به حدی خسته‌کننده بود برای من که نه میدونم چرا تا اخر رفتم و نه میدونم چرا دو امتیاز دادم!!

I put off reading this story for a long time because I knew it would be a tear jerker. It was sad for sure in parts, but not as emotional as I thought it would be. The beginning started out good, the middle sort of lost me for a bit.....part of the ending was odd and I'm still not quite sure I liked it. It's tried to leave me in a good place but I'm not sure if its succeeded.

My review disappeared ? Wow, I am surprised somebody would delete it based on my thoughts.
I remember I didn't like it, hated it. It wasn't the writing it was the realistic horror, sadness, and darkness it left in my heart. To live through her eyes, her dead eyes was too much. I don't like a book that makes me feeling sad, and broken. I didn't like it, I wished i hadn't read it it still darkens my mood when I think about it.

i actually saw the film of this first before picking up the book and i am kicking myself for spoiling it all. there is so much more the book can convey that is lost on screen. a really great book overall!

n  4 starsn

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.

Does anyone else remember me reading this? Because I sure as hell don’t.

I read and facilitated this discussion in our library book discussion group years ago.

To be honest, it was not an easy discussion, and to even discuss it in this review, I am reminded of the various people sitting around the table feeling somewhat sullen, upset, outraged at times, frustrated, and mixed about this disturbing story.

The book's narrator is 14-year-old murder victim Susie. Raped and killed by her neighbor, Susie ascends to heaven, where she observes how her death has affected those around her.

Her father who suspects the killer's identity, is grief-ridden.

Her mother, who never really wanted children, withdraws and acts out.

Susie's sister, fears the kids will see her only as the kid with the dead sister.

Her little brother struggles with death.

The second half is a ghost story.

Susie sees her family aging, their lives playing out.

I guess as readers we are somewhat like Susie. We are watching her family heal. Or hoping that is what they are doing.

But, at the same time, we are also wanting justice. Like her father is trying to achieve for his daughter.

But, as things went on, it got more frustrating, because when justice wasn't coming, I got more frustrated. Because that is what happens to me.

I don't know about you - but, I just don't like seeing someone get away with something.

It's like watching a real life cold case, and knowing who the murderer is, and knowing he is getting away with it. Here we are...again.

There isn't a happy ending. Am I okay with it? No.

Does that mean I am going to take a star away from this book? Yes. Is that fair? Probably not. But, I'm the reviewer. 3.5 stars

Un colpo al cerchio e uno alla botte

Meraviglioso l'inizio che promette tanto, forse anche troppo; lo sviluppo seguente, invece, seppur incanalato sui giusti binari, scivola nell'implausibilità corale e abbraccia in maniera totalizzante un buonismo atroce per rendere più appetibile l'opera da un punto di vista commerciale.
L'occasione più sprecata di tutti tempi, purtroppo.

When I used to live in New York (before I knew anyone) I used to wile away the hours wandering around The Strand, not because I was particularly fond of that specific bookstore or anything, but because it was sort of on the way home (my subway line at least, and when you've got a monthly pass who cares?) and no one would bug me and it was relatively warm in the winter. Another thing that I just remember about New York that is the reason why I picked this book up in the first place is this: on said subway line I always noticed the different books people were reading, and if I saw the same book often enough (like when everyone had the new Harry Potter, or that Life of Bees book that was just everywhere) it was akin to seeing it on a bestseller list and I invariably remembered the cover art and title. So one of the books on the subway bestseller list was The Lovely Bones, and one day at The Strand I started reading it. It was unremarkable, so I didn't buy it, but the next time I was in The Strand (which could've been the next day, or the next week) I picked it up again and read a little more (to see if it got any better). Eventually I was half-way through the book and concluded that no, it wasn't really getting any better, so I set it down.

10 years later I picked it up again and am really glad I did. What first seemed a gimmicky premise (a book written from the point of view of a murdered girl) turned out to be a beautiful and complex story with well realized characters that I couldn't put down. No wonder so many people were reading it on the subway all those years ago.

This sweetly haunting novel is powerful, heart-wrenching, and strangely leaves one with an optimistic good feeling. It's the strange feeling in the chest you get when you cry at a sad movie, only to have the film burst into comedic scene not long afterward. A light at the end of the grief. Beware, this book is not for the faint hearted. When I say sad and depressing, I mean it. I cried about ten times reading this. The police even find a part of her body to bring home to the parents; their reactions are so genuine you feel your heart crush. I have to wonder how people can really survive this?

The book is a classic example of how people handle things different ways. Her father holds on to her memory while feeling powerless. In one particularly gut-wrenching scene, he is in his office surrounded by bottle ships. She's watching him and knows he is thinking the same thing as she: how much she used to love the bottle ships, and how they had built one together. In a violent rage and grief stricken beyond belief, he suddenly begins smashing and destroying each one. The family is naturally torn apart, but the mother chooses detachment as the best way of acceptance, and more than a father-daughter relationship becomes broken. Seeing how it affected her crush, the one she never got to kiss for the first time, and her sister is powerful.

The novel is strangely poetic. It is a very quiet peace, moving slowly, almost dreamily. It's hard to describe the tone. The pace is very slow; I felt almost stuck in a single moment, frozen. It's a strange feeling to describe, and even harder to produce on paper or film. Alice Sebold is clearly a talented woman, using words almost as a musical piece without coming across as pretentious or forceful. It's strange that the novel does not appear to try hard to induce pity. It doesn't overboard and miraculously enough, it's not dramatic. That's a difficult feat to pull off. Instead it's filled with a quietly consistent nostalgia that steeps into the mind and won't let up.

The main character is of course the murdered girl, Susie, who is not in the actions she's witnessing, and is a sort of narrator of how her family and friends deal with her loss. Her character is strong and convincing, especially considering her fourteen year old age. The scenario of the place between heaven is also interesting, a nice twist that people would feel better believing in. Not a ghost, no, but not yet ready to move on either, and neither is her family.

This enchanting book is shocking in the beginning, and goes into precise detail of the violence, which is even sadder when you think about how it really happens. The family life she left behind is very real, with genuine problems and conflicts. The parents intrigued me the most I think, with the mother feeling suffocated with her expected role, and the father feeling like he can't protect what he should have, feeling everyone slip through his fingers.

Peter Jackson may be bringing this novel to the big screen. If he manages to convey the wide assortment of grief that's in the books, it's destined to be a blockbuster hit. The best way to describe the story is that it's beautifully haunting. Whether a conflicting phrase or not, it's never been truer than in this case.

Incredibly chilling. Absolutely loved the ending...

Oh, what to say? There are a lot of HARD topics in this book. The intro starts with a hard-to-read rape and killing of a child.

This story is told from a Heaven viewpoint and an Earth viewpoint. I must say that the heaven viewpoint was a bit awkward to get used to initially.

Following the kidnapping and missing child case was interesting to read about and incredibly frustrating when you can see the full view of the facts and clues that are constantly missed.

The book's ending was a bit stilted and strange, and not sure if the "out of body/in body" experience really added anything to the book. I get what Alice Sebold was trying to do with it, but I don't really think it worked for me as a reader.

Overall it was a solid 4 stars for me. It is definitely not a happy journey of the years following the end of Susie Salmon's life as the town and her family try to cope.

**Trigger Warnings: Rape of Child, Murder of Child by Serial Killer Child Rapist