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Loading... The Lovely Bonesby Alice Sebold
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. Though I do not believe in an afterlife, I found this to be a compelling story, and beautifully written.  LCB48 | Nov 9, 2009 |  Very good. (  ) ini_ya | Nov 7, 2009 | I read this book long after it was published, initially thinking that it was going to be a gruesome murder story. Was I ever surprised. I've read it several time since buying it and shared it with my shrink and grief counselor to let him know which one in the family I most identified with. This could have easily been a maudlin, depressing downer, but Sebold's injecting the spiritual lifted this truly original story to joyful heights. If you've never experienced the death of someone you loved more than yourself, you might not burrow as deeply into this book as others. But it will stick, and you'll pick it up again sometime. (  ) macktan894 | Nov 6, 2009 | The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold is one of the better books I have read. The entire story is told from the point of view of Sophie Salmon (like the fish), a young girl who is horribly murdered, and is focused on her observations from heaven of her friends and family as they strive to make sense of this tragedy and to simply live their lives. The uniqueness of the narrator makes for an interesting read. But this is not a crime story as I was expecting. I have read more books in which the murderer is caught and, well, either killed or punished in some way and while this story did deal with the murderer himself, his capture wasn’t the focus of the novel. To me, in some ways, this was extremely refreshing, yet I am glad that it is addressed in the novel at some point. As I have a child of my own, my dear Natasha Bear, I can’t imagine what ANY parent must feel upon the realization that someone has taken their child away from them. The only thing I can do is to wrap my daughter up in my arms and, as she squirms to get away from me, to simply be grateful for the time we have together and to pray that nothing like this ever happens to her. I was enthralled by the book, but it didn’t keep me up all night or invade my thoughts as to what was going to happen next. I am yet unsure as to whether to go to the movie (or to watch it when it comes out on DVD) because I am sure that Hollywood will mangle it. Definitely a great novel. ( )1  kippras | Oct 31, 2009 |  nkuhn | Oct 30, 2009 | 
 Sebold's compelling and sometimes poetic prose style and unsparing vision transform Susie's tragedy into an ultimately rewarding novel. 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.  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.
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0316166685, Mass Market Paperback)When we first meet Susie Salmon, she is already in heaven. As she looks down from this strange new place, she tells us, in the fresh and spirited voice of a fourteen-year-old girl, a tale that is both haunting and full of hope. In the weeks following her death, Susie watches life on Earth continuing without her-her school friends trading rumors about her disappearance, her family holding out hope that she'll be found, her killer trying to cover his tracks. As months pass without leads, Susie sees her parents' marriage being contorted by loss, her sister hardening herself in an effort to stay strong, and her little brother trying to grasp the meaning of the word gone. And she explores the place called heaven. It looks a lot like her school playground, with the good kind of swing sets. There are counselors to help newcomers adjust and friends to room with. Everything she ever wanted appears as soon as she thinks of it-except the thing she most wants: to be back with the people she loved on Earth. With compassion, longing, and a growing understanding, Susie sees her loved ones pass through grief and begin to mend. Her father embarks on a risky quest to ensnare her killer. Her sister undertakes a feat of remarkable daring. And the boy Susie cared for moves on, only to find himself at the center of a miraculous event. The Lovely Bones is luminous and astonishing, a novel that builds out of grief the most hopeful of stories. In the hands of a brilliant new writer, this story of the worst thing a family can face is transformed into a suspenseful and even funny novel about love, memory, joy, heaven, and healing.(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:57 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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