The Lovely Bones: A Novel Book

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by: Alice Sebold

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Customer Reviews
Average Rating: Rating: - It Earns The Hype I know some people who did not get past the first 70 pages or so, and I can see why: at first there is a seeming dispassion about the narrative voice and the tension builds slowly at first. It gains momentum and pulls you in, however, to the point that you will stay up long past a reasonable bedtime on a weekday night to see it through to the end. And if you are the least bit prone to reacting to a book emotionally, well, you will be reacting. It crosses age and gender barriers in its appeal. It is easy to see why it continues to float on the bestseller list. What slowed me down at first was what I thought was its singular plot line; then I realized that each character forms his/her own subplot and their individual projectiles weave about the story like so many contrails streaking and crossing around the sky. Sebold is to be commended for the risks she takes in an age when few take artistic risks in literary and popular fiction. If some don't like her choices, well tough, she was courageous to try and I like that. Her biggest risk was to find life affirmation amidst the tragedy-a 14-year-old disappears, the victim of rape and a gruesome murder, her body never found-without undercutting the undeniable changes it wreaks in the lives of those left living and the sadness of a life frozen at age 14. The balance she strikes is remarkable. Rating: - Not a lovely corpse. I originally picked this up skeptical of the fantastical narrative device. I was quickly assured that this was no gimmick, that the narrator was in fact serious, and had a beautiful story to tell. It is amazing how Sebold was able to tell you so much about each character she introduces, fleshing them out from the inside out (as the title might suggest). It is a book about family, love, and the endurance of the spirit like none I have read before. There is, however, an abrupt and convenient ending which I believe contradicts the contract established between the reader and the narrator. I was unable to take that leap with the narrator, and would have preferred a more literal than fantastical end. Rating: - disappointing for adult readers I had heard quite a bit of hype for this novel before its release, and so I pre-ordered it. I had even heard one reviewer make a comparison to To Kill a Mockingbird. I was very disappointed. Writing is such a difficult task and I'm sure a labor of love for the author, so I don't want to say this book is poor, but it is most satifyingly read by adolescent girls (12-17). Although the novel is not "themed" --I bet they'll be sorry when I'm dead--in fact, maybe more accurately--I'll be sorry when I'm dead, the novel does not rise above some awfully trite teenage angst notions. Although I do not often read crime stories, the elements of the novel dealing with the killer, Mr. Harvey, were often fascinating: his compulsions, his brutality, his thwarted efforts to control his psychotic urges. So for the right audience, this novel may be satisfying. But it lacks the universal truths of such great novels as TKAM. If you want a superior read in the voice of a child/adolescent, try The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Udall--a much more rewarding and literary work.

The Lovely Bones: A Novel Book

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