The Lovely Bones

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

It is a thought provoking, tear jerking fictional story of Susie Salmon, murdered at a young and tender age, who narrates the story of her afterlife (for want of a better word) in "her Heaven" and her family's path through life without her. I did not put this book down from the moment I started it, I read alot of books and have never been so hooked on anything before. The idea is so original, you will not have read anything like it. The emotional ride that Susie and author Alice Sebold take you on is a real rollercoaster, you will cry tears of sadness and joy, feel anger and fear, love the story and possibly hate it too. If you have children you will cuddle them extra hard on a night. If ever you have lost someone close then read this book.

Alice Sebold is not attempting to make you believe in anything, this is not a religious book, or a story to be afraid of (even if you have lost a child yourself), it is simply a fictional novel, of the way things could possibly be. The whole story centres around a sad event, a brutal murder of someone young and vulnerable, but this is not a dark book, it will make you cry, and make you happy. Susie is a strong character, easy to like and easy to understand, someone most people can relate to.

I can honestly say this book will stay with me forever, I loved reading it, and am very happy to recommend it to everyone. Happy reading!


Breathtaking...   August 20, 2003
T. Gouveia (Portugal)
23 out of 25 found this review helpful

I must admit that strangers starred at me as tears flowed while I read the book on the train on my way home. I have never read such a captivating book, I simply just had to finish it in one day.
Till date this is Alice Sebold's only fiction novel that I know of, the other is non-fiction and is called 'Lucky'. In it holds the key to why she could write and transmit to us a nightmare horror, for she too was raped on her way home.
I cried for the main character, Susie, because she was frozen in a child like body, while watching her sister and brother grow up, the end of her parent's marriage and eventually her mother's transformation. In 'Lucky' you will read how the author's own mother battled with alcohol and personality problems. Both books are entwined, I think, one true, the other make believe, both the author's attempt to deal with ghosts of the past as well as the unanswered question, what if she had been murdered that day?


Love it or hate it - it leaves a mark.   May 21, 2004
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

A most unusual novel.
To take two subjects so potentially dark and complex - violent murder and the afterlife - and turn them into a narrative of such richness and emotional depth without sinking once into the macabre or depressive is an achievement of some magnitude.
The novel works because it is ultimately based on a deep understanding of human behaviour. It captures well the range of feelings suffered by those bereaved and reflects them in Susie's lingering relationship with her family. With an empathy that never strays into the saccharine, Sebold's narrative captures that one reaction we are all guilty of at the loss of a loved one - the burning desire to keep them with us.
This is an innovative, evidently deeply autobiographical novel which has the ability to touch us all through that common rite of passage we so often ignore.


A deeply Moving Masterpiece   May 6, 2004
T. Andrews (yorkshire)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

This book is simply the most moving book i have ever read.

I lived every up & down of the characters, Seabold's sensitive portrayal of such a horrific subject is wonderful, without being overly sentimental I found it ost suprising.

The first chapter deals with the death of the main charater Suzie. There is no gratuitous horror- just short sharp facts of a childs murder, this is refreshing & unexpected.

Suzie narrates the remainder of the story from her position in heaven & Seabold really has captured the real essence of the way a child thinks.

Ive lost count of how many times this book moved me to tears- i just couldnt help it- i empathised with the characters so very very much. But also I laughed too.

Put the religious reasoning aside & look at Seabolds version of heaven, how simply beautiful.

This book will stay with me forever & I hope you read it & it does the same for you


A lovely and touching story   March 21, 2004
Kona (Emerald City)
42 out of 47 found this review helpful

The Lovely Bones is narrated by Susie, a fourteen year old girl who has been murdered. From heaven, she describes her attack and her family and friends' attempts at dealing with her loss in such a simple, matter-of-fact way that the reader will surely melt into puddles of tears.

The author's writing style is friendly, chatty and irresistible; I couldn't put it down until I was finished. It is a very quick read - the kind of book you wish wouldn't end. I loved the first half and cried through it, liked the second half, and understood the ending (but selfishly wish it could have been different).

This is a book about a dead child, but it is not at all macabre; it is warm, loving, honest, and hopeful. Those who have lost a loved one may well find comfort by reading The Lovely Bones. I recommend it to those who enjoy insightful, well-written fiction.