Rating: 
Summary: Definitely a good read, but not great.
Review: This book was not chosen for our Book Group selection, however, everyone in my book group had read it and loved it, so I went off to find a copy. At first, I was VERY impressed with the storyline. It wasn't your "run of the mill" murder mystery. There was a definite need to know what happened to Mr. Harvey, but I felt that somewhere during the latter 1/3 of the book, there seemed to be a bit of a diconnect in what was written and what I desperately needed to read. I felt letdown. Perhaps the letdown was a result of all the hype I had heard. Maybe my expectations were too high? All in all it was a good read, but I didn't find the sense of calm that I had hoped to by story's end.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantabulously Creative Story
Review: This was one of the best books I've ever read. Alice Sebold uses an incredibly imaginative way of expressing her perception of what heaven COULD be like. This is the sort of book that draws you into the lives of the characters, makes you think, and at the same time is highly entertaining. It's so hard to classify this book as just one genre, there's mystery, romance, even a little horror, rolled up into one story. Reading this book will make you laugh, cry, and envoke so many other human emotions within you, but when it's all said and done you'll have this sense of peace and be just a little more comfortable with the idea of death.
Rating:
Summary: Page turner but not recommendable
Review: I'd have to lump this book with those that ARE page-turners, but that you'd be hesitant to recommend to a friend. The concept is creative and there are a few wonderful insights, but in the end the book suffers from characters that become less interesting and believable as the book goes on (please point me to a bunch of real-life adolescents that are as mature, confident and empathetic as this bunch) and an ending that didn't come quickly enough. I started to dread the passages that dealt with Susie's heaven, because the way it was presented just didn't hold together for me. It wasn't the absence of a God or singing angels, but the fact that it seemed so banal (Susie always hated the house she grew up in so in heaven she's gets a townhouse with a gazebo!). The one thing I did appreciate in this book (and that I wished it had focused more clearly on) was the depiction of how individually people deal with the loss of a loved one.
Rating:
Summary: Try It, You'll Like It
Review: Nothing is perfect. I enjoyed it. And, if you enjoyed Alice Seebold's creative fiction fantasy "Lovely Bones", maybe it's just me, but I think you'll love Norman Thomas Remick's creative nonfiction fantasy "West Point...". If you are one of those naysayers of "Lovely Bones" who liked the presentation idea but not the storyline, I suggest that you might appreciate Remick's book which a similar presentation idea, but a storyline that is from real nonfictional history. Nevertheless, don't just go by what I say. Get the books and see for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: "These were my dreams on Earth."
Review: "My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered," Alice Sebold's narrator tells us in the opening lines of this imaginative novel. Narrating her story from heaven, Susie explores the meanings of life and death as she watches over the living--her grieving family and friends. For instance, she discovers heaven isn't perfect, and people grow up only by living (pp. 19-20). "Almost everyone in heaven has someone on Earth they watch," she tells us, "a loved one, a friend, or even a stranger who was once kind" (p. 246). Sebold's bestselling novel is haunting at times, sentimental at others, but unfortunately plagued with an ending that is both trite and disappointing. G. Merritt
Rating: 
Summary: a disappointment!
Review: An interesting idea and good beginning but it soon trails off into a rambling and unconvincing story. Yes, the recovery of the family is well done but the novel moves in fits and starts and eventually has a really contrived ending. Like another reviewer, I'm reading this for a bookclub or I would never have bought a copy!!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting
Review: I love to read novels and they are always written in one form, about their life. This one is written in past tense of her life and it is very refreshing. I love the persepective and it what just great! Dont listen to those other reviews they are putting it down, it a short read and its goes very fast cause you are so interseted in seeing what happens next. So go get it and ENJOY!
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read!!!
Review: I could not put this book down. I literally stayed up all night just so I could find out what would happen next. It wasn't even a matter of suspense, it was just that the range of emotions brought out by this book kept me reading until I reached the last page. It's got a bit of mystery, a bit of love, a bit of suspense, a bit of sex, a bit of fear, etc....(I think you get the point). My point is: READ THIS BOOK!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Sad
Review: I find it very sad that this book has remained on the best seller list! It is the most chilling book I have ever read.Not only because of the rape and murder of this child, but the author's view of heaven. Her theology is very narrow.
Rating:
Summary: Hauntingly Inconsistent
Review: Disturbing, sad, and beautifully written, THE LOVELY BONES is as inconsistent as the sentence I just wrote. Alice Sebold's moving account of a 14-year-old girl's metaphysical oddysey following her brutal murder evokes more questions than answers. The protagonist, Susie Salmon, gives us a first-person account of her death, her experience in Heaven, and the lingering effect of her death on her family with a detached aloofness that often suspends credibility. How...how on earth...can this tragic character relate the events of the story with such emotional sterility? It's as if another person were killed, and Susie is giving us the grisly aftermath as an objective reporter. Her transcendental afterlife, as she moves freely between Heaven and earth, rings hollow, almost purgatorial: there is an inconsistent lack of an emotional investment. That said, Alice Sebold provides a haunting, well-written narrative. Good, but less than satisfying.
|
