Somewhere, sometime, someone told Sebold she could write. That person should be made to apologize to me, in person, and to all other poor souls who were duped into buying this shlock. The literary press also needs to break out the cattails for a serious bout of flogging. Lev Grossman of Haaaaaated it. Lev Grossman of Time Magazine is at the top of my flogging docket; he called this book "a beautiful, sensitive, melancholy novel" and repeated that claim a year later in a review for a book called "The Dogs of Babel" a book just as terrible as The Lovely Bones.
I can only assume that Mr. Grossman confined his reading to the zeros on the check accompanying the publisher's blurb or else has some sort of vitamin deficiency that causes his brain to process ham-handed tripe as "beautiful" art.
It was Mr. Grossman's review along with the alluring premise of the novel a young girl posthumously tries to make sense of the events that led to her death that led me to order "The Lovely Bones" and "The Dogs of Babel," which at the time were only available in hardcover.
Financial reasons made this an extremely uncommon practice for me, and my experience reading both of those novels ensured that I would never do so again. To further illustrate how absolutely wretched this novel is, I'm going to provide a paragraph of background. The "substance" of the novel will be criticized in the subsequent body of this review. During the summer of , I was occupying space as an intern at a company that accepted me at the last minute and had nothing for me to do.
The company was white-collar and behemoth in office space. HR sent me to an deserted floor to file documents that took up, at most, 2 hours of my 8-hour day. Even in this vacuum of monotony, I could not finish this book. I chose to watch paint chip away, and pick up dust bunnies with recycled paper I didn't have a broom rather than finish this book.
So with that said, I suppose I should actually mention something specific about the book I hated. My caveat here is that I am unwilling to punish myself by picking through a copy of the book for textual examples.
I'm going by memory and online synopses alone. The narrator and victim is "Susie Salmon. That really should have clued me in, but I was too eager to see how the author would represent the afterlife, to catch a glimpse of this beautiful pain of looking a life that goes on without you. Unfortunately, Sebold managed to bleach out anything remotely interesting out of the plot in spectacular fashion.
Heaven is a school, you see, not that Susie spends much time there or learns anything. Her rapist and murderer is a creepy loser while somehow being the dullest of all of Sebold's numerous dull characters. The "reason" for his murderous tendencies could be guessed by anyone who's ever even heard of a pop psychology book.
You'd think her family would at least be interesting in grief, but Sebold reduces them to one note drones. Everything in The Lovely Bones is a gimmick, played cheaply for sentiment and with no other reward. I'd compare to a Hallmark movie, but Hallmark movies do not adopt the pretension that Sebold belabors with terrible pseudo-post-modernist metaphors. All of this would be bad enough, but what made me throw this book "aside with great force" is the offensive, and unjustifiable resolution to Susie's laments that she did not get to live.
This unfairness, although poorly developed, was at least a cause of sympathy until Susie decides to forcibly correct it at the expense of others. In the hands of someone else, this last turn could've been bleak insight into motivations of the cycle of victimization but Sebold conveys not one iota of ambivalence. Much of my hatred of this novel results from its inexplicable popularity and commendation from people who have a responsibility to promote reading.
I shudder to think who else picked up this novel convinced it was the best that the contemporary literary world had to offer. It is not my intention to slam those who enjoyed this book.
If you did, I am glad to hear it. I love books, and I want others to love books. I simply fear that someone who is tempted out of a long vacation from reading might pick up a novel like this and give up the cause for lost.
View all 55 comments. Sep 21, Carolynn rated it it was amazing. I worked at Borders for more than a year and I worked the boring ass registers, usually at night whic was always slow.
I leaned there with my chin in my hand staring at the shelves actually wishing that I could help customers in their purchases. It's purely insane, but I think that's what happens anytime you place someone in any kind of confinement. The thing is that if I wasn't a register girl, I would have constant actual contact with the books themselves. All lunacy aside, one book that I sta I worked at Borders for more than a year and I worked the boring ass registers, usually at night whic was always slow.
All lunacy aside, one book that I stared at the entire time was this one, cuz it was literally on the number one shelf in the front of the store for a good two years or so. It sounded interesting and got good critical reviews despite its sucess with the bookish Oprah-watching housewife types.
But at the same time I would open it and try. But I just didn't get into it. Last week or so, I was reading a friend's blog and she talked about reading the book and how it was so affecting that she found herself driving to work in complete tears. From then on an invisible seed had been planted. I read it in three nights. Sebold's voice is entirely unique. Never seen it before ever. I think that being allowed into the vision and point of view of another person is probably one of the awesomest feelings ever.
I think that's what it is to be in love, actually. Get in someone's skin, sit in a recliner in a little theatre located behind their eye sockets, and just watch. Not judge, not worry, not affect. Just experience someone who is so not you. Sebold allows this on two levels. She sets you up in the front row seat right next to Susie the murdered and raped 14 year old while she watches her former world from Heaven. But she also delivers this language that is new, original, totally fresh and yet entirely accessible.
At 3am. In bed. From a free city library borrow. Her characters are completely amazing individuals, but not unreal or impossible. The way she wrote the book, from Suzie's viewpoint, was definitely some work on her part.
And she pulls it off. What I really enjoyed is the way she would sneak in these little pieces of info - I call them " 'omg, are you serious? She would just be writing a scene, and at an unsuspecting moment she'd just add in a little sentence. And ofcourse, since the story revolves around the grief of the family and the Susie's unsolved case, their are moment of utter thrill as the reader joins the characters in their search for understanding, motive and the killer himself.
The sentences feel like when you've been looking for something non-urgent for a while, and it's not really a big deal to find it now or later, but when you do find it your like, 'Man, now I can do this, and this and that, cuz I finally found this thing that I've been inactively searching for for a while'.
So, the nuggets definitely keep you reading and sometimes they even make you say, 'omg' out loud. As always, if you read the first few pages and hate it, then don't force the feeling. Just cuz I thought it was a total modern classic, don't mean anything if it really ain't your thing. Either way, truly a great story, even if your mom thinks so too. View all 34 comments. It is the story of a teenage girl who, after being raped and murdered, watches from her personal Heaven as her family and friends struggle to move on with their lives while she comes to terms with her own death.
On December 6, , year-old Susie Salmon takes her usual shortcut home from her school through a cornfield in Norristown, Pennsylvania. George Harvey, her year-old neighbor, a bachelor who builds doll houses for a living, persuades her to look at an underground kid's hideout he constructed in the field.
Once she enters, he rapes and murders her, then dismembers her body and puts her remains in a safe that he dumps in a sinkhole, along with throwing her charm bracelet into a pond. Susie's spirit flees toward her personal Heaven, and in doing so, rushes past her classmate, social outcast Ruth Connors, who can see Susie's ghostly spirit. View 1 comment. Jul 28, Ted rated it did not like it Recommends it for: my worst enemy. Shelves: garbagestbooksever.
Two-dimensional stereotyped characters -Mother — living with the regret of losing her independence to the demands of childrearing. The tragic loss of a daughter accelerates her departure from those heavy burdens and into the arms of the detective working the case. Singh — the exotic, wise, independent, and strong foreigner who calmly dispenses cool sage-like personal advice to near-strangers.
Queue soundtrack with mangled version of a nursery rhyme transposed to a minor key ungainly lobbed from a detuned piano. Snippets from his mildly troubling childhood are revealed…explaining nothing. Small blessings. The Ending Worthy of Hallmark. Every loose end is tied up with nobody owning up to the consequences of their actions with the exception of Mr.
The moral? Only after wilfully experiencing the delightful carnal pleasures of the flesh can one, even the spirit of a murdered teenaged girl, let go of those lost earthly pleasures and move on to a higher and presumably more enlightened plane of existence where you are free to smite those that have wronged you.
Touching, really. The fist person perspective does not offer anything new and the only thing horrifying here is that people consume mind-numbing garbage like this at an alarming rate. What was the point? Aside from, paranormal sex is a wonderfully liberating experience for both the possessive-spiri View all 18 comments.
Apr 14, Claire Greene rated it did not like it Recommends it for: nobody. This book has single handedly shown me that I spend too much time skimming and not enough time really reading and thinking about the books I have been reading.
I have two kids and so I'm busy and I often find myself reading when I am stealing time or tired. But that is not even an excuse for this book.
When i read the book I thought it was pretty good. Not great, but not bad. I liked the concept and the fact that the girl was the narrator. I like a murder mystery, so I liked the suspense of wait This book has single handedly shown me that I spend too much time skimming and not enough time really reading and thinking about the books I have been reading. I like a murder mystery, so I liked the suspense of waiting to see if the guy would get caught, etc. So when all was said and done and I finished the book, I thought - yeah, okay.
Not bad, but not great. That's right! I mean, the writing alone is something I should have picked up one had I really been paying attention. Pupils pulsing like olives?? Buttering toast with tears?? I really must have been distracted or skimming like crazy because that is ridiculous.
And the real meaning of the final scene went WAY over my head, which I am somewhat ashamed to admit. When I read it, I really was like, yeah yeah, oh that's sweet she got one night with her boyfriend which she had been cheated of and all. But when you slow down and really think of this, the enormity of that is overwhelming. A girl who's first sexual experience was RAPE by an older man.
A girl who actually barely knew this boy in her life. This girl can only let go of life after having sex. With that boy. That she really didn't know that well. That alone is enough to send of some big alarms. But then you add that she was allowed to go back to earth - to have sex??? Not see her family, not comfort her father and brother and sister? Not point out the killer?? Nope, heaven lets her go back, then of all times, not earlier when she wanted it more, or could have done more both for justice and her family?
So the admission to heaven is teen sex? The way to overcome deep grief and gain acceptance and peace is.. I missed out as a teen because that was NOT my experience.
Okay, now louder warning bells should have been going off. But the final issue - she takes over the body of a "friend". Without the girl's knowledge or permission. The "friend" who is a lesbian. And uses her body to have sex with a boy. Just taking over her body is a violation. Taking over her body and using that time to have sex is another violation.
And to have sex with a boy, knowing that is the antithesis of everything this "friend" would have wanted or agreed to is yet another violation. What the hell??? And none of that gets brought up or mentioned. No, it is a feel good ending. I mean, I have some pretty close friends - some I have known for at least triple the time these two girls have "known" each other - and if I somehow managed to just steal their bodies and have sex with a woman??
Well, it would be good for me that I was already dead. That is a betrayal in the worst sense on so many levels it is shocking. And what of the possible consequences? Never mind the "lesser" consequences of emotional damage, damage to their friendship, the trust issues, etc etc etc????? After thinking about it more and more, I was truly embarrassed to have not seen these dark and disturbing connotations, made all the worse for the fact that the author serves this up as the feel good ending - not noticing the irony at all of having the main character who was raped and violated in turn rape and violate a friend, while denouncing the first act as a heinous crime and lauding the second act as happy ending?
So in short, I have learned my lesson and I am now making more of an effort to truly read and then think about what I am reading!!! View all 24 comments. Dec 05, Emily May rated it did not like it Shelves: mystery-thriller , young-adult.
After hearing all the hype about this book, I couldn't wait to read it and discover how amazing it is for myself. I was greatly disappointed. How has this book become such a worldwide success? It's slow, boring and there is no real connection with any of the characters. I found myself disliking everyone in the book. The overall idea could have been very good, even though it isn't exactly original, but I just thought the author didn't make the most of this great idea that she had.
The best part of After hearing all the hype about this book, I couldn't wait to read it and discover how amazing it is for myself. The best part of the book, without meaning to sound gruesome and morbid, was the death scene at the beginning. I admit that it was creepy and well told, I read that and geared myself up for a good book. But for me, it was as if the story ended there and the rest was a load of slow-moving waffle. The great idea had come along, happened for a while, and then died a painful death with the protagonist.
The characters weren't interesting enough to hold up the rest of the story, I was just relieved when I finally got to the end.
It was a painfully boring book Did I miss something? I honestly feel like I've read a completely different book from everyone else I do not understand it's popularity at all.
I read this book after watching the movie because it was the first time I heard about it. First, I have to say that I liked the movie very much and I've seen it several times. The scenes from In-Between are one of my all-time favourites. And the moment when Susie's father destroys the ships in bottles is just the best; it keeps popping on my Youtube because I just watched so many times.
So, if I go a couple of moths without watching it, Youtube is like: "Here, watch it. My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. Anyway, why am I talking about a movie here, right? Because I saw it first, I did not compare it with the book, and I believe if I knew the book previous to watching the movie, I would see it in a different light.
However, right now, I see them as two separate entities, there is a movie I enjoy, and a book which is fantastic and both have the power to break my heart. All I'm going to say that even reading quotes gives me the "tension" feeling in my jaw, which I usually have right before I'm about to cry.
It just breaks my heart. Because of Susie. Because of the real Susies who go through the same thing she did. Because of their families. And because Georges Harveys exist in the real world. It might not be for everyone — definitely something to consider before picking up this book. View all 5 comments. Dec 13, Amanda rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: Passionate, touched-by-life types.
Shelves: , better-than-chick-lit. I can't review this book by thinking about the plot or about theme and diction, for it is only and truly a series of snapshots, candid and sore, that piece together the lives of living people. The delicate sweet soul of a father; a grandmother with the heart of an empath; a sister whose youth and adulthood travel arm in arm; a numb and emptied mother; a young girl then grown woman living pierced on the periphery.
This book is about the people in my life and yours whose very essence is pinned d I can't review this book by thinking about the plot or about theme and diction, for it is only and truly a series of snapshots, candid and sore, that piece together the lives of living people. This book is about the people in my life and yours whose very essence is pinned down to a spot in time and space--these lovely bones, growing in a soft-shelled skeleton around our lives.
It is by turning the pages where these bones grow, that I could reflect on the wheel of life--what a joy can you call it joy when it's sad? I am at peace to think that this sweet family, though scarred, will smile at another sunrise. To touch the living is a precious thing.
View all 28 comments. Aug 24, Julia Ash rated it it was amazing Shelves: ghost-fiction , paranormal , suspense-thriller. Souls…who have unanswered questions or unfinished business.
Fourteen-year-old Susie Salmon is a watcher. Although Susie knows that Mr. Harvey whose house is in her neighborhood raped and murdered her, none of the living know. Trouble is, the police have no evidence to implicate Mr. All law enforcement knows is that the eccentric widower answers all their questions. Should she spend her time watching Mr.
Harvey, in hopes that he will be stopped? Or should she watch her family as they struggle to accept her death and move forward? Which focus will heal Susie so she can leave the Inbetween and transition to the Heaven intended to bring her peace? The story, however, is much more than its surface.
Should we focus on plucking out the weeds like vile Mr. Or…should we focus on growing the corn or wheat or soybeans which when healthy, will choke out the weeds?
This seems to be the very question character Susie Salmon struggles with. I can empathize with this internal conflict, as I wanted more than anything to have Mr. Harvey plucked from the Earth and thrown into burning Hell. To be frank, it was this desired outcome that compelled me to flip the pages. Harvey lived on and on and even became secondary in the story. Harvey, but it feels more by chance than by intention. The movie made it seem like a deliberate intervention, but I didn't get that from the book at all.
About growing and finding peace despite evil lurking in cornfields or neighborhoods or parks or buses. Not sure about you, but this focus and practice are difficult to achieve. Which is why the message is so important. Which grows peace faster…growing goodness or weeding out evil? The answer is certainly worth thinking about! As usual, Grandma Lynn was wrong.
I highly recommend this 5-star read about finding acceptance and peace among the vilest of weeds. Note: This book contains triggers regarding rape and sexual violence toward children, girls, and women. View all 27 comments. I think the main issue was it was so ordinary. The parents were fallible, there were no perfect heros, the killer is a sad little weed - not a brilliant psychopath, and justice is somehow unfullfilling.
But in the midst of all this life goes on and is beautiful. Love endures and rebuilds all observed by the murdered girl trying to come to terms with her new place in the scheme of things. Odd, grounded, thoughtful. I enjoyed this one. Good start but then trailed off.
Such a shame. The reader was good but she could not save the story from its disappointing conclusion. The narrator was absolutely brilliant, I will be looking for other books that she narrates, her intonations, the ability to clearly define the character voices made this an effortless, highly enjoyable listen. The fastest I have listened to a book yet!!
Would you consider the audio edition of The Lovely Bones to be better than the print version? When we first meet Susie Salmon, she is already in heaven and tells us about her short life story on earth. How life was for her before being abruptly murdered.
Susie Salmon was raped and murdered by her neighborhood, Mr. The crime description is not unbearable. Susie bears a smart outlook on what has happened to her on earth.
Readers are carried through the event at the same as Susie as she does the following days, months and years. Besides, Susie tells the story with a great sense of humor so we are not crying as we are experiencing how though is for her family to deal with her death. Navigating through this book has been a roller-coaster ride. I truly recommend it for those of you who are looking for a funny, gloomy and great book to read.
The Lovely Bones is a nice, painful story. The last few chapters just dragged on. I don't think heaven was done justice in the description. I found it a bit too much having heaven depicted as a boring place and the souls of the dead feel bored there! Besides, what was the reason for the final chapters if it didn't lead to anything related to the murder?
A refreshing look at a crime novel. Ienjoyed every second of it. Excellent value for money. What a drag of a book! I regreted buying it pretty soon but I decided to give it a go anyway I can't say that I recommend it I loved this book! Convincingly and sensitively read, the story haunted me for three days.
I had to ration my listening - the temptation to complete the story in one session was very strong indeed.
This is a story which requires very little suspension of one's disbelief. I first heard of this book when the recent film-version was discussed on the BBC's Front Row arts programme. The view was that the book was better and having now listened to the audio version I can see why: it's a book full of thoughts and feelings that would be difficult to depict visually.
I find it hard to believe that a film could do justice to the complexity of the narrative and get over all the nuances of the writing. It's a well-written book that suits being narrated and the narrator of this version is excellent. My first impression, that this is a book aimed at teenage girls, was wrong: it has something to say to all ages as it encompasses first love, long-lasting love, marriage, loss of a loved one, the desire for revenge and the complex dynamic of family life when tragedy strikes.
As it deals with rape and murder the story is harrowing at times but it is also a deeply moving and thought-provoking book that will remain in my mind for sometime. There were moments when i ached with sadness and regret but then islands of hope appeared and life moved on as it must.
Maybe not a truely gripping read but it held me all the way to the end 'i hope you have a long and happy life'. This audio book brought tears to my eyes.
I listened to it soon after my Grandpa died and like to think of him looking down like Suzie Salmon. Its very sad and tells the story of a young girl who is killed, and has to come to terms with being dead while watching her family trying to move on with out her there.
It is writen very well and the narrator reads it beautifuly. A sober, gentle look at the death of a girl and the aftermath. Moving, sweet and sad and written with love. Perhaps, at times a little slow, but this gently swaying novel is a pleasant listen. The book so very different to what I expected. I expected it to be sad and full of sorrow, as it told the murder of a young girl.
I was mistaken. It was truly wonderful how the author told the 'dead' years of a pre pubescant girl, who was robbed of her fruitful years of love for her family, and first boyfriend.
But the joy it lead onto, to conclude and wholly complete the story. I wept, talked back, and laughed throughout the story. What a joy, thank you Alice Sebold. One of the best audiobooks I've listened to in a long time A haunting yet beautiful story superbly narrated I'm a couple of hours left to go and savouring every second.
If you're reading this don't even hesitate to download. I enjoyed this book greatly, with one minor exception. The writing is emotive and poetically descriptive and the story is a touching portrayal of how a family may suffer the consequences of the loss of a loved one to a particularly brutal murder, narrated through the eyes of the victim.
Write a review. Verified purchases. I saw the movie first but decided to read the book and wow. The book goes into so much more detail and will make you hurt so much more for each character. I read the entire book in a day because I was so attached to the story. A very good read I recommend it to everyone! Helpful Not helpful Report review. Lovely Bones 5 out of 5 stars. Beth - 4 years ago. Get top deals, latest trends, and more.
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