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The Lovely Bones
 

The Lovely Bones

by Alice Sebold

On her way home from school on a snowy December day in 1973, 14-year-old Susie Salmon ("like the fish") is lured into a makeshift underground den in a cornfield and brutally raped and murdered, the latest victim of a serial killer--the man she knew as her neighbor, Mr. Harvey.
Alice Sebold's haunting and heartbreaking debut novel, The Lovely Bones, unfolds from heaven, where "life... (read more)

Top tags: fiction,  contemporary fiction,  murder,  mystery,  death (all tags)

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Other Reviews

Amazon Reviews (5)
 

Most Helpful Reviews

Liked It

2 of 3 members found this review helpful.
Michelle B
  • Rated 5 stars

“I guess my view of this novel is different than some of the reviews that I have read. I have NEVER read a more powerful novel than "The Lovely Bones". I work in the Criminal Justice field and I was finally glad to see a story that wasn't wrapped up tightly, where like reality, sometimes the bad guys get away with the crime.

The novel is narrated by a murdered 14-year-old girl. Not bitter about her death, but simply watching the nightmare that the survivers are experiencing play out....”

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Didn’t Like It

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
Brooke
  • Rated 1 stars

“Not to sound snobbish, but this was one of those books that people who don't actually 'read' are snatching off the shelves at exorbitant prices at Barnes and Noble. (Sorry if you liked it!) The plot was alright, I suppose but it was all just way too over the top mushy, with no real reason for me to forgive it for being so. It wasn't really all that well written, and I must admit that the fact that every girl I went to high school with who hated reading constantly had it under their arm still...”

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Community:
  • Rated 3.924816 stars
Amazon:
  • Rated 4.166667 stars
  

Newest Comments

  • Johanna

    johanna said:

    “Although I loved the book, I was bothered by one part, the one where, given the opportunity for a brief time to “live”, Susie chose to be sexual --- as if this were the most important thing to be, when alive. And the fact, too, that she chose to communicate with her crush rather than with any one of her family members. I wonder why the author did this. I wish this part could be rewritten. It’s a sizable bump in an otherwise perfectly beautiful story. That’s why the book just gets my second best mark.”

    posted 17 hours ago ( | view 1 reply )
  • Lilly B

    lilly b said:

    “i really injoyed this book but then it is sad what he did to her i wounder if it would have been him in that situation that happened would he take a minute to think is this right and should i be doing this if he was then to do it to someone.”

    posted 13 days ago
  • ^_^ Angel D ^_^

    ^_^ angel d ^_^ said:

    “Oh my! I loved The Lovely Bones so much! Alice Sebold is such an awe-striking and talented author!”

    posted 2 weeks ago
  • eric b

    eric b said:

    “Hmm. What varied responses we have! I really liked the book. I can't say I agree that the book felt disjointed or that the ending was hokey or disappointing in any way. The story was completely engaging and I didn't want to put the book down. Every debut novel seems to get heaped with praise, but this one deserves it.”

    posted 3 weeks ago
  • Connie C

    connie c said:

    “I enjoyed it as a novel but it seemed overrated. It felt like Susie had woven this tapestry of the lives of the people she had left behind but didn't quite know how to wrap it up. I enjoyed it for what it was: a good read. But it is not, like one critic claimed, the next 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. It was a snapshot of something we can all relate to: a family living dysfunctionally in suburbia. The fact that it was the narrator's death that triggered the premise of the story served its purpose in hooking the reader but does not really make the most of its potential. Because she is no longer a part of the action (until the end), the novel seems disjointed.”

    posted Saturday, August 23 2008 ( | view 1 reply )
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