Well that wasn't a happy happy good time...

The Lovely Bones is going to be difficult to review without spoilers, so if you haven't read it yet I'm gonna have to go ahead and ask you to leave, m'kay?

Why am I not surprised to learn that Alice Sebold was raped at a young age? Because only someone who'd been through something as horrific as that would write a book like this. I'm not just talking about the subject matter, but rather the tone. Everything about this book is a victim's silent scream. Suzie, the dad, the surviving kids...it seems like everyone has someone taken from them. Maybe even the mom. I mean after all, the life she wished to lead was raped from her after she had the chance to lead it.

Honestly, I thought this was going to be even more depressing than it turned out to be. There's an unexpected hopeful strain through out, a nice pairing with some of Sebold's better writing.

On the other hand, some of her writing is irritating. Most notably were the many instances in which she attempts to utilize suspense writer techniques. As readers we are expecting a divulgence of information regarding the focal murder of the story. So, it's a big old tease when Sebold abruptly states "I saw him." Many times out of the blue she starts a new paragraph or section with just such a line and then goes on to talk about the family dog or some other nonsense. It's bullshit.

Overall though, this isn't bad. At times I enjoyed this look (maybe not the POV from which the story's told) at the after affects of a young girl's mysterious murder. The grieving period for family and friends, and the various paths each of them takes, is portrayed with authenticity. Some grieve harder than others. This isn't a murder mystery, this is real life. It's not always interesting or entertaining. Sometimes it's just sad and thought provoking.

So yes, I did like The Lovely Bones, but as for my tepid 3-star rating, all I can say is, Oprah lied. She told millions to read this and their perseverance upon that endeavor eventually got me to do the same. I read it. I was not Oprah-amazed. Why blame her? Because if she hadn't kicked it all off with her recommendation, I never would've read this. It's just not in my wheelhouse. Thus, I never would've had the opportunity to give this a lower rating. So, if you feel 3 stars is too low, blame Oprah.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold is the story of Susie Salmon, a teenage girl who's murdered by her rapist, George Harvey, and how then her family copes up with the trauma while she watches over them from purgatory.
At the start of the story Susie is brutally raped and murdered by her eccentric middle-aged neighbor, George Harvey, who then chops her body and dumps her bones down a sinkhole. It will never be found or so the killer thinks, but for a single bone from her elbow that's picked up by a dog from the neighborhood. The crime scene is zeroed in on a cornfield that's adjoining Susie's High School and while the police suspect and question everyone in the neighborhood, including Ray Singh who has a crush on Susie and has written a love letter to her, they somehow, never suspect George Harvey. Turns out that the latter is a serial killer and after suffering a traumatic childhood, fell into the habit of raping his victims and killing them in the most gruesome of ways.
The trauma of it all takes away simple joys of life from Susie's family. They stop enjoying together as a family. Susie's mother and father grow apart, her kid brother grows mature overnight and her sister, Lindsey wears a thick shield around her at all times so no one can sympathize with her for the loss. Susie's friend, Ruth is the only one who can feel Susie's presence around her. And that's where the story transcends human barriers for Susie would soon get into Ruth's body to fulfill that one wish that she's nursed ever since she died.
So, will George Harvey ever be caught? Will her family ever get over her loss? Will she finally be at peace in her death?
The Lovely Bones is a beautiful story. There could have been much drama, but that's been avoided for the best. The narrative isn't forced. There are no attempts by the author to give a chance to Susie's spirit for retribution, which would be so natural to expect. Overall, it's a very good read and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold

The Lovely Bones is a 2002 novel by American writer Alice Sebold. It is the story of a teenage girl who, after being raped and murdered, watches from her personal Heaven as her family and friends struggle to move on with their lives while she comes to terms with her own death.

On December 6, 1973, 14-year-old Susie Salmon takes her usual shortcut home from her school through a cornfield in Norristown, Pennsylvania.

George Harvey, her 36-year-old neighbor, a bachelor who builds doll houses for a living, persuades her to look at an underground kid's hideout he constructed in the field.

Once she enters, he rapes and murders her, then dismembers her body and puts her remains in a safe that he dumps in a sinkhole, along with throwing her charm bracelet into a pond.

Susie's spirit flees toward her personal Heaven, and in doing so, rushes past her classmate, social outcast Ruth Connors, who can see Susie's ghostly spirit. ...

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز سی ام اکتبر سال 2003میلادی

عنوان: استخوانهای دوست داشتنی؛ اثر: آلیس سبالد (سیبالد)؛ مترجم: فریدون قاضی نژاد؛ تهران، روزگار، 1382، در 495ص، شابک9643740285؛ چاپ دوم 1383، چاپ چهارم 1384؛ چاپ پنجم 1386؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان ایالات آمریکا سده 21م

عنوان: استخوانهای دوست داشتنی؛ اثر: آلیس سیبالد؛ مترجم: میترا معتضد؛ تهران، البرز، 1382، در 435ص، شابک 9644423682؛

عنوان: استخوانهای دوست داشتنی؛ اثر: آلیس سیبالد؛ مترجم: فریده اشرفی؛ تهران، مروارید، 1383، در 421ص، شابک 9645881536؛

قهرمان داستان، دختری چهارده ساله، به‌ نام «سوزی» است؛ او پس از آنکه از سوی «جرج هاروی»، مورد تجاوز قرار گرفته، و به قتل می‌رسد، با زبانی کودکانه، و جذاب، رویدادهای پس از مرگ خویش را، روایت می‌کند؛ لحن کودکانه ی «سوزی»، با گذشت سال‌ها، همچنان کودکانه می‌ماند، و این روح، به روایت ماجراهایی می‌پردازد، که در طول ده سال، پیرامون والدین، دوستان، پلیس، و حتی قاتلش، رخ می‌دهد؛ راوی همچنین توصیفی ساده و صمیمی، از بهشتی که در آن مستقر شده، ارائه می‌دهد؛ و ...؛

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 14/06/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 17/05/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

I would never have read this if it weren't for my bookclub. Having avoided it since it came out, I had very low expectations and so was surprised to be engrossed in the story - untill, about half-way through, it seemed to lose the plot and meandered around aimlessly, getting repetitive as it tried to wring emotion out of its characters, and me.

Susie Salmon is dead. She begins her story by describing how she is murdered, and her family's reaction. From her place in heaven, she can watch anyone she wants to, but apart from "touching" Ruth, a fellow 14-year-old student at her school, on her way out, she can't make her presence felt. Ruth becomes a little obsessed with Susie, and starts to see and feel dead people, keeping a record of them in her diary. Susie's mum uses her daughter's death as a trigger to leave her family and try to recapture her youth. She is constantly described as a woman who never wanted to be a mother. Susie's dad takes her death particularly bad, and focuses on his two other children, Lindsey and Buckley.

Susie watches from heaven as her family grows older, watches as Lindsey goes from first kiss to accepting a marriage proposal, watches her murderer, Mr Harvey, a serial killer who is [spoiler alert!:] never caught, and, at the end of the book, possesses Ruth's body so she can lose her viginity to the only boy she ever kissed.

The Lovely Bones is fairly ambitious, and although it manages to keep from slipping into sentimental indulgence, it also lacks drive, and misses many opportunities to really delve into some interesting and important issues. Some devices were a bit cheesy, and seemed like avoidance. I guess I, like most people, would have been more satisfied if Mr Harvey had been caught, but that's not necessarily realistic either. The main reason why I struggled to finish it and why I give it only 2 stars is that the second half has nowhere to go, it loses its immediacy as the years go by and people start moving on, letting go of Susie, whose body was never found either. The characters started to annoy me - I wanted to be sympathetic, even of the mother, who, in a way, has the hardest time of all, but they began to get cliched.

That said, there are some nice descriptions, Susie's voice is apt, there's a great sense of time (she's killed in the 70s) without being too obvious, and even if you only read the first half, it's well written and gripping before it becomes tedious.

December 6, 1973 marks the date of a brutal murder, back in a time when people believed things like that didn't happen.

Susie Salmon (like the fish), 14 years of age, murdered on her way home from school, is watching from her place in heaven. Watching the devastation her death causes to those she loved and cared about.

This is a re-read for me, many years ago I first read The Lovely Bones and it was a book that stayed with me the first time, the second time around it stills provides those same feelings more or less.
There is so much I could say and yet so little I want too. Sebold touches on subjects like grief, love, justice and revenge, letting go.

I did grab for the tissues many times, and found myself asking the tough questions if I was a parent would I do this or that... while I do overall love this book, the storyline towards the end of the book was a little stretching to believe or understand how it really does fit in with the book, but it doesn't ruin the complete experience for me.

Basically I still love this book...

I read this book after watching the movie because it was the first time I heard about it.

First, I have to say that I liked the movie very much and I've seen it several times. The scenes from In-Between are one of my all-time favourites. And the moment when Susie's father destroys the ships in bottles is just the best; it keeps popping on my Youtube because I just watched so many times. So, if I go a couple of moths without watching it, Youtube is like: "Here, watch it."

Usually, I'm not much of an audiobook gal, but if there is a version which was narrated by Saoirse Ronan, I'm gonna listen to it!

My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.

Anyway, why am I talking about a movie here, right? Because I saw it first, I did not compare it with the book, and I believe if I knew the book previous to watching the movie, I would see it in a different light.
However, right now, I see them as two separate entities, there is a movie I enjoy, and a book which is fantastic and both have the power to break my heart.

“And I was gone.”


It's very hard to describe this book without spoiling much. All I'm going to say that even reading quotes gives me the "tension" feeling in my jaw, which I usually have right before I'm about to cry. It just breaks my heart. Because of Susie. Because of the real Susies who go through the same thing she did. Because of their families. And because Georges Harveys exist in the real world.

“The living deserve attention, too.”


But I have to say that this book is right up my alley, I enjoy books when people die and get a chance to relive their last day to make things right, where they are still there and watch their families. It might not be for everyone — definitely something to consider before picking up this book.

کتاب در مورد دختری ۱۴ ساله به نام سوزی هست که توسط همسایه‌شان مورد تجاوز قرار می‌گیره و به قتل می‌رسه، حالا خود سوزی روایت‌گره همه چیزه، کتاب تم جنایی داره.
.
برای من چندان جالب نبود.
.
برنده‌ی جایزه‌ی ملی کتاب انگلستان سال ۲۰۰۴
جزء لیست پرفروش‌های نيويورک تایمز
برنده‌ی جایزه‌ی برام استوکر سال ۲۰۰۲
فیلم اقتباسی این کتاب هم در سال ۲۰۰۹ به کارگردانی پیتر جکسون ساخته شده.

The fictional story of the Lovely Bones was really sad, but intriguing at the same time.The book was about a girl named Susie,she was 14 years old and had a wonderful loving family who cared deeply about each other.She was loved by many.One day as Susie was walking across the field from school she was stopped by a man who would destroy her life and the lives of everyone that loved her.He not only ruined her life forever,but her family and friends will never be the same.What he did was so disgusting and unforgivable.For goodness sakes he murdered a young,innocent girl who had many great things to accomplish in her life ahead.
What this man,Mr.Harvey did,was he built an underground room.He would sit down there in his room and mastermind plans to murder young women.What he did to Suzie was he stopped her in the field and asked her if she wanted to see his room.Of course her being as naïve as she was she accepted his offer and went down there not knowing her own fate.Down in that room he raped her then murdered her,put her in a garbage bag and dragged her to his house.He left her body in the bag for many weeks while her blood seeped through the bag onto his garage floor.He later put the body into a safe and took it to the junk yard.At first nobody knew who murdered this young girl.The only evidence was a hat that she had on,and the only bone of hers forgotten in the field,her elbow.
After Susie’s death her family began to separate from each other.Her parents lost their love for one another.Her younger sister who was 12 at the time began to push away from her family and became very quiet and alone.Her little brother Bucky being 4 years old did not really understand what happened,but as he grew up he began to branch out from his family and be much more to himself.He was not the same little boy he once was.Their mom left her family for the detective.This did not help the family at all.
Throughout the duration of the novel there was a continuous theme.The theme was that you have to be strong and move on.You can never give up,you have to keep pushing on even in the roughest times.Throughout the story there was one profound tone.That tone was very melancholy.The whole story was sad and very hard to imagine things like that really happen in real life.There was a lot of internal conflict within the characters in this book.Susie’s father was very emotionally drained.He had a very strong suspicion that Mr.Harvey was the killer.Even when nobody believed him he never stopped believing that.Susie’s mother was giving up on her family.She was burned out,sad,and lost.Lindsay began to think that she was all alone in this crazy world and nobody loved her.Bucky isn’t the outgoing little boy he once was.He used to be a wild and an exciting boy.After her death he sat in his box in the backyard and talked to himself.In this novel the Lovely Bones there was a lot of foreshadowing.Like in the beginning Alice Sebold mentions how Mr.Harvey is planning on building this underground room.She explains how he is a bit strange and how nobody in the neighborhood really trusts him and they don’t know much about him.This got my mind running,thinking that he may be a sexual predator and preys on children.Also she mentions the eye connection between Susie’s mother and Len,the detective. This made me see that there was an instant relationship building up.As a result their mother left her family for this man. t
The story the Lovely Bones was one that I really liked. I liked how the author gave insights to what Susie was feeling,and witnessing while she watched everyone she left behind on Earth. She gave the perspective from Susie from Heaven. What I really didn’t like about the novel is how she skipped back and forth from different perspectives of the characters so quickly without finishing their thoughts or elaborating on their opinions. I would most definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes mysteries.

After hearing all the hype about this book, I couldn't wait to read it and discover how amazing it is for myself. I was greatly disappointed.

How has this book become such a worldwide success? It's slow, boring and there is no real connection with any of the characters. I found myself disliking everyone in the book.
The overall idea could have been very good, even though it isn't exactly original, but I just thought the author didn't make the most of this great idea that she had. The best part of the book, without meaning to sound gruesome and morbid, was the death scene at the beginning. I admit that it was creepy and well told, I read that and geared myself up for a good book. But for me, it was as if the story ended there and the rest was a load of slow-moving waffle. The great idea had come along, happened for a while, and then died a painful death with the protagonist. The characters weren't interesting enough to hold up the rest of the story, I was just relieved when I finally got to the end. It was a painfully boring book... and I've lost count of the times people have told me how much they love it - why? Did I miss something? I honestly feel like I've read a completely different book from everyone else... I do not understand it's popularity at all.

Update:
Watched the movie and it wasn't as intense with the feels for me.

Original Review:
Sad and sweet at the same time. Lots of feels can be found in these pages.

The writing wasn’t the best in this one. I read a one star review where some really bad metaphors were mentioned. I still felt emotional while reading it however, and it was original. It was a bit drawn-out though.

When I picked this book up from the library quite many years ago even before it was even made into a movie, I had no clue as to what this book will be about. I thought, it may well be about a story of a girl who is all skin and bones but who is very lovely and thus, the title. But again, as many books do to me, it proved me wrong. This book is certainly not a lovely story for what is lovely about a murder story? What is lovely though is the way the heroine (even if she was no longer alive) solved the mystery of her life and death.