Rating: 
Summary: It Earns The Hype
Review: I know some people who did not get past the first 70 pages or so, and I can see why: at first there is a seeming dispassion about the narrative voice and the tension builds slowly at first. It gains momentum and pulls you in, however, to the point that you will stay up long past a reasonable bedtime on a weekday night to see it through to the end. And if you are the least bit prone to reacting to a book emotionally, well, you will be reacting. It crosses age and gender barriers in its appeal. It is easy to see why it continues to float on the bestseller list.What slowed me down at first was what I thought was its singular plot line; then I realized that each character forms his/her own subplot and their individual projectiles weave about the story like so many contrails streaking and crossing around the sky. Sebold is to be commended for the risks she takes in an age when few take artistic risks in literary and popular fiction. If some don't like her choices, well tough, she was courageous to try and I like that. Her biggest risk was to find life affirmation amidst the tragedy-a 14-year-old disappears, the victim of rape and a gruesome murder, her body never found-without undercutting the undeniable changes it wreaks in the lives of those left living and the sadness of a life frozen at age 14. The balance she strikes is remarkable.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't hold your breath for the ending
Review: I was truly intrigued by the first half of this book. Alice Sebold is a talented writer. I was interested enought to read the novel all the way through, but was horribly disappointed by the end. I imagine that quite a few people who decide(d) to read this book are victims of brutal crimes themselves. This book will offer solace to those who seek a comforting place for their loved ones to reside in once they leave us. In the end, that's about all it does. It offers a happy ending to those who seek one. I think that the story had great potential. If she had followed through on some of her details a little more fully, it could have been great. The ending was trite ... it would make a terrific "heart warming" film, but it doesn't make for a very satisfying novel. You will be captivated by the first part of the book, bored for most of the middle, and if you like hollywood endings ... satisfied with the finale. I would like to see Ms. Sebold do more with her talent.
Rating:
Summary: I'ts okay
Review: I enjoyed this book, but for the life of me, I don't know why it has received so much attention.
Rating:
Summary: The View from Up There
Review: It's hard to imagine that even the most hard-boiled aheists among us don't wonder what heaven might be like. For Susie Salmon, the protagonist of Alice Sebold's highly acclaimed new novel "The Lovely Bones", it's a celestial observatory, a minimalist place where simple wish fulfillment allows a young girl to see up close the anguish and passion of the loved ones she's left behind. Given the nature of her death, raped and dismembered at thirteen, the peace Susie feels, even while her family and friends grapple with the horror, is a sweet relief for the reader. It's an irresistible premise, and Sebold goes a long way toward effective development. The murder occurs near the beginning of the book, and its description is chilling in its simplicity. Evil lives in a hole in the ground in a cornfield, surrounded by the simple people of a small,non-descript Pennsylvania town. Sebold's boldest character development occurs during the opening chapters, when we meet Susie and her murderer, Mr. Harvey. We see things up close and events are so matter of fact that the full horror of things isn't brought to bear until a dog retrieves Susie's elbow from the fields. From here the book loses altitude a bit, becoming more family drama in attitude--Dad breaks down somewhat, though his crystalline grief allows him to correctly identify the murderer from the outset; mother has an affair, grandmother comes to town with an irritating penchant for tippling and telling. All this happens while a bemused Susie watches from above and displays all the posthumous wisdom a thirteen year old can muster about love, evil and redemption. Here's where writing can either sink or save a novel, and in Sebold's case it does a little of both. Sometimes Susie's commentary, and her sister's and friends' earthly struggles with ghosts and the truth, do seem haunting and other-worldly. Other times they degenerate into a variation of "Hey, God, It's Me, Margaret." Given the context of the novel it makes for a schizophrenic experience. At once "Silence of the Lambs" and "Judy Blume", the story lurches a bit thematically and fails to fixate on the most interesting aspects of the characters it develops. The introduction of some minor characters, all wrestling with the cruelty of death and the long-suffering fate of the creative soul, does more to dilute than stregthen the narrative. With such intense critical acclaim, it's easy to expect a masterpiece. But this isn't one. It's engrossing at times, disappointing at others, but ultimately doesn't rise to the heavenly heights to which it aspires.
Rating:
Summary: Not To Love a Novel More Than Life Itself
Review: I simply loved the way this book started out!! The first chapter was as awesome as the following ones. Of course the very start may give you a fright but it was very worth it to continue reading it. As soon as I was done reading all 42 of the sample pages online I had headed out on the same night to buy the book.... I continued to read for 2 days and I reached the end of a superior ending of a great book. I could tell that from reading from Susie's point of view, the author herself must've had a real life experience of a girl she had possibly known raped. The action in this book never drew my attention away from the plot even once. I could just say I loved it.
Rating: 
Summary: This book gives maudlin a new definition!
Review: Geez - what a book. The only reason I finished it was it was selected by a book club I belong to. What a piece of slop! And the point of it was_____? You tell me. Move over Jonathan Edward, Alice Sebold is leaving you in her wake....What a pointless exercise.
Rating: 
Summary: Heaven can wait
Review: This book uses an unusual point of view as a perspective on a horrific event and its aftermath, but in the end, I felt like I was the one being manipulated. I looked forward to finishing this book more than any I've read recently, just so I could move on to something better.
Rating:
Summary: Don't let its popularity scare you off!
Review: The book covers shocking ground, but with a difference. We see brutality so frequently, but "The Lovely Bones" goes there with insight and, eventually, wisdom. The narrator is believable and moving without appealing to any kind of sentimentality. This was an odd kind of page-turner. Yes, murder and danger lurked about (and the suspense was painful), but questions about heaven and grief were easily as gripping.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty good, just don't go in expecting the best.
Review: I feel that I had read way too much hype about this book prior to reading it, and therefore I expected way to much from this book. I had also got done reading one of the best book that I have ever read, and was hoping, althought I knew it couldn't beat that book, that it would at least be close, but all in all, I don't think it was up to that level. Don't get me wrong, this is a good book that would be nice to read just to relax, but I really did not like the ending at all. Some things were ok, but I think that it really could have been put together better in the end and could have had better outcomes. I can guaruntee that this is not one of those books that you will struggle though, at over 300 pages I got through it in just two nights of ready very easily.
All in all, I do recommend this book, but don't expect it to be the best thing that you have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: the lovely bones
Review: i seriously loved this book. it was extremely moving and a really heatbreaking story. it seriously made me think of life differantly and i realized that death is much bigger than it seems. i reccomend this book to people ages 15 + probably because as a 15 year old myself a lot of the people i know wouldnt be able to handle the book at my age. i reccomend the lovely bones to anyone who can handle a serious freaky heartbreaking book!!!!!!!!!
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