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The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
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The Lovely Bones (original 2002; edition 2009)

by Alice Sebold

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35,74893868 (3.7)705
Fiction. Literature. HTML:"My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973."
So begins the story of Susie Salmon, who is adjusting to her new home in heaven, a place that is not at all what she expected, even as she is watching life on earth continue without her â?? her friends trading rumors about her disappearance, her killer trying to cover his tracks, her grief-stricken family unraveling. Out of unspeakable tragedy and loss, The Lovely Bones succeeds, miraculously, in building a tale filled with hope, humor, suspense, even j… (more)
Member:Falqaumae
Title:The Lovely Bones
Authors:Alice Sebold
Info:Back Bay Books (2009), Edition: 1 Mti Rep, Paperback, 368 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:
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Work Information

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (2002)

  1. 61
    Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (Maiasaura)
  2. 84
    The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (leahsimone)
  3. 20
    The Little Friend by Donna Tartt (KayCliff)
    KayCliff: Both books display the effects on a family of the murder of a child.
  4. 53
    White Oleander by Janet Fitch (leahsimone)
  5. 21
    The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard (WildMaggie)
  6. 11
    The Book of Fred by Abby Bardi (Bookmarque)
    Bookmarque: Not as sentimental as this. A very good coming of age novel.
  7. 11
    The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker (BookshelfMonstrosity)
    BookshelfMonstrosity: Despite differences in plot -- a teenager's post-murder afterlife in The Lovely Bones, and civilization's slow, steady collapse in the aftermath of disaster in The Age of Miracles -- the thoughtful young heroines of these melancholy, haunting stories are similar to one another.… (more)
  8. 00
    Unstolen by Wendy Jean (lucyknows)
    lucyknows: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold may be paired withUnstolen by Wendy Jean. Both novels deal with death and crime and how it affects the families left behind
  9. 11
    Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (Jen7waters)
  10. 33
    The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom (Headinherbooks_27)
  11. 00
    The Invisible by Mats Wahl (Litrvixen)
    Litrvixen: Both are about ghosts observing the investigations into their own deaths.
  12. 00
    Shade by Neil Jordan (ShelfMonkey)
  13. 11
    Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin (jbarry)
  14. 00
    The September Sisters by Jillian Cantor (meggyweg)
  15. 01
    La mirada del otro by Fernando G Delgado (albavirtualy)
  16. 01
    A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton (TheFlamingoReads)
    TheFlamingoReads: A melancholy story of how people deal with the death of a child.
  17. 12
    The Mercy of Thin Air by Ronlyn Domingue (cataylor)
    cataylor: Story is told by a character from the afterlife
  18. 01
    Lark by Tracey Porter (kaledrina)
  19. 01
    La fortuna de Matilda Turpin by Álvaro Pombo (albavirtualy)
  20. 23
    Atonement by Ian McEwan (RocknRain)

(see all 28 recommendations)

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» See also 705 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 911 (next | show all)
The Lovely Bones is a remarkable and gently moving feat of POI sustained by an omniscience that, at the beginning, I suspected would run its course and fall flat – but it didn't. We not only watch a murderer at work but also see the consequences of the crime on family, friends and community.
These were the lovely bones that had grown round my absence: the connections – sometimes tenuous, sometimes made at great cost, but often magnificent – that happened after I was gone. (p. 320)

It's a story where love and presence are the binding forces in a world where absence is manifestly present. Where people and ordinary things, even suburban lives, can vanish in literal or metaphorical sinkholes. Where relationships matter
Her journal was her most important relationship. It held everything. (p.252)

The more I reflect on this book, the more intricately constructed it becomes. Some writers don’t know how to end a book Alice Sebold does: powerful yet understated. A masterpiece! ( )
  simonpockley | Feb 25, 2024 |
Narrated by a very intelligent fourteen-year-old, Susie Salmon, this story opens with her violent death in a cornfield at the hands of a quietly deranged man, George Harvey. She narrates the story from heaven, a place that continually changes as she matures and watches her family's struggles and accomplishments on earth. Reeling from the grisly crime and not having closure to their daughter's death, Susie's parents have a difficult time coming to terms with this situation, and as a result, their marriage and relationships with their other two children suffer.
This story is compassionately told, and the reader quickly feels close to Susie and her family. All of the characters in this small town are interesting and add their own flavor to this intriguing story. Although there's a sad undertone throughout, there are also hints of humor, hope, and love. At times, this was a difficult book to stomach, because of the gruesome nature of George Harvey's life. But overall, it was an excellent book with memorable characters and a masterful plot. It's a quick, mesmerizing read, that leaves you wanting to learn more about Susie's life in her heaven--a mysterious and very interesting place. I'd recommend this book for its unique perspective and its honest look at the effect death has on the people a deceased person leaves behind on earth. ( )
  b00kdarling87 | Jan 7, 2024 |
Didn't like this book. Started great, finished very poorly. ( )
  Hello9876 | Jan 6, 2024 |
Enjoyed the movie, loved the book!! A very unique and interesting story line. ( )
  hellokirsti | Jan 3, 2024 |
Loved this! ( )
  DominiqueMarie | Oct 22, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 911 (next | show all)
Sebold's compelling and sometimes poetic prose style and unsparing vision transform Susie's tragedy into an ultimately rewarding novel.
added by bell7 | editLibrary Journal (Aug 25, 2009)
 
Although some sections tend toward melodrama... other passages are dreamy and lyrical. Most striking is Sebold's mastery of a teenager's voice, from such small details as Susie's Strawberry-Banana Kissing Potion to her completely believable thought processes.
 
An extraordinary, almost-successful debut that treats sensational material with literary grace, narrated from heaven by the victim of a serial killer and pedophile.
added by bell7 | editKirkus Reviews (Aug 1, 2002)
 
Don't start "Lovely Bones" unless you can finish it. The book begins with more horror than you could imagine, but closes with more beauty than you could hope for.
 
Sebold takes an enormous risk in her wonderfully strange début novel: her narrator, Susie Salmon, is dead—murdered at the age of fourteen by a disturbed neighbor—and speaks from the vantage of Heaven. Such is the author's skill that from the first page this premise seems utterly believable... If in the end she reaches too far, the book remains a stunning achievement.
added by Shortride | editThe New Yorker (Jul 15, 2002)
 

» Add other authors (11 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Alice Seboldprimary authorall editionscalculated
Bresnahan, AlyssaNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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Always, Glen
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My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie.
Inside the snow globe on my father's desk, there was a penguin wearing a red-and-white-striped scarf.
Quotations
These were the lovely bones that had grown around my absence: the connections—sometimes tenuous, sometimes made at great cost, but often magnificent—that happened after I was gone. And I began to see things in a way that let me hold the world without me in it. The events my death brought were primarily that the bones of a body that would become whole at some unpredictable time in the future. The price of what I came to see as this miraculous lifeless body had been my life.
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Wikipedia in English (2)

Fiction. Literature. HTML:"My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973."
So begins the story of Susie Salmon, who is adjusting to her new home in heaven, a place that is not at all what she expected, even as she is watching life on earth continue without her â?? her friends trading rumors about her disappearance, her killer trying to cover his tracks, her grief-stricken family unraveling. Out of unspeakable tragedy and loss, The Lovely Bones succeeds, miraculously, in building a tale filled with hope, humor, suspense, even j

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Book description
The Lovely Bones is a moving exploration of loss and mourning that ultimately puts its faith in the living made even more powerful by a cast of convincing characters.
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Hachette Book Group

8 editions of this book were published by Hachette Book Group.

Editions: 0316168815, 0316666343, 0316166685, 1600240682, 0316001821, 0316044407, 0316044938, 160024842X

 

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