The Lovely Bones

I previously rated this book three stars. Later when I decided to read it again I could not help but wonder what “possessed” (you will realize after reading the book that this is in fact, a pun. ) me to give it three stars.

The idea behind the book is brilliant. A girl Susie is raped and murdered on her way home from school by her neighbour. She is then stuck somewhere between Earth and Heaven, watching her loved ones cope with the grief of her death while her attacker goes unpunished. The blurb was interesting enough for me to read in spite of not having any romance in it. It sounded like such a promising read.

And it was too, for the first ten pages or so. It starts with Susie being attacked and the scene is powerful and realistic. This scene is probably the highest point of the whole book beacuse it goes entirely downhill from here. There are a bunch of flat cliche characters with equally flat thought sin the head. Susie's father starts to neglect his family and his wife finds comfort in the arms of the detective with a tragic past. And then there are metaphors that make no sense : “The snow was falling lightly, like a flurry of small hands...” Hands. Not cotton or clouds or a million other things that are white or cold or both. I previously rated this book three stars. Later when I decided to read it again I could not help but wonder what “possessed” (you will realize after reading the book that this is in fact, a pun. ) me to give it three stars.

The idea behind the book is brilliant. A girl Susie is raped and murdered on her way home from school by her neighbour. She is then stuck somewhere between Earth and Heaven, watching her loved ones cope with the grief of her death while her attacker goes unpunished. The blurb was interesting enough for me to read in spite of not having any romance in it. It sounded like such a promising read.

And it was too, for the first ten pages or so. It starts with Susie being attacked and the scene is powerful and realistic. This scene is probably the highest point of the whole book beacuse it goes entirely downhill from here. There are a bunch of flat cliche characters with equally flat thought sin the head. Susie's father starts to neglect his family and his wife finds comfort in the arms of the detective with a tragic past. And then there are metaphors that make no sense : “The snow was falling lightly, like a flurry of small hands...” Hands. Not cotton or clouds or a million other things that are white or cold or both. And a lot of people have already pointed out this quote in their reviews but I will do it again because of its sheer ridiculousness: “Her pupils dilated, pulsing in and out like small, ferocious olives.”

But the worst part of it was the ending. I'm ashamed to admit that I did not catch it the first time I read it. What would you do if after you died you were given few more minutes to live by possessing someone? Would you like to say goodbye to your family? Help catch your murderer preventing other from suffering your fate? Or maybe you would take advantage of this wonderful situation by
having sex with your childhood crush. That's right. Susie Salmon, victim of rape and murder, uses her precious last few minutes to have sex, with her childhood crush, Ray by possessing the body of a lesbian friend, Ruth. And this is not the kind of voluntary possession where you need to ask permission or anything. So after an out of body experience, Ruth awakes to finds herself raped in a bike shop (I'm not sure why Susie chooses to go there). You would think that being raped herself, Susie would be a tad more considerate. But, obviously the path the true enlightment and nirvana by forgetting all earthly pleasures is by taking in the most earthliest pleasure of all.

While unique in concept, there are so many things that bothered me about this book, I hardly know where to start.

First and foremost, while Sebold achieved great commercial success with this freshman novel, it still reads as a freshman novel. The schtick is clearly the only part of the book thought through and exists to cover the lack of other literary elements.

The first person, omnipresent narrative is clunky and not well explained (if the narrator knows what people are thinking show her figuring out that she knows!) and leads to a very much told, rather than shown, storyline.

The historical setting is both unnecessary and goes unmentioned for several hundred pages, so when reminded 200 pages in that the date is 1977, it is very confusing.

There are a plethora of characters, all of whom seem minor, since not enough time is spent on any for them to be more of a cliche.

The pacing is deplorable – several years will pass over the course of two pages and then 50 pages will be spent on a single day or two, with the years that pass without mention covering such important events as everyone coming to believe the main character's father on the identity of the killer, while the time that we focus on covers the sexual explorations of the main character's little sister. The payload of the book, as it were, comes in the last 20 pages, with no harbinger and no evidence that this was the intended ending.

The intended audience is also unclear. The writing style is clearly too juvenile for a larger adult/older teen audience, and the literary foibles are difficult to overlook, even for the audience of adults/older teens who read young adult fiction. At the same time, the focus on the book being rape and murder and several explicit sexual passages make this book at best uncomfortable reading for young teens.

For the most part I enjoyed this book. Put me out of my comfort zone. Made me wonder how many children met similar fates through the years. It was interesting to see her stuck in a sort of limbo while she watched everyone else move on with their lives. It was also interesting to see how each character processed the MC's death. Her father was obsessive. Her mother ran. Her sister shut off emotions. The potential boyfriend. The cop. The murderer. The perspectives were the strength of this novel. Unfortunately, it all fell apart towards the end. Pieces tied up too neatly and the possession is absolutely ridiculous. First of all, the possession itself was unnecessary, but the actions during the possession was far worse. Imaging the girl who was possessed. What would she be feeling? No, because MC trumps all and she needs the closure. The beginning is the strongest part of this book. The rest went on too long. And honestly, though the movie wasn't perfect, I preferred some of the changes they made. Especially the ending.

I have started this book more than once, and as predicted by others, I could never get past the first horrific chapter. This time, I perservered. Sebold wrote a very popular novel that is lyrical, compelling, and interesting. Getting through that first chapter is still a trick, though.

I hated this book. I had to read it for English class and I hated every part of it. All of it made me want to curl into a ball and wretch.
The depiction of heaven sounds like my absolute worst nightmare - hell, if you will.
The only sympathetic character in all this was the mother because I could relate to her desire to escape the whole situation that is this book.
I imagine there will be plenty of people who like this book but the best I can say for it is that even years later it still has he capacity to stir me to incredible ire.

I read this for a bookclub, and frankly the discussions that came from it were better than the book itself. This book did raise a tantalizing question I had never thought to ask: what does heaven smell like?

Her name is Susie. Last name Salmon, like the fish. She is fourteen. And she is telling us a story. The only thing is, she's dead. Yep, she's dead. She's telling her story from the Heaven.

From some of the reviews I've read, some people shed tears reading this book. Maybe I'm not too sensitive because I could not find a reason to cry, even after I finished reading. Just that I found the story to be kinda disturbing. And different.

I felt a bit impatient towards the end of the book. And there's a bit of “Ghost” (as in the movie) going on. It's disturbing, really. If reading a story from the point of view of a dead person is not disturbing enough, I don't know what is.

That being said, I think The Lovely Bones is a lovely read. If you want something different.

I know many people didn't enjoy this book because of something that happens late in the story. I don't understand why Alice Sebold wrote it this way, but she did, and it wasn't enough to ruin the book for me.

In fact, there was so much in this book I did like. Although it was a very sad event that sent Susie to heaven, I enjoyed hearing her voice as she lived in her heaven, watching life go on with her friends and family, and even her killer. Don't we all wish we could do something like that; watching someone else's life as a fly on the wall.

I'm looking forward to seeing how they do the book justice in movie form.

Overall, this is an okay read. I thought it was pretty well-written and it definitely held my attention. However, the subject matter was ultimately not for me. At times, it felt as though the writing was a bit too flowery for the narrator (a middle school girl), and some of the plot choices were a bit confusing. The concept was interesting, but ultimately, I wouldn't read this again.

3.5

This was a pretty intrigueing book, but it was very disturbing. There is an ‘adult scene' that is a little too graphic for me. The movie leaves out so much, and the movie gave me nightmares whereas the book did not.
This is about a little girl who is raped and murdered by a neighbor. It's about the struggle of her family while she watches from the place between heaven and earth.
I would recommend it to people who like books about murder and disturbing stuff. Just kidding it has some good aspects. I'm detrmined that when and if I have children I will teach them about ‘stranger danger' and we will have a secret password for people who are supposed to pick them up even if they know them. I'm also planning to disucss these saftey issues with my patient's parents.

Narrated by a very intelligent fourteen-year-old, Susie Salmon, this story opens with her violent death in a cornfield at the hands of a quietly deranged man, George Harvey. She narrates the story from heaven, a place that continually changes as she matures and watches her family's struggles and accomplishments on earth. Reeling from the grisly crime and not having closure to their daughter's death, Susie's parents have a difficult time coming to terms with this situation, and as a result, their marriage and relationships with their other two children suffer.
This story is compassionately told, and the reader quickly feels close to Susie and her family. All of the characters in this small town are interesting and add their own flavor to this intriguing story. Although there's a sad undertone throughout, there are also hints of humor, hope, and love. At times, this was a difficult book to stomach, because of the gruesome nature of George Harvey's life. But overall, it was an excellent book with memorable characters and a masterful plot. It's a quick, mesmerizing read, that leaves you wanting to learn more about Susie's life in her heaven–a mysterious and very interesting place. I'd recommend this book for its unique perspective and its honest look at the effect death has on the people a deceased person leaves behind on earth.

⭐⭐⭐
This book is good and worth reading. I enjoyed it but it felt a little lacking. I may recommend it to a certain audience. It gave me mixed feelings, possibly with potential it didn't quite live up to. It's a good experience, not amazing, but not bad.

I only marked this down for my own records because I'm terrible with tension. However, if you aren't, this is a very moving, scary, tense story, told from a unique viewpoint. 

Upsetting story. Know that going in.

One of the most original books I've ever read. There's a sense of melancholy running through the entire book that is almost oppressive, but this is a book not to be missed.

Not what I thought it would be.
It starts with a horrible rape and murder of a 14? 16? years old girl and the book is narrated by this dead girl. She follows her family's life after the murder.
It is surprisingly kind, soft, gentle, and warm considering the subject.

The Lovely Bones is at once both tragically hard to read, and riveting in its ability to draw you in and keep you reading till the end.

This book was like whatever. Maybe two and a half stars. Why is it so popular? I DON'T KNOW.

I loved this book. Very sad, but I couldn't put it down. I had intended reading Alice Sebold's next book but never got around to it.

Reading this book was like being in an eerie, sad but yet wonderful dream. The content of The Lovely Bones was very sad and I don't think I smiled at all while reading the book. Alice Sebold was able to create vivid pictures of the scenes she wrote. Most of the time when I read books I seem them in my head as if they were movies, but with The Lovely Bones this was not the case. When reading this book I felt like I was seeing the book in my head as different photographs and snapshots of the events. Overall, I recommend this book to those who like books with more of a surreal read and want the story to keep you on the edge of your seat.

I'd heard good things about this book, see the raving cover quote, yet I found this only an okay read. Its biggest success is making several horrific incidents bland and mundane, unfortunately it does the same to those moments that should be magical.
It's quick and easy to read but mostly because the words don't stay in your mind, melting away to let the next sentence pass through. It wanted, very much, to be deep but felt more like those books designed to be read on a sun-towel and instantly forgotten. The omniscient viewer from heaven was a nice touch for a narrator but quickly grew stale. Finally, I had no emotional bond with any character and was left “meh” when I finished the book.

Beautifully sad

The book was much better than the movie, which is surprising, as the movie was great!

Very interesting look at how the afterlife could work. I thought it was a very good read.