The Lovely Bones [Hardcover]

Alice Sebold (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Perfection Learning (January 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0756951410
• ISBN-13: 978-0756951412
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #118,195 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great Disappointment, August 4, 2011

By 

Dr. Bojan Tunguz (Indiana, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Lovely Bones (Hardcover)

I had come across "The Lovely Bones" in my local Borders bookstore a few years ago. I started reading it back then, and I really liked what I read. It's a story of a young girl who is raped and killed by a sexual predator/ serial killer, as told from the dead girl's perspective. This was a very unusual and interesting premise, with a lot of potential for a very original and imaginative novel. At the time I did not continue reading the book, but when the movie based on it came out earlier this year I thought that maybe the time had come to read it in its entirety. And this has been one of the greatest disappointments as a reader that I've ever had.

The supernatural premise of viewing earthly events from a dead girl's perspective is not really used all that much in the book, except for one brief chapter well towards the end. Even then, the whole incident is completely superfluous to the overall narrative, and it has no discernable effect on the rest of the book. It seems that the choice of the point of view for this book had more to do with the kind of narrative device that the author wanted to employ, rather than with the plot development, only to change her mind at almost the last moment, and then do it haphazardly and then backtrack on her decision. However, even as a pure narrative device this ploy has problems that show throughout the book. Unlike a perfect omniscient narrator, a dead girl is actually pretty limited in her perspective, not least because she can only observe the outward appearances of other protagonists. She does make surmises on people's inner states of mind, but those are usually very restrained and not very convincing.

The book fails as a murder-mystery thriller as well. It's not so much that know from the very beginning what happened and who did what, but as the story progresses we get less and less of an impression that most of the relevant characters are truly trying to solve a criminal case. They all make some half-hearted and intermittent steps in trying to solve this murder, but we need to be constantly reminded by the narrator that they do in fact really want to solve the case.

Finally, and most disappointingly, the book fails as a coming-to-terms-with-tragedy novel. As previously mentioned, the point of view of the narrative is actually pretty limiting, and we don't really have the full access to the inner thoughts and feeling of various protagonists. We have to be constantly told about what they are going through, which doesn't make for a very satisfying reading experience. Furthermore, most of the characters (even those with more exotic backgrounds) are actually rather flat and uninteresting. Almost every little girl in the story is a more serious embodiment of Lisa Simpson. The reader doesn't feel much of the conviction in their actions and thoughts.

I stuck with this book through the very end because I was hoping that maybe, just maybe, a surprising and revelatory ending would make all the reading effort worth it. Unfortunately, that too was a big disappointment. The end left me hanging, and if I had cared more for any of the characters in the book I would have been really frustrated. As it is, I am just left to lament all the time I had wasted on reading this rather unremarkable book. The style of writing is pretty good, something that was obviously tuned in fiction workshops, but in the end not nearly so good to justify wasting so much time on this novel.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking, July 30, 2010

By 

Clarinerd85 "Rock on and be awesome." (Earth) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lovely Bones (Hardcover)

I know this book is getting a lot of mixed reviews, and I can understand why. However, I loved it. It reminded me a great deal of Young's "The Shack," though darker and perhaps a bit more honest. It is also thought provoking in ways similar to the writings of C.S. Lewis, i.e. not terribly complicated writing, but deep. What I really loved about this book was the originality of it -- first of all, having the entire story narrated by a character who has already died, and secondly, of her idea of Heaven. While it is controversial in nature and I'm not sure I entirely agree with it, it was quite captivating to read of a Heaven in which the afterlife is NOT perfect, and a soul in Heaven still continues to grow and change even after death. I think this will cause most people to examine their own ideas about the afterlife and what they think it may be like. This, to me, was most fascinating about the book.

The only things I didn't like about the book were the sometimes tedious descriptions (Ms. Sebold paints beautiful pictures, but sometimes she uses too much paint) and what I felt was an unjust resolution of the murderer and the rest of the world. In that regard I would have preferred a more satisfying ending, but other than that, I think it was well wrapped up.

5.0 out of 5 stars An absolutely wonderful novel - better than the movie as always, January 10, 2012

By 

Shellie "Shellie" (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lovely Bones (Hardcover)

I saw the movie first - which usually ruins a book for me. It was so much better than the movie. It takes the reader deep into the life of Susie Salmon and each member of her family.