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Alice Sebold: The Lovely Bones *spoilers*

h_carnahan said:
I think that Susie and Ray was beautiful because it re-examined sex and showed its beauty. I thought that this had to be especially diffiuclt for Sebold since she is a rape victim herself.
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I completely disagree with this. I don't think Sebold illustrated the beauty of sex at all with this, but rather, she used a known gimmick to make her book sell.

She could have written it so much more powerful, even including the sex scene, if she was so adamant to, but she didn't. Of course, I sympathise with her situation, but millions of girls are raped, or have another story to tell. If they can't write, they usually don't, though. She wrote using a mixture of crude and boring that makes me wonder if she didn't just copy passages from a random pile of books, and put them into her story.

Having recently read Lucky, her memoir about this rape she suffered, I am even surer of my opninion that this book was just terrible.
 
h_carnahan said:
II thought that it was very justified, Susie was raped and murdered when she was getting to her "curious" stage of life. For her sex was a mystery and then when she experienced it through rape it destroyed her in the end (murder).
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The thing that makes a childhood murder so much more tragic than any other kind of murder is that the child never gets to experience so many of the things that adults take for granted.

I thought that the beginning was so compelling because we knew that this young child was murdered and there would be no happy ending for Susie. Writing a happy ending, especially one that was so completely unrealistic, was cheating. The author wasn't true to her characters or Susie's story.
 
The Lovely Bones

Hello!

I was just wondering have many other people read this book and what they thought about it. I thought it was good, but not as good as I thought it would be and some parts were a bit, how should I put this, weird!!

Your thoughts???
 
Dawn said:
and while the details of her death are hard to take, the books doesn't dwell on them.
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I kind of disagree. I think the writing was beautiful, but I had to stop actually half way through the book (something I try not to do at all costs) because the details that were given left such a "bad taste" in my mouth. However, I also understand that the event being described IS an uncomfortable one to speak about. So, I'm not sure ...
 
I read this book a while ago and i think what facinates me is how the 'spirit' of the girl narrates the story without a lot of emotion and u take up all that emotion wanting to avenge her death. I wanted the killer to die a violent and painful death i wanted him to suffer more than he did..
 
I've just finished reading this book. Whilst I did enjoy it I was constantly feeling that this was a young adult book. It reminded me a lot of the books I read as a teenager.

I don't think Susie's reactions to things that she was seeing were believable at the best of times. At the beginning I thought she was just zen since she'd passed on but as we got further into the novel it was clear that she was being affected by what she saw. Sebold gave passing nods to this with lines like "this was very difficult to watch, but I could not look away". It was as if she was trying to get through the earth story and only threw Susie's observation in as an afterthought.

The falling to earth bit was a bit off tone with the rest of the book. I don't mean that the sex was graphic in anyway (because it was not), but the actual act of taking over someone's body seemed cheesy to me.

I also don't know why she didn't tell anyone where her bones were or where to find Harvey. She could have saved lives!

I did enjoy it but I don't think this is any work of literature by any stretch, it seems a bit unkempt to me!

I think it will make a better film than it does a novel, especially with Peter Jackson at the helm.
 
Das Kitty said:
I've just finished reading this book. Whilst I did enjoy it I was constantly feeling that this was a young adult book. It reminded me a lot of the books I read as a teenager.

I don't think Susie's reactions to things that she was seeing were believable at the best of times. At the beginning I thought she was just zen since she'd passed on but as we got further into the novel it was clear that she was being affected by what she saw. Sebold gave passing nods to this with lines like "this was very difficult to watch, but I could not look away". It was as if she was trying to get through the earth story and only threw Susie's observation in as an afterthought.

The falling to earth bit was a bit off tone with the rest of the book. I don't mean that the sex was graphic in anyway (because it was not), but the actual act of taking over someone's body seemed cheesy to me.

I also don't know why she didn't tell anyone where her bones were or where to find Harvey. She could have saved lives!

I did enjoy it but I don't think this is any work of literature by any stretch, it seems a bit unkempt to me!

I think it will make a better film than it does a novel, especially with Peter Jackson at the helm.
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I think it depends on the age of the reader. I'm 31 and have a toddler....I was able to relate the the feelings of the parents, the father mainly and the mother of the "boyfriend". I never felt like I was reading YA.
 
I Loved it *.*

I Finished This book yesterday .. I absolutely Loved it <3 ..
I loved the Characters .. I understood the feelings .. Problems .. and difficulties .. I HAAATE Gorge Harvey ! I simply despise this person and every other similar person.. This story is based on the truth , things like that happen everywhere and you hardly think its fiction .. all the feelings are Real .. Problems .. and Situations .. I totally forgot its fiction =Pp
 
It's refreshing to tell the story in the perspective of a murdered girl in heaven. That captured me to read it.

But I was disappointed with the handling of the back-to-earth part. It would have been more appropriate if her purpose was to help her family members whose life were disintegrating. I was expecting that. Not her longing to have a sexual experience.

And it didn't leave a lasting impression on me. But it was good while it lasted. :)
 
I have avoided it so far, only because I'm afraid to read it because of the murder of a young girl. I'm a mom and that's my worst fear.
 
I find myself torn on my ideas of the book. While the beginning was superb and haunting, I found that the book simply dragged on. I'm not one to enjoy fluffy, happy books, but this book was so depressing and awful that I couldn't read it that often or I'd feel horrible the rest of the day (my reactions to books are...extreme).

So, I liked it...but then again, I didn't.
 
I sort of agree, it started OK, but it dragged on. The style wasn't really for me...i prefer something a bit darker.
Death Of An Ordinary Man by Glen Duncan follows a similar theme, but i enjoyed it more :)
 
I have read this book. I personally loved the story. I would just like to recommend another similar book to those that liked this one. It's called The Mercy of Thin Air by Ronlyn Domingue. :)
 
Warning: Spoilers

I really liked The Lovely Bones but the rape scene upset me a little bit (though it was very well written).
I didn't really like the ending as I thought it was too flimsy, if that makes sense. I did find the whole possession business a bit far fetched. I was able to follow the story and relate it to my own beliefs, but the ending was just a bit odd.

Has anyone read any other Alice Sebold books to recommend?
 
AsherNZ said:
Has anyone read any other Alice Sebold books to recommend?
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I haven't read her latest, but Lucky is a recommended read. It's very graphic and brutal though - it is an account of her rape when she was a college student. Be warned though - it is very brutal.
 
Starting: The lovely bones

Hi :)
I just got The Lovely Bones after begging my parents to take me to borders and get me it. I read up on Wikipedia about it and saw it on the "Saddest book" thread and I wanted to find a good book that messed with my emotions.

So before I start it I thought I might ask for things to pay attention to, or maybe you overlooked a really key part in the book the first time. I'm 15, so I don't really pay attention to themes and such, but I'm excited to read this!
 
The Lovely Bones is a great book!! I cried throughout the book; but every since I had a daughter; books with daughters make me cry.

Alice Sebold has another book out The Almost Moon. That's next on my reading list.
 
tyule said:
The Lovely Bones is a great book!! I cried throughout the book; but every since I had a daughter; books with daughters make me cry.

Alice Sebold has another book out The Almost Moon. That's next on my reading list.
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Tyule I think you make a good point here- I have spoken to many of my friends about this and those that have daughters found it so difficult to get through. I don't have any kids but I cried at the end of almost every chapter! It is so moving and definately worth the tears!

I would also recommend Lucky- as a poster commented above it is extremely graphic but very well-written. I've also read The Almost Moon but couldn't make up my mind about it. It's brutally honest and compelling, but a little disturbing.

Has anybody read this?
 
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