I cried, I cried, I cried some more!

The novel is about a young teenage girl who is raped and murdered by her neighbor. She spends the story watching her family from heaven as she narrates, and wishing that she could help them as they all move through separate periods of grief. I know, sounds depressing and awful, right? It's not! It's poetic and beautifully descriptive, and you get sucked right into the story. I would go so far as to say that it's an important book about grieving, but even so, it is a worthwhile read. Wonderful story. I won't be posting my copy, as I can't part with it.

Mesmerizing I could not put this book down. It takes a tradedy and makes into a personal quest of change. A beautiful book.

i have never had such a physical reaction to a book! i had to put the book down after the first chapters. actually felt phsyically ill. but once i was able to pick it back up it was a very unique and touching story. just not for the faint of heart

Reviewed by Cana Rensberger for TeensReadToo.com

THE LOVELY BONES will haunt you. This book tells the story of the most horrific thing a family could ever endure, the murder of a loved one, a child.

The child is 14-year-old Susie Salmon. We see the murder through her eyes, after she is killed. Susie narrates her story from heaven, a place like I'd not before imagined. Her heaven begins as her school playground. Slowly it grows to become more. Susie merely longs for something she misses from earth, and it appears, except, of course, the living. Although she can watch her loved ones, know what they are doing, thinking, and feeling, she cannot be with them, or they with her.

The book begins with the emotional, frightening, and vividly shown homicide. Through Susie's eyes, we understand how he tricked her. We feel her terror as we realize, with her, what's about to happen. Then the scene moves to another, equally heartbreaking moment, three days later when a neighbor's dog finds a body part.

You would think, at this point, that you wouldn't be able to read further, that you'd close the book and never reopen it. But you won't be able to. Like Susie, we want to know her family will be okay. We want to know the killer won't get away with it. The author, Alice Sebold, artfully forces you to read on.

Susie watches her friends whisper about her at school. She watches as her younger sister, Lindsey, hardens to stone. Her four-year-old brother, Buckley, is passed from neighbor to neighbor, having sleepovers, told his sister has just gone away for a bit. She listens to the detective, Len, tell her parents the inevitable, that they are now investigating her disappearance as a murder. Her family slowly begins to crumble and Susie can do nothing to help.

This sounds like a suffocating, depressing book, but as you read you'll feel encouraged as Susie's family begins to move on, never to forget, but to begin to live life without her. Buckley struggles to understand the meaning of forever. Susie's dad becomes obsessed with proving he's not crazy, that he's certain who killed his daughter. Susie's mom handles the stress by hiding from it. And Lindsey, known as the girl whose sister was murdered, strives to find herself again. She searches for love. And she takes a huge risk to help her dad flush out the killer.

The ending is incredibly sweet. Amazing as it may seem, you will feel Susie's joy as she lets go of those she's left behind. For me, the ending wasn't perfect, it left me wanting, but I imagine that was deliberate. Life itself is not perfect. But life has hope. And that's the feeling that will stay with you as you turn the last page. It's a memorable read, not for the faint of heart. Expect to feel. To fear, to cry, and, yes, to laugh. THE LOVELY BONES will touch the very core of your being. Alice Sebold has written beautifully of the ugliest scenario possible. Wow.

"The Lovely Bones" is a beautiful story. Hard to read, heart-wrenching in parts, but well worth it. The emotions it subjects you to are honest and true, and that is a rare thing. I highly recommend it

This is one of my all-time favorite books. I was really moved by this story told by the victim of a rape and murder. It's very well written.

A young victim of murder comments on the lives she left behind on earth from her perch in heaven. Terrifying, sad and uplifting at the same time.

This is a very unusual story of a girl who was murdered, from her point of view. She is in "her heaven", looking down on her family, friends, and even her murderer - watching how each of them deals with her death, and seeing how it affects each person in a very different and special way. It keeps your attention, keeps you wondering how things will or won't resolve themselves in the end. Very good book.

This is one of the best books that I've read in a very long time. It makes you think about the loved ones that you've lost and the little "chill" that you feel so often. I recommend this book to anyone who has lost someone

One of the best books I have ever read. A true picture of human relationships and the meaning of love and commitment. I have this in hard back. I read it every year and cry.

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This book kept my interest throughout the entire book. When a girl is murdered in 1973, she watches her family and friends try to cope from heaven. It is an interesting premise and had at least one major twist that I didn't see coming. I would recommend this book.

* *. Drama. A young girl who is brutally murdered watches from heaven as her family copes with her loss and her unsolved murder and tries to move on.

While the book held my attention, I was often taken out of the story by some far-fetched scenes. From the adult language of the child-narrator, to the mind-reading, the voyeurism (sans curiosity), the "eviction" (you'll understand when you read it), asking all of this seems over-the-top in a novel that wants to be "literate".

This book was hard for me to read as a parent. I enjoyed having it told from Susie's perspective, but would frequently have to stop reading because it was too emotional to continue. I decided to read it after seeing the movie preview, which made it appear to be a murder mystery. The book is much more of an emotional journey into a family's grief. I would recommend it to those who enjoy that type of book, but it's not for traditional murder mystery fans.

It took awhile, but the book did eventually grow on me.

I read this book after it was suggested to me by some co-workers. Honestly, I can say it was an interesting read, but not something that I would classify as a great book. The story of Susie Salmon is told from an interesting point of view, but I don't think I really connected to the characters.

I actually think this is one of the few books that will turn out to make a movie that is actually better than the book.

This book was so morbid and kind of uncomfortable to read at times. I would never read it again. The topic of book though was so horrific. :( It was well written though.

Good book but sad.

Good. Ejoyed it

My name is Salmon, like the fishm first name Susie, I was fouteeen when I was murdered on Dec. 6, 1973. So begins the story of Susie Salmon, who is adjusting to her new home in heaven, a place that is not at all what she expected, even as she is watching life on earth continue without her-her friends trading rumors about her disappearance, her killer trying to cover his tracks, her grief-stricken family unraveling. Out of unspeakable tragedy and loss the Lovely Bones succeeds, miraculously, in buidling a tale filled with hope, humor, suspense , even joy.

My name was Salmon,like the fish: first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973. "So begins the story of Susie Salmon, who is adjusting to her new home in heaven, a place that is not at all what she expected, even as she is watching life on earth continue without her-her friends trading rumors about her disappearance, her killer trying to cover his tracks, her grief-stricken family unraveling. Out of unspeakable tragedy and loss, The Lovely Bones succeeds, miraculously, in building a tale filled with hope, humor, suspense, even joy.

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