The Lovely Bones

by Alice Sebold

published

June 6th 2003 (first published 2002) by Picador

edit

binding

Paperback, 329 pages

characters

Susie Salmon

isbn

0330485385 (isbn13: 9780330485388)

description

On her way home from school on a snowy December day, 14-year-old Susie Salmon is lured into a cornfield and brutally raped and murdered, the latest vi...more

[close] On her way home from school on a snowy December day, 14-year-old Susie Salmon is lured into a cornfield and brutally raped and murdered, the latest victim of a serial killer. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold's haunting and heartbreaking debut novel, unfolds from heaven, where "life is a perpetual yesterday" and where Susie narrates and keeps watch over her grieving family and friends, as well as her brazen killer and the sad detective working on her case.

As Sebold fashions it, everyone has his or her own version of heaven. Susie's resembles the athletic fields and landscape of a suburban high school: a heaven of her "simplest dreams", where "there were no teachers... We never had to go inside except for art class... The boys did not pinch our backsides or tell us we smelled; our textbooks were Seventeen and Glamour and Vogue".

The Lovely Bones works as an odd yet affecting coming-of-age story. Susie struggles to accept her death while still clinging to the lost world of the living, following her family's dramas over the years. Her family disintegrates in their grief: her father becomes determined to find her killer, her mother withdraws, her little brother Buckley attempts to make sense of the new hole in his family and her younger sister Lindsey moves through the milestone events of her teenage and young adult years with Susie riding spiritual shotgun. Random acts and missed opportunities run throughout the book--Susie recalls her sole kiss with a boy on earth as "like an accident--a beautiful gasoline rainbow".

Though sentimental at times, The Lovely Bones is a moving exploration of loss and mourning that ultimately puts its faith in the living and that is made even more powerful by a cast of convincing characters. Sebold orchestrates a big finish and though things tend to wrap up a little too well for everyone in the end, one can only imagine (or hope) that heaven is indeed a place filled with such happy endings. --Brad Thomas Parsons, Amazon.com [close]

find at: Amazon | Half.com | Barnes & Noble | Abebooks | compare prices ...

discuss this book

topics	replies	views	last activity
The Next Best Boo...: Your Latest Splurge	3408	1384	5 hours, 18 min ago
Room 110, Period 3: * Letter Two - Due 10 /27/08	11	20	3 days ago, 02:23PM
Room 110, Period 6: Vocabulary	30	28	14 days ago, 12:31PM

new topic | see all topics »

groups with this book

view all groups »

friend reviews (0)

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

lists with this book

Where's the love? Add this book to your favorite list.

other reviews (showing 1-20 of 88375)

all | this edition

Sarah rated it:

(review of isbn 0316166685)

09/24/07

Read in September, 2007

recommends it for: enemies

The Lovely Bones has got to be the most baffling, poorly written, jaw-droppingly bad book that I have ever set my eyes on. It is truly a black, black tragedy that the words in this book were placed in that particular order, published, and distributed. How could this have ever possibly been popular? Is it for the same reason that the song “My Humps” hit number one? I mean, I don’t technically believe in burning books, but this novel really got me thinking. About burning it.

If it serve...more The Lovely Bones has got to be the most baffling, poorly written, jaw-droppingly bad book that I have ever set my eyes on. It is truly a black, black tragedy that the words in this book were placed in that particular order, published, and distributed. How could this have ever possibly been popular? Is it for the same reason that the song “My Humps” hit number one? I mean, I don’t technically believe in burning books, but this novel really got me thinking. About burning it.

If it serves any use at all, it might be a perfect guide on how not to write a book. Here are some of my gripes, problems and issues that we can hopefully use to prevent something like this from ever happening again to us, our children, or our children’s children:

It is filled with some of the worst sentence-level writing that I have ever encountered. From bad description to horrible grammar to utterly confusing metaphors, Sebold covered it all. A tell-tale way to spot a weak writer? They can’t stop weirdly describing people’s eyes. Don’t believe me? Try this sentence: “Her eyes were like flint and flower petals.” Or this one: “The tears came like a small relentless army approaching the front lines of her eyes. She asked for coffee and toast in a restaurant and buttered it with her tears.” Really? She buttered the coffee and toast with her tears? Or this one, this time about someone’s heart: “Her heart, like a recipe, was reduced.” What the hell?

And here’s my favorite eye description in the book: “Her pupils dilated, pulsing in and out like small, ferocious olives.” That’s right. Ferocious olives. I’ve read MadLibs that make more sense than that.

It seems to lack a plot. You know, that thing that books are supposed to have. I’ll never forget my first workshop with Brady Udall, in which he threw my story onto the table and said, “This isn’t a story, Sarah, it’s a situation.” And as much as I despaired when I got home, he was right. Sebold has the same problem: her book is a really long situation. A girl dies and watches her family from heaven. Okay. That’s nice. But what do the characters want? What drives the story forward? Nothing. The characters get older and keep bumping into each other. Things change, and things often do, but there is no forward movement and certainly no building of suspense.

Since there’s no plot, the ending is just a bunch of weird stuff happening. I read the last thirty pages on the train this morning, and couldn’t stop a few outbursts: “Oh, no she didn’t!” I’d say, talking to Alice Sebold and her crazy ways. She is just plain bold when it comes to doing whatever she feels like, and she feels like doing the weirdest stuff ever. It’s not that I don’t want to write spoilers here, it’s that I can’t even explain to you what happened at the end of the book. And I bet she can’t either. I’m not exaggerating.

Her characters never have interesting or complex thoughts. Not even the serial killer or the mother whose daughter was murdered. It seems that Sebold’s characters do one of two things: they laugh (which means they are happy) or cry (to butter their toast, somehow, when they are sad). As you might guess, there is a lot of laughing and crying in this book. When a character is confused, they laugh and cry at the same time. This also happens often.

I feel a little better after venting. But I’m still deeply sad and angry. I feel like my own writing might have been permanently damaged by reading this book… like a couple of… ferocious… olives?

...less

Like this review? yes (273 people liked it)

94 comments

Kt rated it:

(review of isbn 0316166685)

01/23/08

Read in July, 2003

recommends it for: People who subscribe to Readers' Digest without any sense of irony

Haaaaaated it. I am one of those OCD literary nerds who takes on a war bunker mentality with books that I've started and dislike: "I will see this through to the end."
For "The Lovely Bones," I made an exception.
Somewhere, sometime, someone told Sebold she could write. That person should be made to apologize to me, in person, and to all other poor souls who were duped into buying this shlock.
The literary press also needs to break out the cattails for a serious bout of flo...more Haaaaaated it. I am one of those OCD literary nerds who takes on a war bunker mentality with books that I've started and dislike: "I will see this through to the end."
For "The Lovely Bones," I made an exception.
Somewhere, sometime, someone told Sebold she could write. That person should be made to apologize to me, in person, and to all other poor souls who were duped into buying this shlock.
The literary press also needs to break out the cattails for a serious bout of flogging. Lev Grossman of Time Magazine is at the top of my flogging docket; he called this book "a beautiful, sensitive, melancholy novel" and repeated that claim a year later in a review for a book called "The Dogs of Babel" (a book just as terrible as The Lovely Bones). I can only assume that Mr. Grossman confined his reading to the zeros on the check accompanying the publisher's blurb or else has some sort of vitamin deficiency that causes his brain to process ham-handed tripe as "beautiful" art.
It was Mr. Grossman's review along with the alluring premise of the novel (a young girl posthumously tries to make sense of the events that led to her death) that led me to order "The Lovely Bones" and "The Dogs of Babel," which at the time were only available in hardcover. Financial reasons made this an extremely uncommon practice for me, and my experience reading both of those novels ensured that I would never do so again.
To further illustrate how absolutely wretched this novel is, I'm going to provide a paragraph of background. The "substance" of the novel will be criticized in the subsequent body of this review.
During the summer of 2003, I was occupying space as an intern at a company that accepted me at the last minute and had nothing for me to do. The company was white-collar and behemoth in office space. HR sent me to an deserted floor to file documents that took up, at most, 2 hours of my 8-hour day. Even in this vacuum of monotony, I could not finish this book. I chose to watch paint chip away, and pick up dust bunnies with recycled paper (I didn't have a broom) rather than finish this book.
So with that said, I suppose I should actually mention something specific about the book I hated. My caveat here is that I am unwilling to punish myself by picking through a copy of the book for textual examples. I'm going by memory and online synopses alone.
The narrator and victim is "Susie Salmon." Let me stop there. SUSIE SALMON. That really should have clued me in, but I was too eager to see how the author would represent the afterlife, to catch a glimpse of this beautiful pain of looking a life that goes on without you.
Unfortunately, Sebold managed to bleach out anything remotely interesting out of the plot in spectacular fashion. Heaven is a school, you see, not that Susie spends much time there or learns anything. Her rapist and murderer is a creepy loser while somehow being the dullest of all of Sebold's numerous dull characters. The "reason" for his murderous tendencies could be guessed by anyone who's ever even heard of a pop psychology book.
You'd think her family would at least be interesting in grief, but Sebold reduces them to one note drones.
Everything in The Lovely Bones is a gimmick, played cheaply for sentiment and with no other reward. I'd compare to a Hallmark movie, but Hallmark movies do not adopt the pretension that Sebold belabors with terrible pseudo-post-modernist metaphors.
All of this would be bad enough, but what made me throw this book "aside with great force" is the offensive, and unjustifiable resolution to Susie's laments that she did not get to live. This unfairness, although poorly developed, was at least a cause of sympathy until Susie decides to forcibly correct it at the expense of others. In the hands of someone else, this last turn could've been bleak insight into motivations of the cycle of victimization but Sebold conveys not one iota of ambivalence.
Much of my hatred of this novel results from its inexplicable popularity and commendation from people who have a responsibility to promote reading. I shudder to think who else picked up this novel convinced it was the best that the contemporary literary world had to offer. It is not my intention to slam those who enjoyed this book. If you did, I am glad to hear it. I love books, and I want others to love books. I simply fear that someone who is tempted out of a long vacation from reading might pick up a novel like this and give up the cause for lost....less

Like this review? yes (24 people liked it)

6 comments

TheDane rated it:

(review of isbn 0316166685)

06/28/07

bookshelves: bookclub-read

Read in January, 2007

recommends it for: no one, really

One book, two rapes. How's that for a bargain. I almost said three rapes, but then I remembered that I was a consenting adult and did indeed willingly part with my ten bucks or whatever, and so my wallet wasn't really raped. Though after finishing the book, it kinda feels like it was.

The book in question is Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones. I'm not giving anything away by saying it's a book about a girl (the narrator) who was mur...more One book, two rapes. How's that for a bargain. I almost said three rapes, but then I remembered that I was a consenting adult and did indeed willingly part with my ten bucks or whatever, and so my wallet wasn't really raped. Though after finishing the book, it kinda feels like it was.

The book in question is Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones. I'm not giving anything away by saying it's a book about a girl (the narrator) who was murdered. That's revealed in the book's second sentence. It's also not a big deal to let you know she was raped and murdered by a neighbour, George Harvey. That all is related pretty early on. What isn't revealed until maybe the last fifty pages is that the girl herself, Susie Salmon, becomes a rapist.

Ideologically, I'm not certain which one is worse. I could be persuaded.

But the way the book presents the two incidents is markedly different. One is revealed in low lights and has a horror edge to it. It's seen unilaterally as an evil, wicked deed. The other is the book's highlight, the moment at which the author breathes a sigh of relief and says that everything else made right. I suppose it makes sense; the narrator probably wouldn't see her actions for what they were. But in the end, both George and Susie deal with their childhood victimizations in that manner typical to the criminal genre these days.

Both George and Susie had horrible things happen in their formative years that leave long-lasting scars. The only difference is that George Harvey lived and Susie Salmon died. Not that it makes much difference. Susie is as alive a character as George for the purposes of the story. They both want what they want and care little for the well-being of the women who get in their way. The difference is that George Harvey is portrayed as the villain he is, while little Susie Salmon is treated as a hero.

Those who have read the book may not have even noticed Susie's completely abandonment of moral sense or care for the woman she violates. After all, she doesn't exactly couch things in those terms. So here it is, laid out for you.

When Susie was alive, there was a boy who liked her, Ray. In the years after her death, Ray grows up to be, in the narrator's view, an attractive young man. She watches him and loves him. Somehow, events conspire to allow Susie to possess the body of Ruth, a friend of Ray's. Susie uses the opportunity to seduce Ray and they make love several times in the course of a few hours. And then Susie has to go back to heaven. Leaving Ruth, a victim of Susie's power over her body.

Imagine that you're Ruth. You wake up. Naked. Probably a little tender. Used. In the back of some bike shop. With a man in the shower. That's what I call horror. Not only was she not conscious or aware for any of the immediately preceding events, but the guy who's been really her only friend in the world is now naked and telling her that he screwed her brains out while she was unconscious. And even if he doesn't tell her that, there's a very short rail of evidence and it all points to that conclusion. And now. She could be pregnant. She could be diseased.

Yep. The crowning act of love on the part of the tale's heroine is little more than a petty, rapacious act of power over the helpless woman who got in her way. Good job Susie Salmon. You and George Harvey should get along nicely.

p.s. even though I called it a spoiler, I think that Alice Sebold spoiled the book. Not me....less

Like this review? yes (65 people liked it)

20 comments

Chelsey rated it:

(review of isbn 0316166685)

01/16/08

Read in December, 2007

recommends it for: anyone that likes mysteries

The fictional story of the Lovely Bones was really sad, but intriguing at the same time.The book was about a girl named Susie,she was 14 years old and had a wonderful loving family who cared deeply about each other.She was loved by many.One day as Susie was walking across the field from school she was stopped by a man who would destroy her life and the lives of everyone that loved her.He not only ruined her life forever,but her family and friends will never be the same.What he did was so disg...more The fictional story of the Lovely Bones was really sad, but intriguing at the same time.The book was about a girl named Susie,she was 14 years old and had a wonderful loving family who cared deeply about each other.She was loved by many.One day as Susie was walking across the field from school she was stopped by a man who would destroy her life and the lives of everyone that loved her.He not only ruined her life forever,but her family and friends will never be the same.What he did was so disgusting and unforgivable.For goodness sakes he murdered a young,innocent girl who had many great things to accomplish in her life ahead.
What this man,Mr.Harvey did,was he built an underground room.He would sit down there in his room and mastermind plans to murder young women.What he did to Suzie was he stopped her in the field and asked her if she wanted to see his room.Of course her being as naïve as she was she accepted his offer and went down there not knowing her own fate.Down in that room he raped her then murdered her,put her in a garbage bag and dragged her to his house.He left her body in the bag for many weeks while her blood seeped through the bag onto his garage floor.He later put the body into a safe and took it to the junk yard.At first nobody knew who murdered this young girl.The only evidence was a hat that she had on,and the only bone of hers forgotten in the field,her elbow.
After Susie’s death her family began to separate from each other.Her parents lost their love for one another.Her younger sister who was 12 at the time began to push away from her family and became very quiet and alone.Her little brother Bucky being 4 years old did not really understand what happened,but as he grew up he began to branch out from his family and be much more to himself.He was not the same little boy he once was.Their mom left her family for the detective.This did not help the family at all.
Throughout the duration of the novel there was a continuous theme.The theme was that you have to be strong and move on.You can never give up,you have to keep pushing on even in the roughest times.Throughout the story there was one profound tone.That tone was very melancholy.The whole story was sad and very hard to imagine things like that really happen in real life.There was a lot of internal conflict within the characters in this book.Susie’s father was very emotionally drained.He had a very strong suspicion that Mr.Harvey was the killer.Even when nobody believed him he never stopped believing that.Susie’s mother was giving up on her family.She was burned out,sad,and lost.Lindsay began to think that she was all alone in this crazy world and nobody loved her.Bucky isn’t the outgoing little boy he once was.He used to be a wild and an exciting boy.After her death he sat in his box in the backyard and talked to himself.In this novel the Lovely Bones there was a lot of foreshadowing.Like in the beginning Alice Sebold mentions how Mr.Harvey is planning on building this underground room.She explains how he is a bit strange and how nobody in the neighborhood really trusts him and they don’t know much about him.This got my mind running,thinking that he may be a sexual predator and preys on children.Also she mentions the eye connection between Susie’s mother and Len,the detective. This made me see that there was an instant relationship building up.As a result their mother left her family for this man.
The story the Lovely Bones was one that I really liked. I liked how the author gave insights to what Susie was feeling,and witnessing while she watched everyone she left behind on Earth. She gave the perspective from Susie from Heaven. What I really didn’t like about the novel is how she skipped back and forth from different perspectives of the characters so quickly without finishing their thoughts or elaborating on their opinions. I would most definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes mysteries.
...less

Like this review? yes (10 people liked it)

2 comments

Katie rated it:

(review of isbn 0316166685)

04/27/08

bookshelves: school

Read in April, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

In the novel, The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold, a young girl, named Susie Salmon, is raped and murdered. This fictitious work was inspired by Sebold’s own horrific rape experience. Throughout the book, the author explores the themes of loss of innocence, letting go, loss/grief, familial ties, and isolation. This reader found the book to be both poignant and distressing.
The protagonist, Susie Salmon, is a fourteen year old girl who is lured into a cave dug into the ground by George Harvey, ...more In the novel, The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold, a young girl, named Susie Salmon, is raped and murdered. This fictitious work was inspired by Sebold’s own horrific rape experience. Throughout the book, the author explores the themes of loss of innocence, letting go, loss/grief, familial ties, and isolation. This reader found the book to be both poignant and distressing.
The protagonist, Susie Salmon, is a fourteen year old girl who is lured into a cave dug into the ground by George Harvey, a man who lives in her neighborhood. While down there, Harvey traps her and then brutally attacks, rapes, and kills her. She then goes to Heaven where she is stuck watching the lives of others still on Earth as they grow and develop. Susie’s sister, Lindsey, is eleven when Susie dies. After her death, Lindsey tries to contain all of her emotions and hide her vulnerability. Susie, forced to watch this from above, is saddened that no one on earth knows how to comfort her little sister. Buckley, Susie’s little brother, serves as a replacement for his dead sister, and eventually becomes resentful of his parents. Abigail, Susie’s mother, deals with the grief by running away from all things that remind her of Susie. Unlike her mother, however, Susie’s father, Jack, obsesses about Susie’s death; he keeps all things that remind him of Susie near, and uses her brother, Buckley, as a means of recreating Susie. When Jack finally realizes that Harvey was responsible for the death of his daughter, he unsuccessfully adopts the tasks of a vigilante. Justice is eventually served.
The beginning of the book is upsetting. Although the rape scene isn’t graphic, its existence is distressing. The situational change, switching between Susie being attacked and her family acting normally, adds to the reader’s sense of disgust. Later in the book, viewing the family as they try to regain their former selves, the poignancy of the situation is magnified. The book was an enjoyable read, until the penultimate chapter. Previous to this chapter, a reader with religious views could easily have accepted the events of the novel as reality. At this point, however, the plot begins to resemble that of a science-fiction novel. It redeems itself later when it switches back to its original genre, and the ending is just as emotionally moving as the rest of the book.
Throughout the book, Sebold raises many issues that she obviously feels strongly about. Rape is a major issue in the novel. Sebold, having experienced the brutality of rape, uses this novel as a means to spread awareness. Sebold also indirectly comments on grief, showing how each member of Susie’s family copes. Her disdain for their methods is evident and that same contempt is evoked in the reader. Jack’s role, as a quasi-vigilante, is also frowned upon. His lack of success is what demonstrates Sebold’s negative opinion on his actions. She may, in actuality, not dissent Jack’s actions, but rather believe in karma that would reciprocate negative actions to those deserving in the end.
The novel, The Lovely Bones, is thematically similar to John Grisham’s A Time to Kill. In both of these books, the father of a raped girl seeks justice for crimes against his daughter. In A Time to Kill, the father of the young, raped girl, shoots the men responsible and spends the rest of the novel in prison. Unlike Sebold, Grisham supports the father’s actions and reveres him in the novel.

In The Lovely Bones, Sebold explores the themes of grief and death, while telling the tale of rape and of a family in crisis, from the perspective of a girl stuck in Heaven. The New Yorker calls it “A stunning Triumph.” The New York Times says it’s "Deeply affecting… A keenly observed portrait of familial love and how it endures and changes over time." Sebold’s powerful novel is one that deeply affects its readers and teaches lessons on grief.
...less

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

add a comment

Ashley rated it:

(review of isbn 0316166685)

05/05/08

Read in May, 2008

Alice Sebold
The Lovely Bones
New York: Little Brown & Company, 2002
329 pp. 21.95
0-316-66634-3

Susie Salmon, a young girl murdered at fourteen, sits in her heaven as she watches her family grieve, suffer and fall apart without her. Susie follows the lives of her family and friends as they struggle to cope with the aftermath of her death. In watching her family on Earth, Susie’s journey to understanding the life she was robbed of becomes the central idea in the extraordinary nov...more Alice Sebold
The Lovely Bones
New York: Little Brown & Company, 2002
329 pp. 21.95
0-316-66634-3

Susie Salmon, a young girl murdered at fourteen, sits in her heaven as she watches her family grieve, suffer and fall apart without her. Susie follows the lives of her family and friends as they struggle to cope with the aftermath of her death. In watching her family on Earth, Susie’s journey to understanding the life she was robbed of becomes the central idea in the extraordinary novel “The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold. “The Lovely Bones” evokes joy and sorrow in its reader, making the whole reading experience worthwhile.
Alice Sebold delivers originality in her novel by creating a heart-warming story told from the fresh point of view of a young girl in heaven. The novel begins with the protagonist, Susie Salmon, already in heaven. Most novels do not start by introducing a central character that is deceased before the story unfolds, but “The Lovely Bones” begins with the main character saying, “My name was Susie Salmon […:] I was fourteen when I was murdered […:]” (Sebold 1). The most interesting aspect of the novel is the point of view from which the story is told. The point of view also plays a significant role in the novel. Even though the main character, Susie, is dead, she still manages to evolve throughout the novel, therefore being dynamic. As Susie watches her family from heaven, she matures with them and experiences life by observing. The idea that life continues after death is the central theme of the novel. After the protagonist dies, she manages to stay in touch with her family by appearing at certain moments, almost like a ghost. Susie lets her family and friends know that the dead are here “All the time. You can talk to us and think about us” (Sebold 309). A connection between the living and the dead is established throughout the novel, which ties into the central theme. Eventually, through this connection, Susie and her family gain a better understanding of the love, life, and unfortunate circumstances that often tie people together in the world.
Apart from the viewpoint, Sebold’s writing style adds to the fresh appeal of the novel by contributing vivid descriptions of the setting and characters. In the novel, heaven is said to be different for each character. Susie and other deceased people “Had been given, in our heavens, our simplest dreams. There were no teachers in the school. Our textbooks were Seventeen and Glamour and Vogue” (Sebold 18). Sebold depicts heaven as a young child would depict a colorful candy store. Because Susie is only fourteen when she dies, the novel uses language and ideas that most teenagers would use. However, as the novel progresses, Susie’s thoughts and opinions seem to mature, almost like those of her family and friends on Earth. Just as she would have on Earth, Susie learns that life must continue, even when it seems as if it is the end of the world.
“The Lovely Bones” offers a new outlook on life, death and the journey in between. It sheds new light on the importance of family and the magnitude of love by focusing on a road to recovery after tragedy occurs. The novel leaves the reader feeling as if they have gained insight, but it also leaves the reader feeling empty once there are no more pages left to turn. Alice Sebold demonstrates originality by seamlessly connecting the living and the dead in her rightfully acclaimed novel. “The Lovely Bones” gives reason to believe that life does not have to end when death takes hold.
...less

Like this review? yes (5 people liked it)

add a comment

Chai rated it:

(review of isbn 0316166685)

01/16/08

bookshelves: i-own

Read in January, 2008

recommends it for: people wishing to ponder their views on heaven (and good writing)

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I was really disappointed with this book. The first half was easy enough to read and then I started getting bored. Sebold was rehashing the same old 'poignant' lines, anything that was an obviously pretty piece of prose, was re-mentioned time and time again.

I thought that the ending was nauseating, falling to earth into a body to have sex with some guy who we didn't really care about, for no reason? Was it supposed to be a tear-jerker moment because I felt like throwing the book against the ...more I was really disappointed with this book. The first half was easy enough to read and then I started getting bored. Sebold was rehashing the same old 'poignant' lines, anything that was an obviously pretty piece of prose, was re-mentioned time and time again.

I thought that the ending was nauseating, falling to earth into a body to have sex with some guy who we didn't really care about, for no reason? Was it supposed to be a tear-jerker moment because I felt like throwing the book against the wall. Perhaps I was just confused because she'd watched her murderer stalk her sister hours (minutes?) beforehand and didn't use the opportunity on earth to nail her murderer. Maybe it was that the first half really did have promise, but then Sebold threw me as a reader, into a supernatural spin (with no substance).

What of the random coincidences, Samuel and Lindsey pulling off the road in the rain, running to the abandoned shack, then running all the way home, only to ... find out at the conclusion that Ruth's dad owns the house/! To me, this feels like loose story-telling. What about Hal, what was the point of Hal's character? To be Grandma's gimp? I felt like there was no point to these side-line stories and cardboard characters.

There wasn't even oomph behind the mother leaving and completely abandoning her family. I think if you're going to include something as dramatic as that in the novel, perhaps touch on it a little more. We don't want to know she's working in a wine factory, we want to know what is going on in her head! Then she wanders back into the finale, has a cup of tea with another random character, her son runs past because he has new drumset ... loose, loose, loose.

I'm not a believer in heaven but am interested in other's perceptions of it. I found Sebold's ideas disappointing. School buildings? A few people dressed up as snowflakes at Christmas time? A very random connection with her Grandfather? To me, this novel could be a great sketched-out version, loose ideas - to be used for an actual story. It needed fleshing out, reworking, editing.

Great idea. Poor execution. And maybe that's what everyone got so carried away with, the idea was grand - so grand that they were blinded by the weakness of the script. Further, we all like to comfort ourselves with the whole heaven theory, don't we? The fact that we mean so much to people that we'll continue having such a huge impact on them. That we get to watch them (a tad voyeuristic, may I say!). That this isn't it. Our one shot at life.

All in all, if people love this book. And it affects them, changes their life, their outlook, makes them feel warm and fuzzy, makes them tearful or full of rapture - that's a good thing. I'm just disappointed that such a top seller couldn't do that for me.
...less

Like this review? yes (12 people liked it)

4 comments

Lisa rated it:

(review of isbn 0316166685)

05/30/08

bookshelves: books-read-in-the-year-07-08

Read in February, 2008

recommends it for: anyone. :]

The Lovely Bones
Alice Sebold
Pages 384
2002 by Little, Brown & Company
pp.;$21.95
ISBN 9780316666343

[English book; modern lit unit:]

Imagine a young girl in a beautiful place full of sparkling lights, pretty flowers and fluttery butterflies. Now envision a shimmering, transparent barrier around the whole place. A girl is trapped in a perfect world, protected, yet imprisoned. This is Susie's heaven.

"My name is Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was f...more The Lovely Bones
Alice Sebold
Pages 384
2002 by Little, Brown & Company
pp.;$21.95
ISBN 9780316666343

[English book; modern lit unit:]

Imagine a young girl in a beautiful place full of sparkling lights, pretty flowers and fluttery butterflies. Now envision a shimmering, transparent barrier around the whole place. A girl is trapped in a perfect world, protected, yet imprisoned. This is Susie's heaven.

"My name is Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was raped and murdered on December 6, 1973." A young fourteen-year-old girl's death turns her loved one's lives upside down. As her family and friends try desperately to accept this terrible turn of events, her once picture perfect family is beginning to shatter. Now where is dear Susie? Well, poor Susie's up in heaven barricaded from life on earth. Unable to do anything, she unknowingly forms a connection between her and earth. As years pass, Susie's family begin to understand what's truly important: denying her death forever and continue grieving or learn that certain things leave and never come back. A lesson is waiting to be learned at the end of this wonderful story about family. So sit back and relax as you find out how Susie's family will make their way back to reality.

I really liked how Alice Sebold tried to get her message across by using various symbols and a motif to grab the readers' attention. Her words are simple and flow easily, which allowed me to connect to the characters and the story. On the other hand, I disliked the parts when Alice Sebold rambled endlessly about stuff that seemed completely unimportant (the "fluff"). I thought it made me, as a reader, become bored and uninterested in the story. However, her beautiful denouement was creatively written, the "it-put-tears-in-my-eyes" kind of ending. All in all, the author did a wonderful job bringing me back into her story after the rather awkward moments.

I would definitely recommend this book to teenagers because the message of this story pinpoints a huge issue in society. Nowadays, most teenagers have problems with acceptance. Yes, people find it difficult to accept certain aspects of life, but that's ok. Alice Sebold teaches a lesson that unknowingly imprinted itself into my mind: acceptance is a step towards a new journey-finding a new light.

In this fantastic memoir, she touches upon one of the major crimes in the female race: rape. The author offers a glimmer of hope to those who have fallen prey to tragic and traumatic experiences. Her well woven story draws you into the web of two worlds: heaven and earth. When you're done with this book, you'll realize, not everything is as perfect as it seems-especially in a place called Heaven.
...less

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

2 comments

Nicole rated it:

(review of isbn 0316166685)

05/05/08

Read in May, 2008

Alice Sebold
The Lovely Bones
New York: Back Bay Books, 2004
330 pp. With readers guide $13.95
0-316-16881-5

What is heaven? Is heaven the place where nothing bad could ever happen and where one is in a complete utopia? As one reads through the words of Alice Sebold in the novel “The Lovely Bones” heaven is described by the 14 year old, Susie Salmon, from Suburban Pennsylvania. After Susie is brutally raped and murdered she watches from heaven telling the story of her family and frien...more Alice Sebold
The Lovely Bones
New York: Back Bay Books, 2004
330 pp. With readers guide $13.95
0-316-16881-5

What is heaven? Is heaven the place where nothing bad could ever happen and where one is in a complete utopia? As one reads through the words of Alice Sebold in the novel “The Lovely Bones” heaven is described by the 14 year old, Susie Salmon, from Suburban Pennsylvania. After Susie is brutally raped and murdered she watches from heaven telling the story of her family and friend’s grief and of her murderer trying to cover the evidence. Suspense, love, and hope are weaved through the novel causing to the reader to come back for more.

Susie’s family is in deep mourning over her death. Susie watches as each family member copes with her absence. Her father, once accepting Susie’s death, spends all his time thinking about how to convince everyone that it was their neighbor, George Harvey, who murdered his daughter. Susie watches from heaven as her mom withdraws from her family and starts to have an affair with another man to help her forget about her murdered daughter. Lindsey, Susie’s younger sister tries to become the woman that Susie could never be. She matures at a fast pace so she can play the role of the eldest child. Buckley, the youngest of the family, hidden from the truth about Susie; everyone avoids telling him she’s dead until they realize they cannot hide it any longer. Once Buckley knows the truth he does not fully comprehend that she is dead, up in heaven Susie watches as Buckley talks to no one imagining Susie is there with him.

About two weeks before Susie’s death she kissed a boy, Ray Singh. Despite being 14 years old they were in love. When she died he was devastated, but he was not the only one who loved her. Ruth, a girl who Susie had almost never talked to, had feelings for her. She had not come out to anyone about her crush on Susie, until she died and met Ray. Both having love for Susie in common, they bonded instantly. “They say together on the shot-putters’ cement platform. Again I was seeing something I never would have seen: the two of them together. […:] It became a ritual for the two of them” (81). Ray and Ruth cope with the pain of Susie’s death by comforting each other, each pretending that the other one is Susie.

Told from heaven, the story of a young girl’s murder and the way it affects everyone around her instantly captivates the reader. “The Lovely Bones” is a story unlike any other and is a must read for anyone who is ready for a realm of extreme healing, a little bit of horror, and ultimate love.
...less

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

add a comment

Annalisa rated it:

(review of isbn 0316166685)

10/13/07

bookshelves: book-club, chick-lit

Read in June, 2003

recommended to Annalisa by: bookclub

The idea for this book is fascinating: written from the perspective of someone who has died, how she sees her family cope with her disappearance. My favorite part is when she sees the blood on the garage floor and states its her blood. The book turns around everything you know about frame of reference and gives the author a forum to observe all the characters from one perspective and yet still see personal scenes and feed them to us indifferent of opinion. It is the perspective that I probably m...more The idea for this book is fascinating: written from the perspective of someone who has died, how she sees her family cope with her disappearance. My favorite part is when she sees the blood on the garage floor and states its her blood. The book turns around everything you know about frame of reference and gives the author a forum to observe all the characters from one perspective and yet still see personal scenes and feed them to us indifferent of opinion. It is the perspective that I probably most enjoyed about this book as well as the originality of the idea.

Whenever the subject matter got too intense, the author did a good job of pulling away from sensitive subjects. The writing is very good. I enjoyed much of her take on the after-life, especially the non-emotional way she watched her family live their lives without thoughts of revenge for the man who killed her. It's almost as if an unrelated person were telling us the tale of this undetected murder. I enjoyed her perspective on instant forgiveness, or at least none anger and her abruptness of life ending. It made the capture of Mr Harvey irrelevant to the story so whether you wanted him caught or not, the story didn't hang on it.

But the author's interpretation of the post-life temptation is irking for me. I do not believe such things as a sex drive and a desire for fornication, particularly without a view of consequences, are going to be part of our spiritual experiences. The girl is 14, in an area when teenage sex is not as prevalent as it is now, and yet the author felt this child would die and regret, indefinitely not being able to have sex. I just didn't agree. (Nor did I think her boyfriend would have been pinning after her through adolescence and into adulthood.) And if the appetite weren't enough, the embodiment of it ruined the book for me.

It was such a beautiful though-provoking book that pulled me in and had me feeling for the characters. And then just one scene ruined the entire book for me. It went from a perfect balance of afterlife bliss without too deep a spiritual message trying to convert anyone to a hippie incident almost like psychic readings or ghost finder expeditions people have a hard time buying into it. It was too much to carry the same believability of her otherwise picturesque afterlife. Plus there was so much she could have done to give her family peace but she chooses selfishness. (Again a human emotion: if she can forgive why not be charitable?) If you're going to throw in this improbability, at least make it realistic enough to make it a sacrifice not an indulgence. Maybe she wanted that for Susie, but it would have been better to deny her than torture us....less

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Elizabeth rated it:

(review of isbn 0316166685)

08/15/08

bookshelves: book-club, parish-library

Read in August, 2008

This is a hard book to rate. I use the goodreads star rating system to rate how much i liked the book not how good it is. I thought this was a very very good book BUT I would not have read this book if it wasn't for book club. so the rating of 3 stars is 5 for goodness and 2 stars for how much i liked it.

i think this book might be a little like a Thestral from Harry Potter (5), whether or not you have seen death impacts how you feel about this book.

This review contains spoliers

I cr...more This is a hard book to rate. I use the goodreads star rating system to rate how much i liked the book not how good it is. I thought this was a very very good book BUT I would not have read this book if it wasn't for book club. so the rating of 3 stars is 5 for goodness and 2 stars for how much i liked it.

i think this book might be a little like a Thestral from Harry Potter (5), whether or not you have seen death impacts how you feel about this book.

This review contains spoliers

I cried a lot. My father died when i was 11 and the way she describes grief is very accurate. I cried through the whole beginning and wondered if i would be able to finish it. the part where the dad smashes the ship bottles then goes and sobs into her sheets makes me tear up just thinking about. later on in the book i cried when they had the impromptu memorial in the field.

as i read along it became less emotionally intense for me (just like in real life the loss of some one becomes less intense over time.) but it was still difficult to read. I got to the part where the dad hurts his leg and i had to stop and go to wikipediea to read a synopsis of the plot... i was not going to finish the book if the dad became a suspect.

while i realize that suzie's mom is a realistic example of how someone might deal with death, i have a very difficult time sympathizing with her. the author mentioned "The Awakening" in reference to Suzie's mom and i thought, "Aha! i hated the Awakening too."

I unexpectedly saw a lot of myself in Lindsey. I got married when i was 19 to my first boy friend. i don't know if either of us would have fallen in love with our first boyfriends if it weren't for the loss. 10 years later i have no regrets and i hope lindsey's life turned out the same.

I thought Buck got a little short changed character development wise. he was so young at the beginning but the book ended before we could really see how he was dealing with it. at the end of the book he was still all anger.

but Suzie's dad was the best character. I loved him from beginning to end. i loved his love for his children, how he struggled to love his two living children while mourning the loss of suzie. how he saw his wife drifting way but didn't know what to do about it. i loved how true and honest he was with his emotions. how he knew he was obsessed with Mr. Harvey but also that he was right.

the heaven aspect of the book was a little different. That is not how i think of heaven and for me was probably how i would have described purgatory. but it did make me think so that is a plus...less

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Greg rated it:

(review of isbn 0316168815)

08/03/08

Read in September, 2007

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Thinking ahead to those inevitable "best books I read this year" list, I already know that "Lovely Bones" is going to be on mine. For those who are unfamiliar with the book (beyond the basic plot) probably shouldn't read ahead lest my review could spoil some details for you.

--POTENTIAL SPOILERS--

I'm not afraid to admit that it made me cry rather mightily in some portions. But c'mon now -- how could you not cry while paying witness to a scene where a sad, murdered youn...more Thinking ahead to those inevitable "best books I read this year" list, I already know that "Lovely Bones" is going to be on mine. For those who are unfamiliar with the book (beyond the basic plot) probably shouldn't read ahead lest my review could spoil some details for you.

--POTENTIAL SPOILERS--

I'm not afraid to admit that it made me cry rather mightily in some portions. But c'mon now -- how could you not cry while paying witness to a scene where a sad, murdered young girl in heaven gets reunited with her dog that recently passed away on earth? I mean really, if you don't get a little choked up at that there's something wrong with you.

That helps lead me into my other observations/criticisms of the book. There are many such teary scenes, full of an almost stifling air of charged sadness. Some scenes may seem a little trite in their obviousness -- that is, anyone who was writing a story from a dead girl's point of view would be all but obliged to include them. Most, I was pleased to find, were not as obvious. I would not have imagined the teen girl watching her mother have an affair with such an understanding eye.

True to my english major nature, I do have a few complaints. The "psychic savant" angle that the character of Ruth brings to the story is more than a little hokey no matter how well the author handles it. Sebold does indeed lots of intriguing and original new visions to what would seem -- in the hands of a lesser author -- like a cast of cliches. And I was constantly amazed by that. But no matter how talented a writer is at breathing new life into basic characters, there are certain character types that will always seem a little cheesy. Psychic types that can communicate with the dead are definitely in that category.

I also don't feel like George Harvey's character is explored to satisfaction. You get glimpses into his past and his feelings, but neither he as an individual entity nor his crimes are ever redeemed. His exit from the tale is more of a sputter, very unsatisfying to the point of feeling almost like an afterthought.

--END SPOILERS--

But as also true to my english major nature, I only deeply examine the books I love the most. Any thorough criticism is borne out of love, and for this book I have a lot. A good read for anyone who has... hmmm... it's just a good read for anyone. Well, I suppose it's not a good read for anyone who likes their stories all sweet, neat and syrupy and likes to live by the illusion that life is, too....less

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

Shannon rated it:

(review of isbn 0316166685)

05/20/08

bookshelves: bookclub, contemporary-fiction, not-worth-it

Read in October, 2006

I would never have read this if it weren't for my bookclub. Having avoided it since it came out, I had very low expectations and so was surprised to be engrossed in the story - untill, about half-way through, it seemed to lose the plot and meandered around aimlessly, getting repetitive as it tried to wring emotion out of its characters, and me.

Susie Salmon is dead. She begins her story by describing how she is murdered, and her family's reaction. From her place in heaven, she can watch anyo...more I would never have read this if it weren't for my bookclub. Having avoided it since it came out, I had very low expectations and so was surprised to be engrossed in the story - untill, about half-way through, it seemed to lose the plot and meandered around aimlessly, getting repetitive as it tried to wring emotion out of its characters, and me.

Susie Salmon is dead. She begins her story by describing how she is murdered, and her family's reaction. From her place in heaven, she can watch anyone she wants to, but apart from "touching" Ruth, a fellow 14-year-old student at her school, on her way out, she can't make her presence felt. Ruth becomes a little obsessed with Susie, and starts to see and feel dead people, keeping a record of them in her diary. Susie's mum uses her daughter's death as a trigger to leave her family and try to recapture her youth. She is constantly described as a woman who never wanted to be a mother. Susie's dad takes her death particularly bad, and focuses on his two other children, Lindsey and Buckley.

Susie watches from heaven as her family grows older, watches as Lindsey goes from first kiss to accepting a marriage proposal, watches her murderer, Mr Harvey, a serial killer who is [spoiler alert!:] never caught, and, at the end of the book, possesses Ruth's body so she can lose her viginity to the only boy she ever kissed.

The Lovely Bones is fairly ambitious, and although it manages to keep from slipping into sentimental indulgence, it also lacks drive, and misses many opportunities to really delve into some interesting and important issues. Some devices were a bit cheesy, and seemed like avoidance. I guess I, like most people, would have been more satisfied if Mr Harvey had been caught, but that's not necessarily realistic either. The main reason why I struggled to finish it and why I give it only 3 stars is that the second half has nowhere to go, it loses its immediacy as the years go by and people start moving on, letting go of Susie, whose body was never found either. The characters started to annoy me - I wanted to be sympathetic, even of the mother, who, in a way, has the hardest time of all, but they began to get cliched.

That said, there are some nice descriptions, Susie's voice is apt, there's a great sense of time (she's killed in the 70s) without being too obvious, and even if you only read the first half, it's well written and gripping before it becomes tedious. ...less

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

Diana is currently reading it (review of isbn 0316166685)

05/05/08

bookshelves: currently-reading

Alice Sebold
The Lovely Bones
New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2002
374 pp. $7.50
978-0-316-16668-3

“The Lovely Bones” captures and entrances the reader after just one sentence. It pulls the reader into a world filled with both terror and beauty. The setting is so close to home that the reader immediately relates to the situation, yet is still detached. The novel uses a new point of view for its protagonist: Susie Salmon is dead. She watches what happens to her friends and famil...more Alice Sebold
The Lovely Bones
New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2002
374 pp. $7.50
978-0-316-16668-3

“The Lovely Bones” captures and entrances the reader after just one sentence. It pulls the reader into a world filled with both terror and beauty. The setting is so close to home that the reader immediately relates to the situation, yet is still detached. The novel uses a new point of view for its protagonist: Susie Salmon is dead. She watches what happens to her friends and family on Earth from her heaven. She knows what they’re thinking, but she is unable to change their minds or influence them in any way. Alice Sebold shows the reader a new way of looking at the world.
The novel is not a mystery; Susie knows perfectly well who killed her. All she can do is watch what happens on Earth and hope that someone who is still alive can do something about it. In fact, the only chapter Susie is alive for is the first, where her brutal murder is described. That chapter contains such tragedy that one almost wants to put the book down. If the reader keeps going, however, they discover that the book is not one of regrets, it is one of acceptance. Susie watches her family move past her death to a place where they can simply love her despite her absence.
Whenever the book’s setting changes, Sebold describes it in full, but without being flowery. She works the description in with the action. The description is still beautiful, still allows the reader to picture the different places. Because Susie is dead, she can see meaning in tiny details. She understands what the significance of an object is. Susie shows the reader that little details matter, and Sebold’s descriptions make it possible to understand Susie’s point.
Alice Sebold introduces an entirely foreign world in “The Lovely Bones”. She shows the reader the world of the dead. Each person’s heaven allows them to watch what happens on Earth, and it allows them to stay connected to their family and friends. No one knows what heaven really is, or if there is one, so Sebold’s description could be perfectly accurate. Sebold bravely ventures into an undiscovered area, and she manages to bring a satisfying ending out of the horrible tragedy in the beginning of the novel. She brings beauty to the world of a grieving family, and thus provides encouragement for the reader to accept upsetting events in their own life. “The Lovely Bones” is an intense novel, but it is beautiful in the end....less

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Kotchee rated it:

(review of isbn 0316166685)

05/05/08

Read in May, 2008

Alice Sebold
The Lovely Bones
New York: Back Bay Books, 2004
343 pp. $13.95
0-316-16881-5

The novel “The Lovely Bones” begins as the protagonist, Susie Salmon gets murdered on December 6, 1976 by one of her neighbors. The author, Alice Sebold uses a unique point of view to attract the readers. Susie Salmon, a normal fourteen year old murdered victim watches her family, friends, and killer on earth and narrates from the heaven. She is able to view them in the heaven but others do not n...more