What readers think of The Lovely Bones, plus links to write your own review.

There is not a single paragraph, line, or image in this book that is not a cliche. This is a typical MFA workshop trope- melodramatic, a POV no one will disagree with (rape is bad, as if we didn't already know), cardboard cut out characters, and just flat out dull, terrible, banal writing. If Sebold wanted her readers to sympathize, she should have 1st of all made a 14 yr old speak like one, and not in the drippings of a bad confessional poet. Secondly, the reason people like this dreck is because it agrees with their sentiment, but anyone who reads real literature with the capital "L" will see this for the crap it is. Sorry- the wannabe poet girl who reads the Bell Jar and wears all black and then surrenders her body for a half hour so the snoozer lead character, Susie, can enter her body and have sex with the first guy she kissed is one of the most stupid things I've read in a long, long while. And while we are on the topic, since when did an 14 yr old refer to a fellow sibling as having "creamy breasts", "Rose-petal shaped eyes"? Putting aside the fact that both those statements are cliches, I've never met a 14 yr old who spoke that way about her sibling. The sad thing is that I never, never would have allowed this junk to be published, and what is even sadder is that people think this is quality literature. And what really is the saddest thing of all- was this written by some angst teenager? (setting aside the fact that the prose is written on that of a junior-high level) no. Sebold was in fact well into her thirties when she penned this tripe. This is the sort of stuff you expect to see from melodramatic teenaged girls, not grown adults well nearing her forties, if in fact she's not there already.

It made me mad at my teacher for assigning us to read it

I hated it.

I found the voice of Susie Salmon who is supposed to be 14 years old entirely too mature for someone that age. The book is somewhat morbid and depressing. Slow moving and difficult to finish.

Hi I am supposed to be doing a research paper over The Lovely BOnes and I cannot seem to think of a topic. Does anyone have any suggestions? ANY ideas or comments would be helpful!
Thanks!

Everyone knows someone who has had a child that has been killed, either by a childhood disease or by tragic circumstances, as in The Lovely Bones. We can only imagine what the parents, siblings, loved ones and the community do to cope with the loss. By reading this book, one gets a painful insight into what that loss must be like. The devastation that the parents feel is palpable....I have a young child of Susie's age and it is incomprehensible that I could go on living, obsessing about what kind of terror and pain that she would be feeling at the time of abduction. The parents' imaginings of how Susie met her end is, in this case, as bad as they think it is.

I loved the fact that it was narrated by Susie herself and as I went through the book, I held out a hope that this is how heaven could be...passed on relatives watching from above, intervening when necessary (like in Buckley's garden), showing themselves when they think it would help (like when Susie's reflection was caught up in the broken glass of a ship in her father's study when he had his breakdown).

I listened to the book on tape and it included a fairly in-depth interview with Anne Sebold herself and when you know her personal story (raped, as a virgin, when she was 18), you get an insight into why this is such a dark book.

This book will be with me for awhile and I look forward to her next project.