Observation
The Lovely Bones was a book that was different from my norm, but interestingly so. The story relates to the child murder of Susie Salmon, and how from beyond the grave she watches how her family and friends come to terms with her death, and also how the murderer still lives amongst them.

n   “My name was Salmon, like the fish: first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.
…
I was killed by Mr. Botte, by the way.”n

While we are dealing with a child murder, the fact that Susie narrates throughout the story means that it has a supernatural flavour. After the initial horrific coverage of Susie’s rape and murder, the pace changes and with Susie narrating the full force of her death subsides. The loss is not so tangible as she continues to engage with us.

Susie watches, frustrated and saddened that she can’t call out to her family or direct them or warn them as they continue to encounter the murderer, and how he/she continues to stalk menacingly within the neighbourhood. Susie watches as her family pull themselves apart particularly her mother and father as they each deal with the loss totally differently. The mix of emotions is cleverly portrayed from loss to guilt, from sadness to anger, and always with the torment of Susie’s death being unresolved and her body undiscovered. The characters are well developed and continue to evolve along with their various relationships. The relationship between Susie’s school crush, Ray, and a girl Ruth, who seems to have a sense of the supernatural is wonderfully developed. Ray unfortunately due to his closeness with Susie had to endure the initial suspicion and a cloud that he probably finds difficult to shift.

This was Alice Sebold’s debut novel and I feel it still remains her best.

در بهترین حالت با اثر متوسطی روبه رو هستیم که به هیچ وجه تکلیفش با خودش مشخص نیست. نه میتواند یک درام روان شناسانه ی قانع کننده باشد و نه یک داستان جنایی سرگرم کننده. نه میتواند صرفا یک محصول تینیجری باشد و نه یک اثر فمنیستی الهام بخش. در هر کدام از حالت ها به شدت متوسط و خسته کننده و پر از اشکال است. داستانش بسیار تلاش می کند تا با احساسات شما بازی کند و حس همدردیتان را بر انگیزد. چیزی که عملا در من اتفاق نیوفتاد

این کتاب جزو همان داستان هایی است که سعی میکند به نسل های جوانتر جوامع غربی مدل فکری افراطی فمنیستی را القا کند. چیزی که نه در قالب تعاریف ساده ی جنبش های فمنیستی میگنجد و نه به چنان سطح اعتباری میرسد که سیاه نمایی هایش را قابل باور کند. در این داستان مردان همگی قاتل و متجاوز و غیرقابل تحمل اند. در عوض زنان همیشه مورد ظلم شوهرانشان قرار میگیرند. توسط شوهرانشان در خانه زندانی می شوند و وظیفه ی طاقت فرسای مادر بودن بر آنها تحمیل میشود. به صورتی که در میانسالی وقتی به آرزوهای جوانی خود فکر میکنند همه را از دست رفته می بینند. بنابراین کاملا حق دارند اگر تصمیم بگیرند که همه اینها را بگذارند و خانواده خود را ترک کنند و به دنبال آرزوهایشان بروند

در یک جایی از داستان، یکی از شخصیت های زن، در خیابان ها و کوچه های نیویورک قدم میزند و روح زنان و دخترانی را میبیند که به قتل رسیده اند یا آزار دیده اند. در هر کوچه و برزن! بدون استثنا

اما درنهایت قسمت عرفانی داستان هم به دل نمینشیند. ایده ی اینکه همه تقریبا به بهشت میروند و اینکه با یک بهشت واحد برای تمام آدم ها روبه رو نیستیم، بیشتر از اینکه زیبا به نظر برسد غیر منطقی و شعارزده است

برای همین خواندن این کتاب را به کسی توصیه نمیکنم. با نخواندش هیچ چیزی را از دست نمیدهید. من هم اگر نمیفهمیدم که پیتر جکسون از روی این کتاب فیلمی ساخته، هیچوقت سراغش نمیرفتم

Actual Stars 4.5 rounded up

“His devotion to me had made me know again and again that I had been beloved. In the warm light of my father’s love I had remained Susie Salmon—a girl with my whole life in front of me.”

Susie Salmon was taken away from her family at the early age of 14 in the year 1973. Her family includes her hard working father, stay at home mother, younger sister Lindsey and her brother Buckley who was just a toddler at the time. And last but not least Susie’s very unique Grandma Lynn that is inebriated almost all the time.

Susie was murdered by someone in their neighborhood, someone who the community would never suspect. Someone who stayed under the radar to appear as ordinary as possible so that he would never even cross anyones thoughts. But Susie’s dad figures it out and even though there is no proof, he knows in his heart who was responsible for his little girls early demise and he will do everything in his power to make sure he is suspect number one.



What follows is a chronicle of how each of the family members and select miscellaneous few deal with the death of Susie. And what her murder does to the family and the town as a whole. From the very beginning when she first goes missing to years later when the Salmon children are all grown up.

Unbeknownst to Susie’s loved ones her journey continues as she watches them day after day year after year in her tailor made heaven. Watching her family and friends at first struggle to live with out her but then moving on with life. She watches their struggles, their joy, their failures and achievements all while remaining in her forever young form.



Seriously people…get ready to sob your eyes out! I could not be far from my tissue box for most of this book. Even the parts that are not sad require tissue. That’s how emotional this book is.



I felt like I was peering into the actual lives of a family/community who had lost a loved one. AS’s writing is very realistic. Well except for Susie’s spirit watching down on everyone of course. Not once was I bored with this extraordinary book. And I have to be honest that is getting harder to do nowadays. I find myself getting bored only after a couple of chapters of whatever book I’m reading, needing to break it up with something. But I was completely engrossed with this beautifully prosed book.

The vast difference in all of the characters I think held one of the biggest appeals for me. Each person is unique and different from one another. They have their own emotions and thoughts. I couldn’t help but fall in love with all of them (excluding the murderer). I even liked Abigail Salmon, Susie’s mother who made some questionable choices. But her choices were utterly human. If I had to pick a favorite it had to be Susie’s dad or Gma Lynn. Susie’s dad because he never gave up his conviction of who he thought hurt his child and he kept her fiercely alive in spirit. Grandma Lynn was a pretty self indulgent person in the beginning, who definitely knew her way around the liquor cabinet. But she was a quite a likable character. And when The Salmons were complacent in their grief and needed help she gave up her home and put her family first to take on the caregiver role and really help turn the family around.



Even though the book is about a murder it wasn’t all that graphic except for the first (maybe first couple) chapter(s). That was when it was hardest to read. In fact I was eating while reading the beginning and I almost lost my lunch. Not because it’s graphic or grizzly, just imagining it happen really got to me.

I only have one complaint. The ending! It wasn’t bad at all I just wanted more. And I think those of you who have read it will understand.

If you are looking for an all consuming, emotional, well written, contemporary book, The Lovely Bones is perfect. Just make sure to put on the waterproof mascara and have your tissue handy for the snot fest to begin.

I just didn't enjoy it at all
It was very sad sure but the plot didn't make much sense at some points and generally speaking it wasn't enjoyable, like i can't even remember one single thing i liked about this book ...

In a nutshell: overrated; questionable characterisation; breathtakingly ridiculous ending.

The Lovely Bones is a story about a murdered teenage girl, told from the point of view of said girl - Susie Salmon - as she watches over her loved ones from heaven. So, obviously, it's constantly trying to pull at the heartstrings from page one. In this, it occasionally succeeds - while much of it is a little too schmaltzy, there are some genuinely touching moments too. Given the book's ubiquity and popularity, I thought it might be really trashy, but it in fact the writing isn't that bad, despite the over-enthusiastic use of metaphors and similes. The narrative paints a believable picture of a family falling apart after the loss of a child, and the glimpses of Susie's heaven are intriguing, if disappointingly brief (I wish this element had been explored further).

However, I had issues with a lot of the characters. Ray and Ruth, for example. Would two teenagers - one a boy who'd kissed Susie once, one a girl who'd barely spoken to her - really find it so hard to forget her and move on, for so many years afterwards? Though the narrative doesn't detail everything that happens to them, it's implied that Ray in particular (despite apparently being incredibly attractive) never has any kind of romantic involvement with another girl as a result of his continuing preoccupation with the memory of Susie. How convenient, since she's 'watching over' him and the reader is almost encouraged to see him as 'belonging' to her. Similarly, the actions of some of Susie's family (particularly her mother) are difficult to understand. I can well believe that the murder of one daughter would lead a mother to become depressed, alienated from her husband and other children, and ultimately to desert her remaining family - but nothing Abigail does, apart from a cursory affair with one of the policemen investigating Susie's death, is actually explained from her point of view. When she leaves her family, the decision just seems completely baffling - it's one of those 'hang on a minute, what?!' moments because you just don't get inside Abigail's head enough to understand her private motivations.

Sebold makes some attempts to flesh out and humanise Mr. Harvey, Susie's murderer, detailing his efforts to restrain himself from committing his crimes; for example, killing neighbourhood pets in a vain attempt to restrain his appetite for attacking young girls. (The ghostly Susie can, it seems, read minds and know every detail of past events she wasn't involved in; again, very convenient, and there's no explanation of how she comes to realise she has this 'power', or how she masters it.) However, the character is such a cliché in the first place (creepy loner, obsessed with his mother, has weird hobbies) that in the end he seems like neither a monster nor a believable human being, but just a strangely indistinct and nondescript character given that he's a serial killer. It's also very frustrating that he's never caught or given his comeuppance.

Finally, there's the ending. What to say about the ending?! If you've read the book (unless you loved it, of course), you'll probably know what I mean. If you haven't, all I'll say is that something happens that's so utterly ludicrous that deus ex machina doesn't even begin to cover it. Not only that, but the apparent message of this conclusion, and the moral implications for the (living) characters involved, are extremely dubious at best. Having wavered between thinking this book was kind-of-good and kind-of-bad throughout, the ending pushed my opinion firmly into the negative category and ruined many of the positives for me. Sorry to say it, but this is the kind of book that people who normally read nothing but chick-lit will find really PROFOUND and MOVING, which I'd imagine is why it sold so many copies. If you don't fit that description, I think it's best avoided. Have a look at the top-rated reviews on Goodreads; they're predominantly negative, and I agree with a lot of what they say.

آن چنان خفن نبود. شروع خوبی داشت که کم کم به بی مایگی و "خب که چی"های متعدد توی ذهنم رسید!
پتانسیل اینو داشت که فوق العاده بهتر باشه.
تنها نکته جالبی که منو به فکر انداخت، وابستگی‌های ما روی زمینه. جدا از اعتقاد به روح یا زندگی پس از مرگ، این سوال واسم پیش اومد که اگر همین لحظه بمیرم، چه وابستگی‌هایی دارم اینجا؟
از چه چیزهایی نمیتونم دل بکنم؟
و سوالی که شاید مسخره باشه اما؛ آیا قراره بعد از مرگ هم روحم، کالبد جدیدم یا هر اسمی که داره، به این چیزا وابسته بمونه؟ قراره اون موقع هم عاشق کتابخونم و نقاشی‌ها و مدادرنگیام باشم؟
اگر بله، چطور رها بشم؟ و اگر نه پس اونجا چه خبره؟
کسی میدونه؟! :)

The glowing reviews made me want to read this novel. The initial idea is original since the narrator is a young girl who died of rape and murder. She walks among the living like a ghost. Teenage concerns. How can the family mourn without a body found? I expected a little more on the investigation, which is not very present and poorly carried out on this serial killer. Promising and disappointing.

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...

This is definitely one of my all time favorite books. I read it from start to finish in one sitting. It seems as though it's one of those love it or hate it books. I read it back before all of the hype so I don't think I was overly influenced by what anyone else thought.

The story begins with fourteen-year-old Suzie Salmon's violent death at the hands of a neighborhood man George Harvey. Suzie narrates her story from her heaven. She watches as her family struggles after her death trying to cope with the loss. Without closure and losing hope her parents struggle with their relationship as well as their relationship with their two remaining children.

All of the characters are really well written. We watch as her parents, siblings, teachers etc. grieve in many different ways.
Susie herself is a truly unique narrator and remains detached from the events she is describing but very watchful of the loved ones she has left behind.

I felt that the story was told very gently and compassionately and I was invested in both what was happening to Susie and her family. Although a very sad story and at times difficult to read there is also times of hope, humour and love.

An intriguing story with many memorable characters with an excellent plot. Susie's Heaven is such a unique and interesting place. A mesmerizing read that I highly recommend.

The novel opens with the brutal rape and murder of 14 year old Susie Salmon, the story follows young Susie looking down on how this tragic has affected her family whilst also hoping for justice.

Whilst the subject matter is though, Sebold really captures the teenagers outlook that helps draw the reader in.

Knowing who committed the crime from the outset also makes it frustrating in the way that the police are handling the crime.

This has been on my shelf for a while, thanks to the lockdown I can finally see why it's so often spoken about.

یکی دو فصل اول کتاب، با یه شروع طوفانی، نوید کتابی فوق‌العاده رو می‌داد ولی کمتر کتابی می‌تونست آدم رو تا این حد با هر فصل ناامید و ناامیدتر کنه!
داستان در مورد دختریه که بهش تجاوز می‌شه و به قتل می‌رسه و بعد از بهشت خودش، نظاره‌گر زندگی روتین خانواده‌شه.
مهم‌ترین ایرادهای کتاب از دید من شخصیت‌پردازی متوسط، کش دادن خیلی زیاد، نداشتن حرف خاصی برای گفتن و پایان‌بندی مسخره بود.
شروعی قوی و ادامه‌ای کسالت‌بار، نظرم در مورد این کتاب به طور خلاصه ست!

⭐️4/5 stars ⭐️

"I was 14 when I was killed on December 6, 1973. The photos of the missing girls in the seventies newspapers were more like me. White girls with dark brown hair. "
***
the novel begings with these sentences. quoted from Susie Salmon who is a loop of a chain of murder. The current resident of Heaven. She looks at the earth from there. Sometimes she comes down to the ground & moves to a body....& sometimes narrates whats happen there. The mentioned novel is funny, allegro, rough, astounding and incredibly sad story.
The story has strange paradox: the expressive & innocent text, plus the cruel and rude subject which I was deeply impressed by it.
One of the most beautiful part of the book is a description about paradise which maybe has a huge different from our mental imagination of it, involves an insinuative expectation for poetry.
Susie`s paradise is made up of all things which she loved and didnt achieve them in the world.
Something that strikes me, happens at the end of the story; Susie immerses in the body of a girl who always thinks about her and experience a bond with her lover.
It´s interesting to me: Alice Zibold, author of lovely bones has been beaten and raped at the 18 years old; Suise semen, the narrator of lovely bones is raped and murdered at the age of 14 too.
I´ve lost two of very important people in my life and I always feel they look at me & are with me wherever i´m going. This impression got more strong when I read Lovely Bones.
I would also like to see the movie The Lovely Bones .