The Lovely Bones

Staff Pick

By the time The Lovely Bones landed on bookstore shelves it had become the most highly anticipated book of the season. Then came the astonishingly enthusiastic critical response. Within two months, a million copies were in print. Still, readers encountering a simple plot summary might be tempted to turn away. Newspapers offer enough tragedy these days; do we really have time and energy for dark, tragic fiction? Consider those apprehensions dismissed: Sebold's debut fiction is an unflinching, graceful gift of a novel, an invigorating, expansive work of storytelling that should not work, but magically does.
Recommended by Dave, Powells.com

Review-A-Day

"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....But emotionally, it's faultless. Sebold never slips as she follows this family. The risks she walks are enough to give you vertigo. A victim of rape herself when she was in college, she includes some deadly satire of the shallow advice people offer in the face of great loss. There is no "moving on," and time alone won't bring relief either. That only comes through the hard work of learning to care for the living while cradling the memory of this loved one. As her father eventually realizes, 'You live in the face of it.'" Ron Charles, The Christian Science Monitor (read the entire CSM review)

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graciegram, January 24, 2011 (view all comments by graciegram)
I was drawn into this book from the start by the unusual perspective of telling the story from the point of view of the deceased. A young girl is brutally killed and she looks over and down on her family members as they go on about their lives. A very compelling read!

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BookLoverST, December 9, 2009 (view all comments by BookLoverST)
The Lovely Bones will premiere tonight in Sydney, and I can't wait.

This movie reminds me very much of a novel (and upcoming film) that I loved and am anticipating, Forgiving Ararat. Both stories centered on the concept of life-after-death. Because of Forgiving Ararat, I'm full of hope for Lovely Bones.

If you've read and loved Lovely Bones, you'll love Forgiving Ararat.

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anelagal, September 15, 2009 (view all comments by anelagal)
The Lovely Bones was my first choice to read out of nine different books. I thought it would be interesting, since it was coming from the point of view of a murdered girl. Another aspect that made me want to chose it was that the murdered girl was a teenager and close to my age. I wanted to know what was going to end up happening to the family, as well as the victim herself.
Before I was even half way through the book, I realized that it really was worth my time to read. I usually find books a waste of time and of my life. However, this one really struck me as I read it. The author described the scenes extremely thoroughly and painted very vivid images in my mind as the words on the page seemed to become more of a reality than a fantasy. The murder scene at the very beginning of the book that set up the whole story opened up my eyes in ways I would have never imagined. It was as if a part of my heart had been reserved to feel pain and sorrow for this poor fourteen-year-old girl.
First off, Susie Salmon tells us who she is, when she was murdered, and how old she was. Then she goes off to tell us who the murderer, Mr. Harvey, was and describe the horrible night in a cornfield when she lost everything that she had and had ever wanted. Her life, family, and friends. She then tells all of the misfortunate, as well as fortunate, events that happened in her family, friends, and acquaintances’ lives during her absence. As long as she was in her heaven, there was little she could do to tell them exactly what happened on that horrid night.
This book really made me wonder if I felt like I was spending my life correctly or in a way that I wouldn’t be wasting it. I enjoyed the mass amount of life messages in the book, as well. To me, I saw the author’s message as a mixture of two. One—Never take anything for granted. Two—Life is too short to waste any time. After reading this book, I’ve really begun to take in all aspects of life more fully, looking at the saying, “Every day a question mark.”

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Product Details

ISBN:

9780316168816

Editor:

Adams, Terry

Publisher:

Back Bay Books

Author:

Sebold, Alice

Subject:

General

Subject:

Literary

Subject:

Teenage girls

Subject:

Crimes against

Subject:

Domestic fiction

Subject:

Psychological fiction

Subject:

Literature-A to Z

Copyright:

2002

Publication Date:

20040431

Binding:

TRADE PAPER

Language:

English

Pages:

328

Dimensions:

8.29x5.44x.99 in. .72 lbs.

0 stars - 0 reviews

$1.95 In Stock

"Staff Pick" by Dave,

By the time The Lovely Bones landed on bookstore shelves it had become the most highly anticipated book of the season. Then came the astonishingly enthusiastic critical response. Within two months, a million copies were in print. Still, readers encountering a simple plot summary might be tempted to turn away. Newspapers offer enough tragedy these days; do we really have time and energy for dark, tragic fiction? Consider those apprehensions dismissed: Sebold's debut fiction is an unflinching, graceful gift of a novel, an invigorating, expansive work of storytelling that should not work, but magically does.

by Dave

"Review A Day" by Ron Charles, The Christian Science Monitor, "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....But emotionally, it's faultless. Sebold never slips as she follows this family. The risks she walks are enough to give you vertigo. A victim of rape herself when she was in college, she includes some deadly satire of the shallow advice people offer in the face of great loss. There is no "moving on," and time alone won't bring relief either. That only comes through the hard work of learning to care for the living while cradling the memory of this loved one. As her father eventually realizes, 'You live in the face of it.'" (read the entire CSM review)

"Review" by Publishers Weekly, "[A] small but far from minor miracle....[A] story that is both tragic and full of light and grace....Sebold maintains [a] delicate balance between homely and horrid....[F]ull of suspense and written in lithe, resilient prose that by itself delights."

"Review" by Aimee Bender, author of An Invisible Sign of My Own, "Intensely wise and gorgeously written, The Lovely Bones is a heart-breaking page-turner..."

"Review" by Jonathan Franzen, author of The Corrections, "Sebold has given us a fantasy-fable of great authority, charm, and daring. She's a one-of-a-kind writer."

"Review" by Kristine Huntley, Booklist, "Few novels, debut or otherwise, are as masterful or as compelling as Sebold's....[A] beautiful novel....[Sebold] challenges us to re-imagine happy endings, as she brings the novel to a conclusion that is unfalteringly magnificent. And she paints, with an artist's precision, a portrait of a world where the terrible and the miraculous can and do co-exist."

"Review" by Kirkus Reviews, "An extraordinary, almost-successful debut that treats sensational material with literary grace....[A] thoroughly engaging voice....Works beautifully for so long as Susie simply tells the truth, then falters when the author goes for bigger truths about Love and Life. Still, mostly mesmerizing and deserving of the attention it's sure to receive."

"Review" by Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times, "[A] keenly observed portrait of familial love....[A] deeply affecting meditation on the ways in which terrible pain and loss can be redeemed through love and acceptance."

"Review" by Michael Chabon, author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, "[P]ainfully funny, terribly sad, it is a feat of imagination and a tribute to the healing power of grief."

"Review" by Library Journal, "[A] powerful first novel....Sebold's compelling and sometimes poetic prose style and unsparing vision transform Susie's tragedy into an ultimately rewarding novel. Highly recommended."

"Review" by Lev Grossman, Time magazine, "Almost everything that makes The Lovely Bones the breakout fiction debut of the year — the sweetness, the humor, the kicky rhythm, the deadpan suburban gothic — is...packed into [the] first two lines, under pressure and waiting to explode....Sebold...imagines the unimaginable and in doing so reminds us that...missing girls aren't just tabloid icons or martyred innocents but real human beings..."

"Review" by Anna Quindlen, author of One True Thing and Black and Blue, "If you only have time to read one book this summer, it's The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold."

"Synopsis" by Ingram, Now in paperback: Alice Sebold's luminous first novel--one of the most celebrated literary debuts of recent seasons--that builds out of a family's grief the most hopeful and joyful of stories.