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The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

The Lovely Bones

by Alice Sebold
  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • First Published:
  • Jun 1, 2002, 288 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Apr 2004, 352 pages
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Reviews

Page 14 of 15
There are currently 118 reader reviews for The Lovely Bones
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Kevin H

Can't Believe the Hype
After hearing of all the glowing word of mouth reviews for this book, I decided to read it. In general, the story and reference to heaven are somewhat entertaining. Unfortunately, after reading it, I almost feel that I have lost some brain cells because of it. I did not plan to provide a critical review. However, there were so many technical glitches that I couldn't help but start to add them up. First of all, the underground room in the corn field is ridiculous. If you have ever dug a hole to plant a tree, you would realize that the volume of soil that would have been removed would have been enormous (3 times the area of the room) and would have not gone unnoticed by the school kids or the farmer. Where did all of the soil go? The author never indicates how this drifter from a vagabond existence came to live in a modest upper middleclass neighborhood with no steady income (dollhouses?). She mentions a dishwasher in the home, but the family washes by hand in 2 later references. She speaks of an illegal "joyride" when the two young sisters share a seatbelt. Seatbelt laws in the early 1970's? She describes "rows and rows of wheat fields" in heaven. If you have ever seen a wheat field, you would know that is not planted in rows!! Lindsey and her boyfriend do not ride the motorcycle (not broken) in the rain in their leather jackets and pants, with visored helmets. For some inexplicable reason, they decide to run home......in the rain........for 8 miles........in their underwear??? These are just a few; there were numerous analogies that left me scratching my head or worse, wincing.
ry

The Lovely Bones
I thought this was a horrible book. I can see why people like it but i just can't get into it. My friend recommended the book and i thought it would be really good by i was disappointed by its uneventful plot of this book.
Evelien

depressing and poor
I thought the story of the book is very good, though the way it's set is not what I could call "Lovely". I had to read this book for school, but I regret the fact that I've chosen this one. Every time I tried to finish the book, or just read further, I just rejected to open it. It's so depressing to read, and it's not what you can call exciting.

Though I understand that other people could like it. There is even a director (Peter Jackson himself) who is planning to make a movie out of this story, let's just hope it'd be better than the book. Though I'm quite curious about how the movie will become.
Lori

This has to be the most over-hyped book I've read.
It's painfully boring, non-descript and uneventful.
If this is required reading in schools, you're going to turn a lot of kids into non-readers.
Sandcarrie

Because this book was on the bestseller list for so many months, I thought it must be fantastic. But after having finally obtained it at the Library, and getting into it, I was sorely disappointed. The beginning was captivating but it just went down hill from there. I felt there were too many loose ends and unresolved plots. It seemed to be an uninteresting cliffhanger that went nowhere. But then, I didn't like "Bridges of Madison County" either.
expert

A great idea for a book, but fell short. no real character development.
SSE

So disappointing
I thought it was a terrible book. After my friend recommend this to me and I have to do this for school, I decided to give it a try with an open mind. but I was very disappointed. It was extremely difficult to finish this book because the plot is everywhere. There are abrupt shifts from each event and even sudden changes of characters that literally came out of nowhere. Other than that, it was very boring to read about a young girl's memory with her mother. The young characters act too mature than they should be.
Lisa

Am I missing something?!
My brother gave me the book as a gift, expressing his adoration for the story and promising mine. . . I have to say, I struggled to get through it. Not only was the story lacking a consistent frame of focus but the punctuation, or LACK THERE OF, was mind-blowing. For this to be a New York Times best seller and to stray so far from conventional punctuation, while not doing so purposely, left me feeling nothing but frustration. I was so distracted by this that I found it hard to get into the characters. Now, had the narrator, Susie, had a fourteen-year old's vocabulary, and the grammar to match then perhaps it would have made sense. But, this was not the case. I honestly can not see what everyone else does. . .

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