Susie was murdered when she was fourteen years old. She's getting used to life in heaven while watching what's going on in the lives of the living.

I cannot believe how wonderful this is! If you only read one book or listen to one audiobook this year, it should be this one. ( )

There is an atmosphere to this book I have come across once before, it was a book called The Pilot's Wife. The stories are different but they both leave you feeling horror, pain, loss, and finally hope, you hope the truth is discovered, you hope that there is a way to move beyond the tragedy, you hope that there is a chance of happiness for these people after so much pain. This book will haunt you. ( )

After years of avoiding because of the distasteful premise, I listened to the Recorded Books version and was blown away by the strength of the dead narrator's voice and the vision of an amorphous Heaven.

Negatives: The last fifth of the book dragged and the "return" of the dead girl was too woo-woo.

The Recorded Books interview with Alice Sebold is worth a listen. She mentions that she has always been a bit morbid, "but in a FUN way..." ( )

So far I am loving this book! The narrative in beautiful and imaginative.

I loved the idea of heaven that this book created. The characters were well thought out and I loved that the ending was not really a happily ever after, although it annoyed me somewhat (just because you expect that happily ever after sometimes).
Itching for the movie to come out now. ( )

Though I do not believe in an afterlife, I found this to be a compelling story, and beautifully written.

Very good. ( )

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. ( )

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. ( )

http://titlewave.com/search?SID=1f0f9...

Publisher Weekly starred.

Conway, C. (2002). The lovely bones (Book Review). Library Journal (1976), 127(9), 127-8. Retrieved October 28, 2009, from Article Citation database.

Huntley, k. (2002). The lovely bones (Book Review). Booklist, 98(17), 1510. Retrieved October 28, 2009, from Article Citation database.

Susie Salmon was murdered at age 14 in the early 1970s. Susie herself narrates this story as she looks down from heaven, starting with her death and following her family over the next decade. My feelings about this book are fairly tepid. It's well-written but a little heavy on the grief and family drama. While this is understandable given the circumstances, I felt like I was reading a cross between "Cold Case Files" and "The Wonder Years," with a dash of "Seventh Heaven" thrown in. I also felt like the author couldn't decide between supernatural fantasy and gritty realism, never quite reaching a happy medium either. A decent read, but don't go into it expecting a murder mystery. It's a touching family drama through and through. ( )

Definitely an above-average work, although the attempts at novelty did get a little excessive. Heaven is extraordinary enough without inventing further wackiness on Earth. ( )

A representation of a heaven close to what I like to believe really exists- everything you love in one place. A very sad subject but overall a very interesting read. ( )

bereavement

Horrible subject - why write a fantasy book about it? Didn't see the point although I did manage to read it to the end.

Reviewed by Cana Rensberger for TeensReadToo.com

THE LOVELY BONES will haunt you. This book tells the story of the most horrific thing a family could ever endure, the murder of a loved one, a child.

The child is 14-year-old Susie Salmon. We see the murder through her eyes, after she is killed. Susie narrates her story from heaven, a place like I'd not before imagined. Her heaven begins as her school playground. Slowly it grows to become more. Susie merely longs for something she misses from earth, and it appears, except, of course, the living. Although she can watch her loved ones, know what they are doing, thinking, and feeling, she cannot be with them, or they with her.

The book begins with the emotional, frightening, and vividly shown homicide. Through Susie's eyes, we understand how he tricked her. We feel her terror as we realize, with her, what's about to happen. Then the scene moves to another, equally heartbreaking moment, three days later when a neighbor's dog finds a body part.

You would think, at this point, that you wouldn't be able to read further, that you'd close the book and never reopen it. But you won't be able to. Like Susie, we want to know her family will be okay. We want to know the killer won't get away with it. The author, Alice Sebold, artfully forces you to read on.

Susie watches her friends whisper about her at school. She watches as her younger sister, Lindsey, hardens to stone. Her four-year-old brother, Buckley, is passed from neighbor to neighbor, having sleepovers, told his sister has just gone away for a bit. She listens to the detective, Len, tell her parents the inevitable, that they are now investigating her disappearance as a murder. Her family slowly begins to crumble and Susie can do nothing to help.

This sounds like a suffocating, depressing book, but as you read you'll feel encouraged as Susie's family begins to move on, never to forget, but to begin to live life without her. Buckley struggles to understand the meaning of forever. Susie's dad becomes obsessed with proving he's not crazy, that he's certain who killed his daughter. Susie's mom handles the stress by hiding from it. And Lindsey, known as the girl whose sister was murdered, strives to find herself again. She searches for love. And she takes a huge risk to help her dad flush out the killer.

The ending is incredibly sweet. Amazing as it may seem, you will feel Susie's joy as she lets go of those she's left behind. For me, the ending wasn't perfect, it left me wanting, but I imagine that was deliberate. Life itself is not perfect. But life has hope. And that's the feeling that will stay with you as you turn the last page. It's a memorable read, not for the faint of heart. Expect to feel. To fear, to cry, and, yes, to laugh. THE LOVELY BONES will touch the very core of your being. Alice Sebold has written beautifully of the ugliest scenario possible. Wow. ( )

Amazing imagery. Beautifully written. ( )

Merideth says: The premise of this book is surprising -- Susie Salmon, after being murdered, watches her family grow apart and change from Heaven. It is beautifully written, although I got frustrated with the middle section of the book, where Sebold tries to fuse some thriller elements onto her story by having Susie's sister investigate her killer. However, overall, this is a beautifully told story and an interesting picture of a family in crisis. ( )

After a stomach-turning beginning, this emotionally charged novel settles into a really sweet meditation on grief, forgiveness and the lasting effects of tragedy. ( )

I can't remember why I picked this up since I don't really read fiction. But it was great. I can't get anyone else to read it because I can't figure out how to respond when they ask what it's about. 'A little girl who was murdered and narrates from heaven...' is clearly not the right answer. ( )

This book was very difficult to read at times. But I would love to think that heaven is just the way Susie describes it. ( )

Fantastic book, i truly couldn't put it down. ( )

my least favorite book ever! ( )

This book was okay, but not special, and at some points was downright difficult to read. The novel opens with a vivid description of a child rape and murder that was more disturbing than most horror novels I’ve read. The victim, Susie, narrates the rest of the story’s events from her own personal heaven, as she watches her family members struggle to get over her disappearance (her body is never found). I wish there had been more about the afterlife concept and Susie’s character development after she dies, her struggle to let go of her short life on earth. And the story was so unrelentingly sad, with very little payoff, that I had to wonder why I was bothering to read it at all. ( )