Rating: 
Summary: Keep the tissues nearby!
Review: Okay, in short: I LOVED this book! But I did need the tissues quite a few times (almost every chapter, if not more often than that). I got this book at the library because I'd had so many people tell me, "You've GOT to read this book. YOU would LOVE it!" So, I grabbed it on Friday. I finished on Saturday. I found it VERY hard to put down.In a nutshell, what this book has going for it is VOICE. The main character (as you know if you've read enough reviews about this one) is a dead girl in heaven. Her story, while fast-paced and thrilling is also one that tugs at your heart. You really want the bad guy to get caught and for her family to find her body, so they'll have closure in their lives. Will her family move on without her? Will they remember her? You sit down with Susie and feel all of her wonderings and desires. The scenes with her family, who were having such a difficult time dealing with her disappearance and death, were the most heartbreaking scenes that I've read in a long time. Will you like the book? Probably. I LOVED it. This is definitely the BEST book I have read in a while. If Oprah still had her book club running with new books (she's into classics now) this would have been an excellent choice for her and there's no doubt in my mind that she would have picked this book. When you read this book, grab one for a friend too. You'll want to talk to someone who has read it and it will drive you crazy if you have no one to talk to. Trust me! :)
Rating: 
Summary: Slower than slow
Review: I cannot for the life of me figure out why folks go for this book unless it is expecially appealing to women. It is drip torture slow. It gives every writer hope to get published.
Rating: 
Summary: Difficult to rate
Review: This is the story of Susie Salmon who is raped and murdered at age 14 and who subsequently looks down at her family from heaven and witnesses the ways that her friends and family cope with her death. The initial tragedy of Susie's death gives rise to succeeding tragedies which she watches helplessly from heaven. She cannot stop visiting Earth until there is closure to some of the issues which her family and friends face. There are universal themes of love and redemption which run throughout the book and this may be what has been so appealing to readers. There are two things which keep me from liking this book as much as the 5-star reviewers. The first is that after seeing it atop the Best Seller list for months, I felt that it would be an extraordinary book, but for me it wasn't. Secondly, the heaven
which Alice Sebold describes is not one that I, as a Christian, can identify with. In her book, heaven is different things to different people and seems to be centered on the individual's preferences in life rather than a central deity. There is no God mentioned and no joy from being with the creator and sustainer of life. Because of this, I had a hard time accepting some of the other premises of the book. On the upside, it was well-written and Sebold has the ability to create interesting characters.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful quick read
Review: I am a working mom and have little time for "pleasure" reading. But once I started this book, I could not put it down. I found myself sneaking away to get a few extra pages in.
Alice Sebold's description of how Susie watches her friends, family and schoolmates from heaven mirror exactly what I myself had imagined someone who had passed on might do. She sees them in the both the dull moments, and the ones that will change their lives forever.
As soon as the book was finished I found wanting to know what happened with Susie, and her family in the years to follow. It was like getting a taste of "heaven", and I'd love a full meal!
Rating:
Summary: Most important book I've read in years
Review: I am 23 years old, and the last time I was this moved by a book, it was Pat Conroy's The Prince of Tides (I was 14 at the time). This book shocked and touched me in ways I have never experienced. From the gruesome death of the main character (something so vivid and real that I have feared it myself from time to time) to the fresh, hopeful portrayal of the afterlife (sans any religious specifications) and the heartbreaking aftermath of the family - I found myself laughing and crying. The characters are amazingly drawn, and I felt I knew each of them on an intimate level. I especially was drawn to the father -his scenes in the book were perhaps the ones that touched me the most. This book is different, frightening, funny, and beautiful all at once. Please pick it up!
Rating:
Summary: real characters and suspense
Review: I found Lovely Bones to be a great mixture of a suspense story and also a realistic portrayal of a family. The reader really gets to know each character and feel with them as they live through the tragedy of Susie's death. At the same time there is a mystery to the whole thing about the murder of Susie and how it will be dealt with on earth that keeps the reader on edge and makes it hard to stop reading. There are some very beautifully written passages as well.
The only criticism I have to offer about this book is that it may be a little too long. There was a point about three quarters way through where I felt like it was dragging on a little. I still enjoyed it a lot, but I think I would have finished it with a one hundred percent satisfied feeling if it had been a little shorter. Also although while reading the book there was nothing I really wanted to do except to continue reading, it did leave me with a lingering sense of sadness for the duration of the time I read the book. I guess this says the author did a good job of conjuring up powerful emotions in her story.
The book is also very interesting because it offers the author's views on death and after -life. The story is told from the point of view of Susie, who is murdered in the first scene of the book, looking down on earth from heaven. This is a very unique way to tell a story.
Rating:
Summary: Overrated
Review: This is a bang-up short story that has been bloated to book length. The result is one part Stephen King one part Harlequin novel. She should have just published the first chapter and left it at that.
Rating:
Summary: Buy Kleenex
Review: Do not read this book if you've lost a child or a friend. It will break your heart.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Book of 2002?
Review: I was reluctant to read this book because I thought the subject matter might be too harrowing. However, when the book kept showing up on EVERYONE's list for best books of the year, I went ahead. And, I did like it. I thought the point of view was interesting and the characterizations of the father/child relationships was wonderful. That said, I do not see it as book of the year. About 2/3 of the way through, Sebold just lost it. I think she painted her way into a corner she couldn't get out of, and the story just got hokey. The whole spirit possessing another body thing was just silly. And I was disappointed that she finally gave in to sentiment and had the evil guy meet his just ends. A good book. But don't get your hopes up too high.
Rating:
Summary: Deeply Touched
Review: It is a beautifully written novel. Its not a thriller which races through. The language catches you and drags you through how painful it truly is to lose someone. I have lost two people i loved a lot; and this book gives a shimmer of hope to the living still holding on to the death. I would highly recommend it. I loved it.
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