The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
Having experienced a very close friend being murdered, this book hit extremely close to home. Sebold brings out the emotions associated with a life being taken too early in a manner which I have rarely come across in my years of reading. It is a quick book to read, painful at some points, joyous at others. A few parts could have been improved in my opinion, however. The portions about sex were a bit overdone and irrelevant to the story. In addition, the way the murderer dies is extremely unsatisfying, particularly in that it is so clearly foreshadowed earlier in the book. The characters are wonderfully crafted and the story flows nicely, if a bit cliched at times. Overall, a good read and a book that I would certainly recommend.----Puddin
Okay, I just read "The Lovely Bones" for the book club I am in. I
absolutely did not like it. Not just the disturbing aspect that it was
supposed to be the dead girl talking about it but the whole way she died
freaked me out. Personally, I am just not into the whole death thing and the
book really got me down (even the separation of her parents, etc. ) I was on
a trip to france at the time I was reading it and I could not read it on the
plane because I kept thinking if this would happen to me if the plane were to
go down. Yes it was morbid thinking but so was the book----Nicole
It's been a few months since I finished reading "The Lovely Bones" but the thoughts, ideas and emotions the story invoked are still quite fresh... It is a painful story, but it's the only way one would ever want to experience the death of someone close. The characters and their actions are so realistic and believable that you feel you could go next door and hug the family or punch the killer... While I disagree with Susie's final action on earth, (it is contrary to everything the character had said or done up to that point) but truly an intriguing that I highly recommend.----PingPong