Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, but teary read
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. The character development is fabulous and the story line is gripping. Besides enjoying the book, it also made me think of personal safety for me and my daughter -- something we all, unfortunately, should probably focus on a bit more. High, high praise and recommendation!!
Rating: 
Summary: lovely bones
Review: The book ¡§Lovely Bones¡¨ by Alice Sebold is the novel about Susie Salmon, a murdered teenage girl. The most interesting part about the book is that it¡¦s told from Susie¡¦s point of view in heaven while she¡¦s looking down on her friends and family. She watches as her family copes with her death and the search to find her murderer, who happens to be her strange neighbor. The beginning of the book is rather graphic and as it describes her rape and death in detail and makes you sympathize with the character. Then from heaven, she watches as her father searches for her killer, making the book suspenseful. We see how Susie gets frustrated because her killer continues to live only a few houses away from her family. She watches her friends and family grieve and even break down but eventually start living their lives without her in their own different ways. She has to slowly accept the fact that she died young and didn¡¦t get to do many things that she always dreamt to. She talks about all the things with her friend in heaven and watches as her family and friends get to experience it on earth. There is one rather strange and confusing part however, the book is really touching because it deals with issues that happen everyday and people can relate to it and bring up personal feelings. Overall, book is good read that¡¦ll make you laugh and cry. The ending also has an interesting twist, which closes the book well.
Rating: 
Summary: unreadable
Review: The book started out very good but then became boring. I was hoping the family would keep searching and bring Susie's killer to justice or at least find out who killed her and where her body was. The book seemed to be heading in that direction but then it stopped and got involved in silly subplots that were dull like her little sister's romance with a boy, her mother's romance with a sheriff that was SUPPOSED to be working on Susie's case and a dumb girl who suddenly becomes obsessed with death and Susie upon learning of Susie's demise. It gets worse as the book goes on. Susie herself decides her murder's fate and the fate she chooses for him is what he deserved but it is unbelieveable. Death by icicles and what good does it do for the story to make Susie a killer herself? Just awful. Worse of all is the chapter where Susie returns to earth borrowing a girl's body. She has sex with some boy who had a crush on her and then goes back to heaven. She never thinks of her family or thinks to tell her family who killed her or where her body is. And also, with Susie having being raped, I don't think she would want to come back to earth for sex,lol. The only part of the book that is good is the first chapter. It all leads nowhere.
Rating:
Summary: An engaging story full of different perspective
Review: I started reading this book last year and to be honest, the first few chapters just weren't doing it for me. It wasn't until I began to re-read this year, that I fell in love with the story of Susie Salmon! The author certainly put her heart and soul into this work, and I guarantee, if you love works of passion as much as I do, you will indeed love this heart-wrenching tale. The perspective, being told from Heaven, is what takes this could-be-average-everyday-story and makes it everything you least expect! I fell in love with the reality behind Susie's murder and it's extraordinary portrayal through each of the characters in the book. I urge you - buy this book!!
Rating: 
Summary: 'Just Us Girls' Book Review
Review: The ladies of the 'Just Us Girls' Book Club reviewed this book in April '03. The group was disappointed with the ending of the book. After following the narration of Susie Salmon, we felt that the detective did a poor job connecting the clues to ulitmately find Harvey. The group was also disappointed with how Harvey ultimately died. Did he ever get what he deserved??
Rating:
Summary: A "Heavenly" Experience of love, growing up, and life
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I could not put this book down. The different perspective really draws you in and Susie Salmon's descriptions make you feel like you are there. Susie really grows through out the book and it feels like there are a few stories in one. Susie's portrayal of heaven is really believable and I could really identify with how hard it would be to keep her family together from heaven. I would recommend this book to teenage girls, or people who want to read from a different perspective.
Rating:
Summary: Heaven and Earth
Review: Sebold's magic hands create a sense of wonder that is so different from other authors and unexpectedly unique; her writing presents such a vivid image in which I feel there is no difference between the characters in the book and myself. This is not another ordinary book that would bore the readers to sleep, the path is not too slow or too fast, it is perfect. Occasionally, Sebold lingers too much time on one subject that I don't think it is necessary. The story itself and the characters are so well arranged; the intimate relationship among the characters is portrayed in such a realistic manner that it grabs my heart and tears begin to overflow my eyes. What interests me the most is that the story is told by a dead girl named Susie, not only what she sees, but also a reflection from the past mingled with the present that inform the readers what she values more and less on. Family relationship is constantly revealed throughout the book; perhaps Sebold is taking the readers to another level of loss and gain. Susie's family encounters her death, and certainly they are going through a hard time, but her death is a turning point for each of them in his/her life individually. Each of her family members learns to accept the Susie's absence, in fact, Susie, seems to be a taboo to them. While reading the book, the idea of feminism gradually rises to the surface where female characters begin to shape the heart of the story, where women are no longer dependent on men, and where women are more important than what they think they are. "The Lovely Bones"is strongly recommended to people who are feminists, who love to read a book that typical teenage girls like to read, and who want to read a different kind of story.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written, but could be better
Review: I had to read this book for a school project. Before I signed up to get it, I was warned that it is a deeply disturbing book. And it was. The first few chapters will make you cringe at the description of, and the events following up to, the protagonist's rape and murder. From then on, you'll hate Mr. Harvey more than you've ever hated a literary villain before. You'll want so badly for the living characters to avenge Susie's death. Unfortunately, the book often strays from what should be the main plot: Susie's father's pursuit of her killer. The side stories of Susie's friends and family are indeed relevent, but frankly they aren't all that interesting to the reader. Even worse, the ending feels rushed and incomplete. The resolution just didn't seem right at all. Despite its flaws, "The Lovely Bones" is extremely well-written, and I would recommend it. It is a book that shakes you up from the start and bounces back and forth from story to story then on. Definitely worth a look.
Rating:
Summary: Pheasants
Review: P. 228: "...late at night, when the wild pheasants that had once been plentiful still traversed the road...." Alice, pheasants are crepuscular. i.e. most active at dawn an dusk, and occasionally seen during the day. But not late at night.
Rating:
Summary: an uneven account of life and death...
Review: 'The Lovely Bones' by Alice Sebold is a rather unusual book. It is narrated by the ghostly (or perhaps better said, 'angelic') spirit of a murdered teenaged girl. She tells the story of her murder (..not too gruesome) and how it had affected the lives of her family and friends. This might sound fine but it's not, or at least not entirely. The book starts off somewhat moody and dark, as we understand how the narrator was killed. Very reminiscent of 'Being Dead' by Jim Crace (... a rather good book). But then the book switches gears and becomes more of a domestic drama (her family breaks up, her sister falls in love, etc). And it eventually evolves into a spiritual "touchy feely" mess, much like the movie 'Ghost' (okay, it wasn't a bad movie). So after starting out rather well 'The Lovely Bones' goes downhill. The ending was very anti-climatic. Bottom line: a book that should have very good turns out to be unexceptional. Not recommended.
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