Product Description: A novel about life and death, forgiveness and vengeance, memory and forgetting - but, above all, about finding light in the darkest of places.
Amazon.co.uk Review: On her way home from school on a snowy December day, 14-year-old Susie Salmon is lured into a cornfield and brutally raped and murdered, the latest victim of a serial killer. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold's haunting and heartbreaking debut novel, 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. 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, Amazon.com
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Better than the movie
I found 'The Lovely Bones' deeply moving and a compelling story. I found the characters were amazingly written and easy to understand making the book flow better. I did find towards the end of the book it dragged quite a bit with lots of descriptions which I found unnecessary to the plot so did just skim over. However, I find this book a gripping read and would highly recommend to anyone.
Rating: - good purchase
This was a very easy transaction. The item arived quickly and was as described. I would definately use this seller again.
Rating: - Just doesn't live up to the hype
Enjoyed the book and whilst I thought it was clever in places and a innovative perspective on murder/death, I was disappointed by the lack of tying things together. There are too many devices that just didn't make sense and that distracted me from the beauty of the tale. A good editor could have helped Ms Sebold sort this out before publication.
Rating: - RUBBISH
do not recommend this book at all. was absolutely rubbish. Took ages to read and waste of time.
Rating: - Not in my top ten
I bought this book after reading some really good reviews but was a little disappointed. Although the story is sad and the idea is well thought out it didn't really go anywhere, you kinda know the outcome in the first few chapters. I always judge a book by who in pass on to next and unfortantly this one got passed on to the back of my bookshelf.
- good purchase
- RUBBISH