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Search - The Lovely Bones
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Book Description:
When we first meet 14-year-old Susie Salmon, she is already in heaven. This was before milk carton photos and public service announcements, she tells us; back in 1973, when Susie mysteriously disappeared, people still believed these things didn't happen.
In the sweet, untroubled voice of a precocious teenage girl, Susie relates the awful events of her death, and her own adjustment to the strange new place she finds herself. (It looks a lot like her school playground, with the good kind of swingset.)
With love, longing, and a growing understanding, Susie watches her family as they cope with their grief--her father embarks on a search for the killer, her sister undertakes a feat of amazing daring, her little brother builds a fort in her honor--and begin the difficult process of healing.
In the hands of a brilliant new novelist, and through the eyes of her winning young heroine, this story of seemingly unbearable tragedy is transformed into a suspenseful, touching, even funny novel about family, memory, love, heaven, and living.
In the sweet, untroubled voice of a precocious teenage girl, Susie relates the awful events of her death, and her own adjustment to the strange new place she finds herself. (It looks a lot like her school playground, with the good kind of swingset.)
With love, longing, and a growing understanding, Susie watches her family as they cope with their grief--her father embarks on a search for the killer, her sister undertakes a feat of amazing daring, her little brother builds a fort in her honor--and begin the difficult process of healing.
In the hands of a brilliant new novelist, and through the eyes of her winning young heroine, this story of seemingly unbearable tragedy is transformed into a suspenseful, touching, even funny novel about family, memory, love, heaven, and living.
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Other Versions of this Book: Paperback, Hardcover, Audio Cassette (Unabridged), Audio CD
Top Member Reviews
10 member(s) found this review helpful.
This is a great book. It was difficult for me to read, because my sister died at the age of 14. Although she was not raped or murdered, it still gave an eerie perspective of the possibility that she may have watched us dealing with the grief and aftermath of her sudden and tragic death.
If you have lost a loved one at a young age, this is a difficult book, but you won't be able to put it down!
8 member(s) found this review helpful.
This novel requires much suspension of disbelief, as it is written from the perspective of a child who had been brutally murdered, and who is watching what is happening to her family and friends from her own heaven. I couldn't put the book down, I was hooked from the first page.
6 member(s) found this review helpful.
Well, this was different. I almost put it down, because the beginning was just a little too much, but I perservered - perhaps because I forked out the money for a hardcover book (which I rarely do) and I'll have to say that while being somewhat freaky, it was a pretty good read. Her characters were interesting.
Glo G. (
5 member(s) found this review helpful.
Though this story dealt with horrid violence, it may leave the reader feeling a sense of... peace. I'm not sure if peace is the right word, or if there is another word that could define the feeling exactly. Whatever the word, it replaces the anger,the unfairness,the heartache that bubbles up after reading the first couple of chapters. Sebold slowly takes you by the hand and leads you through a tragedy of a young student and how it affects her family and friends. More remarkable, she lets you see it through the victim's eyes and heart. Great book, soon to be a movie in 2009.
Alyssa F. (
5 member(s) found this review helpful.
Written from the view of a dead girl in heaven looking down on her family. I actually read this book while in a Living, Death and Dying class. It was a WONDERFUL book!
4 member(s) found this review helpful.
I could not put this book down!! The kind of book that helps you to appreciate what you have in life.
3 member(s) found this review helpful.
couldn't put it down
3 member(s) found this review helpful.
Found this book to be dark and troubling, even though I usually love mystery novels. Perhaps because it involves a child it was unsettling.
3 member(s) found this review helpful.
Loved it until the last couple of chapters where it got really stupid. The ending seems too easy. Sebold can do better.
Charlie M. wrote on 5/27/2007...
3 member(s) found this review helpful.
Perhaps it was all the hype about the book that made me expect something more from it. I felt it was flat and the characters just didn't seem fully developed. Maybe because it is written from the perspective of a 14 year-old and her lack of maturity colors the way she views her family as she looks at them from heaven.
Rate These Member Reviews
Kitty S. from FRAMINGHAM, MA wrote on 10/20/2008...I had avoided this popular book because I was aware of the story's setup and I didn't think I could handle it. While the crime is disturbing, the book is not about the crime. The Lovely Bones is about life, death, grief, family, the supernatural, love and heaven. It is a memorable book! I'm glad I read it and I look forward to the movie adaptation.
This review is from: The Lovely Bones: A Novel
Alice Sebold has written a remarkable debut novel. The narrator, Susie Salmon, was raped and murdered in 1973 and now resides in her heaven; yet, her voice contains none of the bitterness one would expect. She is able to see into the lives of those who touched her in life and death. At times wistful - for she will never be able to experience growing up - and others matter-of-fact, Susie witnesses the changes and growth within her family and small circle of friends. Her story is not one about death, but about loss and affirming life in its face, about moving on not only for those she left behind but for herself. The reader won't be able to escape the sadness in these pages - I came close to crying several times - but the overall tone is hardly grim. Because Susie is secure and happy in her heaven, she keeps the story full of light and optimism.
Jennifer B. (Very good book. I was very happy to have read this authors book. It was well worth it.
Brenna B. (This is an EXCELLENT book! I don't want to say too much about it without giving the story away, but it makes you think a lot about life, death, and the people in your life. As it says in the liner notes of the summary: "When we first meet Susie Salmon, she is already in heaven. As she looks down from this strange new place, she tells us, in the fresh and spirited voice of a fourteen-year-old girl, a tale that is both haunting and full of hope."
From the inside cover," In the weeks following her death, Susie watches life continue without her-Susie Salmon is a little girl who has been horendously murdered. This is the story of how her family grieves, tries to deal with the violence of her murder, and how Susie looks down from heaven in an effort to assure them that she is not in pain any longer. If you have lost a loved one to violence, it is a reassurring book that helps deal with losses that are so hard to recover from.
Cammie O. (This book is amazing, a heartbreaking story that is beautifully written.
Michelle K. (Very different look on heaven. Sad story and a little weird in parts. This is the story of a murdered 14 year old girl in her own eyes from heaven.
Krystal D. (Very interesting book!
I have never read a book that the main character was already dead. I am a crier and I didn't cry, but still very emotional.