Alice Sebold - The Lovely Bones

Pros: Interestesting concept, quick read
Cons: Poorly written, uneven

Lovely Bones was very interesting in many different facets. For one, it was a different take on, what could have been, a very ill-told, mundane story, but given the unique narrative style, it offered something special for the reader. An inside ...

Pros: Characters, story-lines, perspective
Cons: A few spots  have too much detail

Susie Salmon was a young girl, living in a nice suburban neighborhood. She tells us the story of when she was raped and murdered. Of course, such a story must be told from the Afterlife, as the narrator is, well, dead. The story has two main emphases: ...

Pros: different, original and entertaining
Cons: nothing

Addicting from the start, this book is very hard to put down. Susie Salmon is a regular, teenage girl living in a suburb in 1973. On December 6, when walking home, her crazy neighbor Mr. Harvey lures her into an underground room in a cornfield and ...

Pros: Great book that will keep you reading long after midnight.
Cons: None--first chapter you made need to take a deep breath, but then it is great.

This book is definitely one of my favorites. I would go to the gym and pedal on the bike just to read this book! I just didn't want to wait until I went to bed. I have talked to others, one lady with a teenage daughter, and yes, the first chapter is ...

Pros: This book has kept my mind wondering. Slightly depressing but wonderful!
Cons: I had to focus hard to really understand this book.

I bought this book on a website called cheapbooks.com for thirty one cents. Being a poor college student you learn to use any resources that are available to you. Two years ago my English teacher recommended this book to me; I read two thirds of the ...

Pros: Interesting theme, engaging characters (some).
Cons: Plot holes, loose ends, quickly wrapped-up ending, amateurish.

The Lovely Bones is the tale of a family, the Salmons, torn asunder after the brutal murder of their eldest daughter, Suzie, in 1973. In a peculiar, yet intriguing twist, it is Suzie herself who narrates the story from that which she has termed the ...

Pros: Awesome, unique style, very vivid, a completely engrossing story.
Cons: Contains a couple of elements inappropriate for younger readers.

This story is about 14-year-old Susie Salmon. Susie gets good grades in school, she kissed Ray Singh by the lockers (but don't tell!), and one winter evening on her way home from school, she is brutally murdered. This story is not about Susie's life. ...

Pros: Well written, interesting subject, believable characters
Cons: The middle drags too much, the end is rushed. Good effort but uneven.

Okay I got some very good criticism/feedback so I've updated this review a bit to be more readable. First of all, as a bestseller, this novel has a surprisingly macabre theme. In the first few pages, the narrator, a young teen, is raped and murdered ...

Pros: Unusual perspective told from the voice of the murdered girl.
Cons: Just one scene I felt was out of place.

When I finally picked up and read the jacket of this book, I knew immediately that I wanted to purchase it. (Usually I don't "buy" many books, choosing rather to borrow them from the library or from friends or even purchase them at our used ...

Pros: The family story and the point of view are fabulously realistic.
Cons: The murder is gruesome and awful to think about

The beauty of this book is the depth of emotion portrayed in the parents who couldn't protect their daughter from rape and murder, the lost feelings of the siblings when the parents exist, but don't take real care of them, the grandmother, who knows that ...

Pros: Original story, endearing characters, well written
Cons: Unoriginal scenes, less than fulfilling ending

I'm a firm believer that the opening lines of a novel are crucial in the success of catching the reader's attention. This novel does succeed. "My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, ...

Pros: The tone of the narrator, the plot, the closure.
Cons: The length; descriptions run a little too long.

This book was excellent. Sebold tiptoed around all the fine lines and balanced her writing in just the right places to create a perfect equilibirum of reality and "fantasy," as some might call it. The Lovely Bones is set in the 1970s and is ...

Pros: addictingly good read even for non-readers
Cons: umm--you read it even when you should not (like at work)

I had to force myself to put this book down and go to sleep. It has a desperatness to it as Susie, the 14y/o main charecter watches her family unravel after her rape and murder. I was captivated right along with Susie trying to "will" her family into ...

Pros: Strong beginning and a heartfelt ending.
Cons: A weak and middling second act that loses it's way.

In Alice Sebold's "The Lovley Bones" fourteen year old Susie Salmon is raped and murdered by a neighbor before the first chapter ends. The terrible after effects of her disappearance on her family will echo throughout the years and form the heart of the ...

Pros: point-of-view, characters, flashbacks, and uniqueness
Cons: none

I like to let books choose me, instead of me choosing them. So when The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold came out in 2002 and people couldn’t be quiet about it, I tried to ignore everyone telling me, “You’ve absolutely got to read this book!” About ...