The Lovely Bones (2002)

by Alice Sebold

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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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 �?? 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)

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The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (leahsimone)
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The Little Friend by Donna Tartt (KayCliff)
KayCliff: Both books display the effects on a family of the murder of a child.
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White Oleander by Janet Fitch (leahsimone)
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The Invisible by Mats Wahl (Litrvixen)
Litrvixen: Both are about ghosts observing the investigations into their own deaths.
21
The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard (WildMaggie)
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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)
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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
11
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (Jen7waters)
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The Book of Fred by Abby Bardi (Bookmarque)
Bookmarque: Not as sentimental as this. A very good coming of age novel.
33
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom (Headinherbooks_27)
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A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton (TheFlamingoReads)
TheFlamingoReads: A melancholy story of how people deal with the death of a child.
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The Mercy of Thin Air by Ronlyn Domingue (cataylor)
cataylor: Story is told by a character from the afterlife
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(see all 28 recommendations)

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Showing 1-5 of 907 (next | show all)

EducatingParents.org rating: Danger - Explicit Content

Booklooks.org -
3/5
Summary of Concerns
This book contains mild profanity; alternate sexualities; sexual activities including sexual assault; sexual nudity; violence; alcohol use; and suicide commentary.

MamaBear297 | Nov 21, 2023 |

Loved this! (

)

DominiqueMarie | Oct 22, 2023 |

I was instantly taken in by this book. I couldn't put it down for the day that it took me to read it. There was one part I didn't think meshed with the rest of the book but all together I loved it. I was so satisfied with the ending that wasn't what I had hoped for but I realized was the perfect ending. From the first page to the last I couldn't put this book down. (

)

MsTera | Oct 10, 2023 |

Made me cry (

)

emmby | Oct 4, 2023 |

4 stars. The beginning is a brutal and horrifying but there are some amazing parts throughout. There are so many emotions and so many ways people deal with grief, a lot of which a really well woven together throughout this story. (

)

Fatula | Sep 25, 2023 |

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▾Published reviews

11 reviews

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thingScore 84

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.

added by Shortride | editThe Austin Chronicle, Amanda Eyre Ward (Aug 9, 2002)

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.

added by Shortride | editThe Christian Science Monitor, Ron Charles (Jul 25, 2002)

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)

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▾Other authors

» Add other authors (11 possible)

Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Alice Sebold	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Bresnahan, Alyssa	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Belongs to Publisher Series

Dal mondo [edizioni E/O]

Is contained in

The Lovely Bones AND The Time Traveller's Wife by Alice Sebold

Has the adaptation

The Lovely Bones [2009 film] by Peter Jackson

The lovely bones by Bryony Lavery

Has as a reference guide/companion

The Lovely Bones (Reader's Companion) by John Henriksen

Bookclub-in-a-Box Discussion Guide to The Lovely Bones, the Novel by Alice Sebold (Bookclub in a Box Discusses) by Alice Sebold

Has as a student's study guide

A Study Guide for Alice Sebold's "The Lovely Bones" by Anne Marie Hacht

▾Awards and Honors

Awards

Bram Stoker Award (Winner – First Novel – 2002)

Bram Stoker Award (Nominee – Novel – 2002)

British Book Award (Winner – Richard & Judy Best Read of the Year – 2004)

Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize (Fiction – 2002)

Colorado Blue Spruce Award (Nominee – 2005)

Commonwealth Club of California Book Awards (Winner – First Fiction, Silver – 2002)

Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award (Winner – 2005)

Gateway Readers Award (Winner – 1st Place – 2004-2005)

Indies Choice Book Award (Winner – Adult Fiction – 2003)

Iowa High School Book Award (Winner – 2005)

Kentucky Bluegrass Award (Winner – Grades 9-12 – 2004)

Lincoln Award: Illinois Teen Readers' Choice Award (Nominee – 2005)

South Carolina Book Awards (Winner – Young Adult Book Award – 2005)

Women's Prize for Fiction (Longlist – 2003)

Distinctions

Notable Lists

ALA 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2000-2009 (74)

Best Fiction for Young Adults (2003)

The Great American Read (69)

Museums, Libraries, and Archives Society's "30 Books Every Adult Should Read Before They Die" (19)

Pajiba's Best Books of the Generation (No 14 – 2007)

School Library Journal Best Book of the Year (2002)

Tayshas High School Reading List (2002)

Waterstones top 25 books of the last 25 years (No 13 – 2007)

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▾Common Knowledge

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Canonical title

The Lovely Bones

Original title

The lovely bones

Alternative titles

Original publication date

People/Characters

Important places

Norristown, Pennsylvania, USA

Important events

Epigraph

Dedication

Always, Glen

First words

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.

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Original language

English

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (2)

Alice Sebold

The Lovely Bones

▾Book descriptions

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 �?? 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

▾Library descriptions

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▾LibraryThing members' description

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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