372 pages
English language
Published Dec. 1, 2006
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, …
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
Characters are dull. Plot is empty. Books don’t always need to be exciting or have a great resolution but I just couldn’t get interested in this book. I didn’t care what happened next, and by the end of the book it didn’t matter because nothing happened.
I have had this book for ages and decided to read it as a book project. I found it to be a good book, a long one, but well worth the read. I had watched the movie before reading the book and now I know better then to do that one, as the book is sure different from the movie. But I enjoyed both, the movie and the book.I found both very emotional. This book will stay with me for a long time.It is the first book I have read by the author, but wont be my last. What a great story.
Disappointing! I really expected to like this book but it was a big " meh". The characters were so one-dimensional...could not like any of them. The ending was weak as well...If heaven is sitting around watching your loved ones for years and years, I hate to see what hell is like LOL!
While unique in concept, there are so many things that bothered me about this book, I hardly know where to start.
First and foremost, while Sebold achieved great commercial success with this freshman novel, it still reads as a freshman novel. The schtick is clearly the only part of the book thought through and exists to cover the lack of other literary elements.
The first person, omnipresent narrative is clunky and not well explained (if the narrator knows what people are thinking show her figuring out that she knows!) and leads to a very much told, rather than shown, storyline.
The historical setting is both unnecessary and goes unmentioned for several hundred pages, so when reminded 200 pages in that the date is 1977, it is very confusing.
There are a plethora of characters, all of whom seem minor, since not enough time is spent on any for them to …
While unique in concept, there are so many things that bothered me about this book, I hardly know where to start.
First and foremost, while Sebold achieved great commercial success with this freshman novel, it still reads as a freshman novel. The schtick is clearly the only part of the book thought through and exists to cover the lack of other literary elements.
The first person, omnipresent narrative is clunky and not well explained (if the narrator knows what people are thinking show her figuring out that she knows!) and leads to a very much told, rather than shown, storyline.
The historical setting is both unnecessary and goes unmentioned for several hundred pages, so when reminded 200 pages in that the date is 1977, it is very confusing.
There are a plethora of characters, all of whom seem minor, since not enough time is spent on any for them to be more of a cliche.
The pacing is deplorable -- several years will pass over the course of two pages and then 50 pages will be spent on a single day or two, with the years that pass without mention covering such important events as everyone coming to believe the main character's father on the identity of the killer, while the time that we focus on covers the sexual explorations of the main character's little sister. The payload of the book, as it were, comes in the last 20 pages, with no harbinger and no evidence that this was the intended ending.
The intended audience is also unclear. The writing style is clearly too juvenile for a larger adult/older teen audience, and the literary foibles are difficult to overlook, even for the audience of adults/older teens who read young adult fiction. At the same time, the focus on the book being rape and murder and several explicit sexual passages make this book at best uncomfortable reading for young teens.
The Lovely Bones is a heartbreaking story pretty much from beginning to end. I saw the trailer for the movie first, then a friend lent me the book. I read it over a weekend. I thought it might be hard to get into the novel, at first. Instead the author provides a pretty intense hook at the very beginning, so readers would feel not only a compulsion to continue reading, but a responsibility - to honor the main characters life and death. To "watch" a family go through the heartache of loss - not only physical loss, but emotional, as well - creates this sense of connection, of belonging to their loss.
I hated this book. I had to read it for English class and I hated every part of it. All of it made me want to curl into a ball and wretch.
The depiction of heaven sounds like my absolute worst nightmare - hell, if you will.
The only sympathetic character in all this was the mother because I could relate to her desire to escape the whole situation that is this book.
I imagine there will be plenty of people who like this book but the best I can say for it is that even years later it still has he capacity to stir me to incredible ire.
I heard rave reviews of this book, and resisted reading it because of the sad subject. I finally did break down and read it, and it is a wonderful book and well worth reading.
