The Lovely Bones: A Novel
by Alice Sebold
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Book Summary Information
Author: Alice SeboldEdition: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2002-05-31
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Picador
Book Reviews of The Lovely Bones: A Novel
Book Review: Okay
Summary: 3 Stars
I suppose that all books that get a lot of critical attention experience some kind of backlash, but I felt that the 1-star reviews were a bit harsh. I did not think this was mind-blowing but it was better than it was bad.
The good points were that I liked the author's take on heaven/pre-heaven. Criticism that it is not the Biblical Heaven seems overreaching since the book makes no attempt at all to be religious or even overtly spiritual;
it's apples and oranges.
The adolescent characters are the best and are reasonably interesting. There are a variety of them and not all of them are completely obvious (an older brother who dropped out of high school to open a motorcycle shop turns out to be a good friend rather than the thug he might have been in another novel).
The weakest points were the rather pat ending and Susie's parents, who never really came together as "whole" people. Her father, in particular, seemed to be pieced together from exterior stressors rather than a self-sustaining character.
In answer to some of the other criticisms I've read here:
1) I did not think Susie Salmon's name was that funny. My mother's maiden name was Salmon and one of the reasons she changed her name upon marriage in the Feminist Seventies was that she was sick to death of being called "Fish". Furthermore, had she been a boy, she and her brothers would have been Tom, Dick, and Harry.
2) I did not think that Holly's decision not have an accent in heaven was racist. She had already renamed herself for Holly Golightly, borrowing a new Americanized identity to make herself less conspicuous; the neighborhood's initial suspicion of the Indian immigrant Ray Singh supports this. I interpreted the loss of her accent as an adolescent's wish to fit in rather than the author's attempt to "improve" a minority character. One could speculate that, since Susie grows as a person through the book, Holly will as well and might someday take her accent back.
3) Yes, the stereotype of the serial killer is the middle-aged white male. That's because, statistically, most serial killers are middle-aged white males. Look it up.
Summary of The Lovely Bones: A Novel
This deluxe trade paperback edition of Alice Sebold's modern classic features French flaps and rough-cut pages.Once in a generation a novel comes along that taps a vein of universal human experience, resonating with readers of all ages. The Lovely Bones is such a book - a phenomenal #1 bestseller celebrated at once for its narrative artistry, its luminous clarity of emotion, and its astoniishing power to lay claim to the hearts of millions of readers around the world.
"My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973."
So begins the story of Susie Salmon, who is adjusting to her new home in heaven, a place that is not at all what she expected, even as she is watching life on eath continue without her - her friends trading rumors about her disappearance, her killer trying to cover his tracks, her grief-stricken family unraveling.
Out of unspeakable traged and loss, The Lovely Bones succeeds, miraculously, in building a tale filled with hope, humor, suspense, even joy
"A stunning achievement." -The New Yorker
"Deeply affecting. . . . A keenly observed portrait of familial love and how it endures and changes over time." -New York Times
"A triumphant novel. . . . It's a knockout." -Time
"Destined to become a classic in the vein of To Kill a Mockingbird. . . . I loved it." -Anna Quindlen
"A novel that is painfully fine and accomplished." -Los Angeles Times
"The Lovely Bones seems to be saying there are more important things in life on earth than retribution. Like forgiveness, like love." -Chicago Tribune
On her way home from school on a snowy December day in 1973, 14-year-old Susie Salmon ("like the fish") is lured into a makeshift underground den in a cornfield and brutally raped and murdered, the latest victim of a serial killer--the man she knew as her neighbor, Mr. Harvey.
Alice Sebold's haunting and heartbreaking debut novel, The Lovely Bones, 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 like an episode of My So-Called Afterlife. 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
Look Inside the Motion Picture The Lovely Bones (Paramount, 2010)
(Click on each image below to see a larger view)
 Saoirse Ronan as Susie Salmon |  Saoirse Ronan as Susie Salmon |
 Mark Wahlberg as Jack Salmon |  Saoirse Ronan as Susie Salmon and Director Peter Jackson |
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