The Lovely Bones: Deluxe Edition
by Alice Sebold
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Book Reviews of The Lovely Bones: Deluxe Edition
Book Review: Loved it...until the last few chapters that is.
Summary: 3 Stars
I fell in love with this book at first when I started reading it. I was so intriqued and into it. I got about halfway through the book in one day. Then the rest of the book wasn't so good to me. I really did not like the last 3 or 4 chapters in the book at all. SPOILER - I had been waiting on Suzie's family to finally uncover her murderer and for him to be caught. I had been waiting on Suzie's mother to wake up and appoligize to her husband and family for being such a selfish, worthless wife and mother. I never got this closure. I hated that Suzie came back to earth one final moment and she spent it having sex with a man she barely new. This made no sense to me and I was very put off by it all. I wanted her to go see her family...for her family to finally have some closure. For Suzie to go to her mother somehow and let her know that she was ok.
With all this said let me say that I saw the movie last night and it was AWESOME! This is one of those rare cases where the movie is much better than the book in my opinion! SPOILER - First of all in the movie they don't have Suzie's mother have an affair with the police detective trying to solve her murder (which was a turnoff for me in the book for sure) and they end the movie quite differently. You get more closure to me than you do in the book. Also, Suzie comes back to earth to get the one experience she didn't get on earth...a kiss! Not a romp in the shower like in the book. I think the movie was much more age appropriate. I think 14 year old girls should watch the movie so they realize there is evil in this world and not to trust everyone. I would not however recomend that a 14 year old read the book...it just wasn't appropriate in my opinion.
All in all I am glad I read the book because I think I enjoyed the movie more from reading the book, but the movie was hands down much better than the book and I wish the book would have been as well written as the movie.
Book Review: The Lovely Bones
Summary: 4 Stars
This book, The Lovely Bones, takes the climax of any book and puts it in the very first chapter. It can be said that this would ruin the rest of the book, but it keeps a reader's attention through the book, looking at the lives of the Salmon family.
In the very beginning of the book Susie Salmon, the main character, is killed by a neighbor, Mr. Harvey. No one knows that he did it because he is such a quiet neighbor, and one would suspect him. The police try to comfort the family by solving the murder, but little evidence is found. The family is left with unanswered questions but must remain living their lives. Eventually Mrs. Salmon, Susie's mother, leaves because she cannot handle her life anymore. Susie's sister, Lindsey, grows up and Susie is up in Heaven watching down on her family. Susie does get the chance to come back down to earth, and she does for just a few minutes to get her last wishes fufilled. With this, the entire Salmon family, including Susie, learns to move on.
This book could be considered a "girl" book because it has a lot of emotions of the family while they grieve over the loss of their daughter or sister, and that is not usually a subject that most "guy" books include. This book captures a reader's interest, as a journey is taken by the Salmon family, and a different journey by Susie who is in Heaven. Lastly, this book is a fast read because once readers start reading, they are hooked on everything the family is, like hoping the killer, Mr. Harvey, will be caught.
In conclusion I recommend this book to others who want to look at a murder mystery from a different point of view, from the perspective of the victim in Heaven, rather than those still on Earth. This book will capture a reader's attention and take it on a ride through the life of the Salmon family.
Heather Miller
Book Review: Amazing book.
Summary: 4 Stars
The Lovely Bones, written by Alice Sebold, is an astonishing tale about the importance of family and love in a time of pure pain. It teaches the significance of moving on when it seems almost impossible to do so. It shows how you can find comfort and stability in your family, even while feeling a sense of complete loss, terror, and anger.
When fourteen year old Susie Salmon was brutally raped and murdered by her neighbor, a guiltless serial killer, it sends her family into a downward spiral as their entire world seems to fall apart. Each of them handles their grief in different ways, some more self-destructive then others. Susie's father tries extremely hard not to let the pain he feels inside affect his family. Her mother completely loses it, has an affair, then runs away to California. Her sister is clearly affected by Susie's death, but doesn't let it define or run her life. Somehow though, they all help each other to overcome the death, and eventually move on as the happy, strong family they used to be.
The most interesting thing about this book is how it's narrated. As readers we're used to the same old style of books either being narrated by a main character, or the story being told in third person. What was great about this book was that it was narrated by Susie while she's in heaven. It's told through her reactions to what she sees going on with her family. You get to see her reaction to her father falling apart while the rest of the family isn't watching, and how she deals with knowing about her mother's affair.
If you want to read a uniquely written book, with great characters and a fantastic plot, then i strongly suggest The Lovely Bones
**If you are easily disturbed by *graphic* novels, SKIP chapter one.
Book Review: A unique perspective
Summary: 5 Stars
From the violence that unexpectedly opens this story to the discovery of her "wide, wide heaven" at the end, the story of Susie Salmon is unique in its delivery as it maintains the viewpoint of a young girl watching, from heaven, as her family struggles to cope with her death.
Heaven is not what you'd expect. There are gazebos, pets, and friends that come and go, even an intake counselor. Susie may have anything her heart desires, anything except what she wants most - to be back on Earth with the people she loves. From this strange place, she watches her family and friends move through their grief, while the villain maddeningly will not, in any concrete form, give away proof of his guilt.
Susie's death brings together two unique characters, Ruth, a high school acquaintance, and Ray, the boy who loved Susie from afar, outcasts and loners at school, who discover a common ground in Susie's death. Ruth and Ray eventually move on in life, Ray to medical school, and Ruth, forever transformed by a brief brush with Susie's spirit, to live out her unique destiny in New York City, but Ruth eventually enables a last meeting between Susie and Ray, and Susie reclaims a little bit of the growing up that she was robbed of so long ago.
"When the dead are done with the living, the living can go on to other things," Frannie, the intake counselor, advises Susie. We follow Susie along this path of self-discovery as she learns to accept this reality. Her character was very real to me. This poignant, heartwarming story of loss, discovery, and love that endures is a rare gem, an unexpected pleasure from beginning to end, that will leave you smiling, crying, and comforted all at the same time.
Book Review: This book should be called "Snooze-Fest"...
Summary: 1 Stars
I decided to read this book before going to see the movie. Boy was I in for a dull ride. I had read the reviews for this novel and even heard praises from my boss about it so I foolishly gave it a chance.
This book was as plotless and as slow as a book comes. We're introduced to Mr. Harvey who rapes and murders Suzie Salmon, the narrator from Heaven. Here I am thinking, "Oh cool... a murder mystery from beyond the grave", yet as I read on and on and on and on I realized that no one made any effort to catch Suzie's killer, not even the police, even though the family and friends knew it was Mr. Harvey all along. He gets away with murdering her and is killed by a falling icicle in the end. How lame is that? In fact the story had nothing to do with the murder or apprehension of the murderer. In hindsight, the story didnt focus on anything specific at all. It was a jumbled mess of random moments spanning a ten year period that didnt connect or have anything to do with anything. There was no storyline, no plot.
Also, it would have been fun to see Suzie do something otherworldly: make contact with the living, cause something to move by itself, aid in her own murder through death, yet she did nothing of interest, just watched her family live over a period of years. Reading this book was like reading someones journal chronocaling there every move, breath, and word throughout the week. It literally pissed me off reading it. The further I got into the book, the more I wondered how Alice Sebold got to her current position of fame, lacking the skill to put anything worthwhile between the covers of "The Lovely Bones", other than worthless filler.