that this is a must read. Believe me, I have read a LOT of books, and I have found this to be the best one of read (right up there with East of Eden, and that's saying a lot!).