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| The Lovely Bones | 
| Author: Alice Sebold
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Category: Book
List Price: $13.99
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $13.98 (100%)
New (107) Collectible (12) from $2.34
Avg. Customer Rating:  2539 reviews
Sales Rank: 2091
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.5 x 1
ISBN: 0316168815
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780316168816
ASIN: 0316168815
Publication Date: April 20, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Unique and moving October 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I find it incredible that a book concerning rape, murder, depression, and family disfunctionality could take such a sweet and innocent tone.
A young girl is kidnapped and killed, and spends the rest of the novel observing her grieving family and friends from the safe paradise of heaven.
Despite the fact that the narrator is actually dead, this is a book about life, all its various ups and downs and the nature of loss and love.
The story is complex and character-driven, and the writing is innocent and eloquent.
 A heart wrenching story, told in a beautiful way. September 19, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I was given this book by a friend to read not long after it was released and because of certain events in my life it was a very difficult read to say the least. It took me over a month to finish it, but once I did I told my friend she wasn't getting it back. It was passed around a group of friends and family and everyone had their chance to read it. I appreciate Alice Sebold attempting to write a book with such a difficult story and doing an wonderful job in the process.
Sebold at her best September 13, 2008
Let me start off by saying that this is a touching story despite the fact that it begins with the rape and dismemberment of a 14-year-old girl. The details of her death take up the first chapter, but the dead girl, Susie Salmon, then goes on to describe the aftermath of this tragedy and the way it affects her family. Sebold also goes into the head of the killer himself. The characterization of the killer is excellent. You don't get too much about his past, though you do get a sense of his relationship with his mother and how that affected him. More important, though, is how he is now. He could have been a caricature but, instead, Sebold made him seem like a real person.
But let's not deny it. The reason this book worked was because Susie's voice was just so compelling. I would follow her anywhere. The story itself was not very strong and it kind of fizzled out in the end.
For a while, though, I was enchanted by Susie and by the fresh perspective on a story that's been done before.
I felt that having the story be told from a ghost's point of view served two purposes. 1. It was a fresh way of handling the grieving process in a book. It was a vehicle to tell the story of a grieving family in a way that was different. 2. It allowed Sebold to explore the effects of such a tragedy on a young girl after she has progressed to a somewhat more enlightened stage. She still lingers behind in the world of the living but she is able to see things with a much different perspective than mortals would.
The main reason this gets four stars from me is because it is, for the most part, so beautifully written. Yes, at times it seems a bit indulgent. For example, I thought this one spiritual encounter near the end was just wrong on so many levels. But, overall, it's a very good book and I would recommend you give it a try, at the very least.
Excellent book September 9, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I loved this book, I couldn't put it down. It was so unique. The characters were so well developed. You would think the subject matter would be too sad to read, but it was so beautifully written, that you didn't really think of the sadness--instead you just rooted for the characters and found comfort in their happiness.
 Disappointed...don't believe the hype... September 8, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Just finished it a few minutes to go. I find myself wondering what I've done with my time. I selected this one because of the overwhelming number of positive reviews. Reader's calling it "the best book they'd ever read" and "favorite of all time." So, I'll begin with the positive. The story is told from an unusual narrational vantage point. This made me very enthusiastic in the beginning of the read. However, the creativity stops there. Seriously, that's it.
On to the negative...Im not sure that there was enough support given to explain the relationship between some of the characters. I found myself repeatedly wondering how/why certain insignificant characters kept being looped back into the story. Case in point, Samuel's brother, Hal. What was the point of him? For most of the story I thought of Hal and Samuel as a joint character and both light and insignificant. I digress...
More to the point...the middle of this story really caught some drag. I found it to be very boring. I only finished it because of the wonderful reviews from gracious readers. I just knew it had to pick up!
When the conclusion of the story finally arrived it came in the form of a cheap grand finally. I'm aware that it may be idiotic to complain that a fictional story lacks logic. But I must say that the resolution of this book was very illogical. The final happenings seemed very abrupt and, I felt over-all, cheapened the story. The writing became vague in detail and what there was to make sense of was really out there like a bad twilight zone episode. Before you know it, it's all over and you are being cutely dismissed. (You'll know what I mean when you get there.) In the final words I couldn't shake the personal thought that the story wasn't well structured. The subject matter was unevenly spread. Im sorry I was not able to agree with the majority the reviewers. It started out with an interesting notion but over all I found it disappointing.
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