The Lovely Bones

Alice Sebold

Aug 2002 · Sold by Little, Brown

About this ebook

"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 joy.

Ratings and reviews

I had come across "The Lovely Bones" in my local Borders bookstore a few years ago. I started reading it back then, and I really liked what I read. It's a story of a young girl who is raped and killed by a sexual predator/ serial killer, as told from the dead girl's perspective. This was a very unusual and interesting premise, with a lot of potential for a very original and imaginative novel. At the time I did not continue reading the book, but when the movie based on it came out earlier this year I thought that maybe the time had come to read it in its entirety. And this has been one of the greatest disappointments as a reader that I've ever had. The supernatural premise of viewing earthly events from a dead girl's perspective is not really used all that much in the book, except for one brief chapter well towards the end. Even then, the whole incident is completely superfluous to the overall narrative, and it has no discernable effect on the rest of the book. It seems that the choice of the point of view for this book had more to do with the kind of narrative device that the author wanted to employ, rather than with the plot development, only to change her mind at almost the last moment, and then do it haphazardly and then backtrack on her decision. However, even as a pure narrative device this ploy has problems that show throughout the book. Unlike a perfect omniscient narrator, a dead girl is actually pretty limited in her perspective, not least because she can only observe the outward appearances of other protagonists. She does make surmises on people's inner states of mind, but those are usually very restrained and not very convincing. The book fails as a murder-mystery thriller as well. It's not so much that know from the very beginning what happened and who did what, but as the story progresses we get less and less of an impression that most of the relevant characters are truly trying to solve a criminal case. They all make some half-hearted and intermittent steps in trying to solve this murder, but we need to be constantly reminded by the narrator that they do in fact really want to solve the case. Finally, and most disappointingly, the book fails as a coming-to-terms-with-tragedy novel. As previously mentioned, the point of view of the narrative is actually pretty limiting, and we don't really have the full access to the inner thoughts and feeling of various protagonists. We have to be constantly told about what they are going through, which doesn't make for a very satisfying reading experience. Furthermore, most of the characters (even those with more exotic backgrounds) are actually rather flat and uninteresting. Almost every little girl in the story is a more serious embodiment of Lisa Simpson. The reader doesn't feel much of the conviction in their actions and thoughts. I stuck with this book through the very end because I was hoping that maybe, just maybe, a surprising and revelatory ending would make all the reading effort worth it. Unfortunately, that too was a big disappointment. The end left me hanging, and if I had cared more for any of the characters in the book I would have been really frustrated. As it is, I am just left to lament all the time I had wasted on reading this rather unremarkable book. The style of writing is pretty good, something that was obviously tuned in fiction workshops, but in the end not nearly so good to justify wasting so much time on this novel.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold is about the rape and murder of a 14 year-old girl named Susie Salmon. This is a very intriguing and descriptive book that shows readers how death plays a huge role in every person's life and how it affects everyone in a different way. Sebold allows the readers to experience the theme by telling the story in the first person point of view. I definitely recommend this book, but I must warn you that it does contain some descriptive things that young teens should not read about. The book is set in a small town near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, between 1973 and 1918. The book starts off by the narrator, Susie, telling the reader when she was murdered and descriptions of her and her family. Right away, Sebold starts to tell the story of how Susie was murdered. This part of the book was pretty disturbing because of all the suspense that was shown due to her diction and imagery usage. As the story goes on, the reader can see how everyone who was close to Susie is affected by her death. For example, her family secludes themselves from society and each other to a certain extent, and the murderer is so worried about getting caught that he’s always observant about his surroundings. Also, an internal conflict that is preventing Susie from entering Heaven is shown while she’s with her new found friend, Holly. There are many conflicts and themes throughout the story that make the book even more dramatic and meaningful. One of the themes is love and acceptance. Sebold shows this theme by using the five stages of grief: Shock and denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. By showing these five stages, the book is more believable and relatable. A big conflict in the book is finding Susie’s killer, which ties in with another theme: good versus evil. Her dad gets help from the cops, but after a while they told him they had no leads, so he does some investigating of his own. Another conflict for Susie and her family is accepting her death. At the end, they all accept it and are able to go on with their journey in life. The author, Alice Sebold, wants the readers to see how death affects people. For example, the dad is so driven by rage to find the murderer that he pushes his family away, and that causes his wife to do something dramatic. Sebold also shows how Susie is affected by her own death. Considering the age of Susie, one would believe that she would be upset or furious with her family or herself, but instead she is curious and hopeful about life for her family. The only regret she has is leaving her family with the burden of having to deal with her murder. Sebold also wants the readers to see that death isn’t all bad. It can bring closure between people and help them realize how life is too short so one must enjoy every moment of it. Some of the strengths and weaknesses in the book are confusion with the present and past tense and good usage of figurative language. The book changes from past tense to present tense and it gets confusing at times. For example, in the beginning of the book Susie is talking but it’s in the past tense. “My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.” Also, Sebold uses a lot of symbols which add meaning to the story. The porch light that is kept on is a symbol for her family’s belief that she will come home. Sebold also uses imagery to strengthen the credibility of the story. An example is, “My father could see shimmers, like colored flecks inside my mother’s eyes - things to hold on to.” The quote means that Susie’s father sees possibilities for the future with his wife in her “ocean eyes” as he describes. Overall I was very entertained by this book. The book had a lot of good themes and it made me realize that life can end unexpected so one must live it to the fullest. I recommend this book to anyone who can relate to how it feels to lose a family member and to people who are interested in mysteries.

I am reading a book Called "The Lovely Bones." When i first heard the name it sounded kind of interesting.After i read it, it was actually really interesting! I first read it in Mr. Lees class, and I've also watched the movie, too. The name really goes with the story, because it was a lovely girl who got murdered. Susie was walking home through a cornfield and runs into her neighbor Mr. Harvey. He shows her inside a underground bunker her made and asks her to stay. she is getting creeped out and trys to leave, but he tells her she cant and rapes her. After he was finished with her he killed her. I really enjoyed this book because it is really interesting. This could actually possibly happen to someone in reality. I thought it was pretty sad though. It reallly is a great story and i would recommend it to manly adults and older teenagers. Its more of a book for mature minded people.

About the author

Alice Sebold is the bestselling author of The Lovely Bones, The Almost Moon, and Lucky a memoir. She lives in California with her husband, the novelist Glen David Gold.