The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Lovely Bones
Book Review: Interesting idea...falls short
Summary: 3 Stars
At first, this book really caught my attention. The entire idea seemed very interesting to me and the beginning certainly caught my interest. But as I continued reading I slowly began to lose interest. [MANY spoilers ensue]
To be blunt, this book tries to hard. The minute Susie's mother began kissing the head detective on her daughter's case (after having him weirdly repeat "your daughter's murder" twice?) I had to put the book down for a while. How annoying! Once I picked the book back up again I took it less serious as everything to me now seemed overdramatic. The chapter where Susie goes back and forth between her mother's adulteress sex scene and her sister's with her boyfriend was a tad ridiculous. I felt that it had been written for the soul purpose of appealing to prospective movie producers (and clearly, it has caught their eyes.)
The ending didn't really satisfy any of my questions. Yes, Susie gets a few quick moments back on earth...that's great, who saw that coming?! But what does she do? Has sex with her first crush. Perhaps I am a cynic, but that's a bit far fetched for me. I can't be positive in stating what I would do if I had a quick second chance on earth, but if I was brutally raped and murdered, no matter how many years had passed, I don't think I would be thinking too much about sex. Lot's of sex in this book. Too much sex. Not only does she have sex, but she doesn't mention to the man where her body is buried, that she just saw her murderer (who could most likely murder again), or ask to be taken to the hospital to see her family. No, she just has sex.
If I am not being clear enough: the ending was lacking! For a book of this nature I was not expecting a storybook ending. Things seem to work out for everyone. The family gets back together, Lindsay marries her first and only boyfriend, Buckley learns to play the drums, Susie's mother stays home, her father survives a heart attack and stops living in the past, Ruth and Ray have some sort of closure, and Susie's murderer gets killed by an icicle...har har? (That part being the least clever, in my opinion.) All in all, this book tries to be profound and falls short...very short. But if you want a quick read that doesn't require you to think to much (and you like sex), I would suggest this.
Book Review: Letting Go
Summary: 4 Stars
Deeply moving. A delicately, beautifully written tale. A touching account of a family that nearly unravels in the hands of tragedy. How the ebb and flow of what was and what can be is just out of their reach. This book offers a unique and hopeful perspetive of what life is like after life ends on earth.Book Review: Looking From Above
Summary: 4 Stars
Lovely bones is about a Girl named Susie Salmon who has been raped and murderd and is now in heaven looking down on her family and friends. As she is looking down on her family and friends, she realizes how much her death has made an impact on her parents. It made such an impact that they are thinking about a divorce. She also sees her sister Lynsey and her brother Buckley and watches them as they grow up and how life is going on with out her involed in it.
During the book her famliy becomes suspicious about their next door neighbor Mr. Harvey. Lynsey ends up breaking into his house finding evidence that Mr. Harvey could be Susies killer, but the police can't use this infomation because she did'nt have a search warrent. While in heaven Susie finds out that she was not his first victim, in fact she was only one of the many victims of him. Susie thinks that the police and her family will never know the truth about her murder because Mr. Harvey knew just how to cover his tracks because he has had so much practice with the other girls he had murderd so he knew the exact weather conditions to murder her in. The weather was snowy and rainy so the water would wash away any trace that a murder had happened there.
I am the type of person that doesn't like to read so for me to like this book I know that it has to be good. This book is very emotional and very graphic with the descriptions. I would recommend this book to any one who likes emotional books or likes stories about crime and at the same time life lessons. I think people can relate to this story because even though Susie is dead she talks about many of the things that we go through every day. I think the life lesson is that you don't know what you've got until it's gone and this book really shows this lesson!
Book Review: Lovely Bones
Summary: 4 Stars
I would have to say this is one of the best stories or book i have ever read. I would recomment this book to a lot of people. But not to those who are affended by harsh language or sexual contact. This story about this girl named Susie. She was walking home from school through the corn feild and one of her nieghbors came up to her and asked if she would like to join him in his little underground tunnel for a coke. Susie didnt want to be rude but she had to be home soon or her mother would worry. She ended up stayin and going underground with him. He raped her and murdering her. Cut her into peices and filled his tunnel back up so nobody would ever find out. In the past he had also commited other murders he had got away with. He was getting very good about covering up his tracks and things like that. Susie woke up in heaven. She didn't know where she was, she didnt know what was going on. She later on realized that she can have or do anything she wants but she spends her day lookin down on her family. Her family of course has a hard time with Susie's death but they have to move on sometime. Susie watches her little sister and little brother grow up. She watches her dad get very ill and she also watches her mother have an affair on her dad. Susie's sister and her father want to find who killed their beloved sister and daughter. They try and do anything they can to find this guy. In the end they find out that their neighbor had killed their Susie. This book is emotional, intense, scary, and romantic all at the same time. Its one of my favorite books.Book Review: Lovely Bones
Summary: 4 Stars
I thought this book was very good. It was very interesting and kept me interested through the whole story. The book had many details that made you know how Susie felt when something was occuring. Alice Sebold's way of writing was very descriptive and smart. There were alot of emotions in this book that made you understand where the author was comming from. I would recommend this book to anyone who can stand to hear harsh details about uncomfortable situations. I thought it was interesting that the story actually came from a first hand account by the other. She was writing about her life becuause she was also raped but wasn't killed so she really made you be able to relate to the character. I thought this book was very interesting and kept me wanting to read.