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Alice Sebold: The Lovely Bones *spoilers*

I know it's a cliché to say this, but The Lovely Bones is a lovely novel, and it portrays human emotion very well. It's an enticing story to begin with, and its nonchalance regarding heaven in terms of religion is widely commendable to me. I went in having been told by many that it was great, and I understand why people would feel that way. I don't know if the more "elitist" or "avid" readers dislike it to be nonconformists or if they genuinely thought it was poor. In any event, it's nice to see so many people who have read it. I love novels that become big deals or "must-reads".

The film is coming out in December of this year. Two weeks ago, the first batch of photos leaked:

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I love the look of "heaven" so far.
 
Nice pics, but still unconvinced. But, responding to you curiosity: Avid reader yes. Not nonconformist just to be nonconformist, no. Genuinely don't care for the topic. I think you can see my views way up above. :flowers:
 
Unconvinced about the film? Why so? I think Peter Jackson is a fabulous director, and the cast looks pretty promising. Then again, we have nothing to really judge (not even a trailer) so I guess it's hard to form an opinion in the first place.

That's fair, then. It seemed like so many of those who disliked it only did so to hold an unpopular opinion. That seems to happen for a lot of books (I remember it for To Kill a Mockingbird, personally), not to mention movies and definitely music.
 
I was assuming the film tells the same story as the book. If not, then of course there is nothing to go on. And, believe me, I am not on a mission to be unpopular around here.
 
This book was recommended to me by a friend, and I loved it. I found that I couldn't put it down. I love the style of writing, and the overall idea for the book.
 
the lovely bones

Oh I Loved this book, but I thought it was very sad. Believe it or not, the first night I had read this one I had nightmares and that was a first lol. Ususally books do not give me nightmares. I guess it is sad because of the subject matter, these things happen everyday, I mean with people getting murderd and all. Overall though, I enjoyed this book. :)
 
me-me said:
Oh I Loved this book, but I thought it was very sad. Believe it or not, the first night I had read this one I had nightmares and that was a first lol. Ususally books do not give me nightmares. I guess it is sad because of the subject matter, these things happen everyday, I mean with people getting murderd and all. Overall though, I enjoyed this book. :)
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I agree completely! I too was plagued with nightmares during the first part of the book. And I completely believe that it's because in my heart I know that things like this happen all the time. Which is sad, and heartbreaking.
 
The Lovely Bones was one of those books that I had some interest in reading, but always had an excuse for not deciding to take the plunge. Lately I saw a copy at the library and just went for it. Glad I did as the book was great. I enjoyed Sebold's portrayal of heaven and her examination of how Susie's family members and friends coped with her passing.

The concluding chapters, however, weren't up to par with the preceding material. I think it was the drastic leap ahead in time that put me off. The very end itself was fitting and the controversial sex scene didn't annoy me as much as I expected it to.
 
I also like how she put a small twist in the book with the sex scene. It almost reminds u of that movie ghost in the one part where he was in the psychic's body and was able to communicate for a limited time to his widowed wife.
 
I just finished reading this book, and must admit to being disappointed with it after hearing such praise from by co-worker about it. *Beware, here be spoilers!*

I found (and continued to find) the author's random leaps back and forth through the modern time, the flashbacks, and the brief heaven scenes very irritating. The way she's talking about one thing in a paragraph, only to suddenly change scenes and POVs in the next paragraph without any sort of page break to indicate the switch made it a bit confusing to read. I think I found it more annoying than I normally would have because she didn't always do this, and would occasionally use a page break here or there...yet, couldn't be bothered to keep up with it throughout the novel.

I also found the way the kids to be written (ages 5, 13, and 14 at the start of the book) to be inconsistent. One minute, one of the children would talk their age, and a page later they would say/do something that felt unusual and too grown up for them. But, then again, this book features 13/14 year olds having sex like that's perfectly normal for children their age to be doing (I'm sad to say that this does happen now, but back in the 70s? ).

The police investigation seemed weak/half-assed to me too...

Am I really supposed to believe that while looking into Mr. Harvey, the cops simply assume that he's a swell guy because he's overly cooperative, and they don't find his suggestion of Susie being murdered in an underground room at the cornfield the least bit suspicious? I'm supposed to believe that they never ask around about him doing anything that could seem suspicious when considering what they think they know happened to Suzie, and it's never brought up that he went to the local sinkhole and dumped a locked safe (or whatever it was) into it? You know, something big enough to hold a little girl's body?

No one looks into that?

And then there's the bit near the end, when the book really started disappointing me, when Suzie randomly "falls from Heaven" and possesses Ruth's body.

She seriously ignores the fact that she's pretty much standing right where her body is buried...and instead of using her time wisely to make that known to the police, also informing them that the killer's back in town, she decides that her time is better spent getting banged by the boy she had a crush on when she was alive?

Who cares about catching her killer, and uncovering her body to give her broken family some closure, sex is WAY more important!

I'm sorry, that pretty much killed the book for me right there.

I had forgiven the flaws mentioned above, until that particular bit reared it's ugly head...and everything after that seemed pretty lacking and rushed.

Abigale, the mother who abandons her family for nearly 10 years, is pretty much forgiven by the final few sentences. Mr. Harvey gets his butt handed to him by karma, but we never learn if the family learns of his death...and the closure that would come with that. And everyone sloppily lives happily ever after.

I don't know, it just disappointed me. However, I still liked it and felt it was very moving despite my issues with it. A little more effort on the author's part, especially with those final chapters, and I really do think it could have been a more worthy book.


:star3:
 
I meant to rate the book :star2:, for some reason I couldn't get back in to fix my original post...which is why I've double-posted.
 
Lovely bones?

Would anybody recomened this book? i have heard many people say it was a great book and others say it isnt worth a minute on it? What do you all think?

thanks

Jayne :D
 
The Lovely Bones was our February BOTM. In that thread you'll find lots of opinions about it.

Personally I recomend it. I enjoyed it very much, it was different from anything I have ever read.
 
Now its a bit of girly book and Im a rugby type bloke but I very much enjoyed it. It was a while ago and I remember feeling a bit dissapointed about the way you find out who the murderer was, but a good book all the same
 
You'll see my opinions in the thread that Landslide linked to.

Not terrible.. I wouldn't not recommend it, but don't go out of your way, haha. It would be a perfect airplane book. Easy to read.
 
YUCK!! It was so not good!! I hated every minute of it. I could not even finish it. But I also heard really good things about it. I guess it depends on what kinds of books you like.
 
Yesterday I finished this book, I was unsure about it. First start I enjoyed but at the end of the book I hoped it isn't turn out I want.
 
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