Well-woven story / Tangled ending...

books:


	• The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold Little, Brown and Company, 2006 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 97 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Wonderfully written

Wonderfully written. It is a refreshingly different plot than any book out there. Every character catches you. Alice makes you understand all the characters and there is no dull moment in this book. I loved it and can't wait for the movie in 2009.

This is 3 and a half stars.

This book starts out so magnificantly that I thought I'd found the book of my dreams. And then, it started to lag, almost to the point where I started to skim. This is a very good book, highly original but very hard to get through. Maybe because it's so "out there" you have to believe in heaven, the author's heaven as she believes it. But overall I would recommend it strictly on originality.

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Well-woven story / Tangled ending...

Throughout the reading of Lovely Bones I was prepared to rate it a solid 4. I was convinced Selbold would continue to provide a well-crafted story, but at the end I was stunned to discover that this book's strength, the ability to infuse the reader with hope, is also it's major flaw. Why?

Sebold lays out numerous threads for us to follow. Some she ties loosely, others expertly, but the main chord, the one that tugs at us the most, Susie's father's desperate yearning to find her, is left dangling and frayed. Sebold takes us to the very teetering edge of that climactic possibility then suddenly casts a line 180 degrees opposite and yanks us into a scene that stretched beyond the believability she established. In effect, the fabric of the entire book felt flawed by that one large tangled mess.

If Sebold felt she could pull that odd conclusion into a tidy knot by implying that her father and family achieved resolution via Susie's fleeting appearances, then I argue that she did not anchor the emotion strongly enough in her characters, nor in me as a reader.

Smiles: for careful handling of a sensitive subject matter, painterly yet economic descriptions, believable characters, well-woven plot, and for maintaining suspense throughout.

Frowns: robbing us of our completion, departures from established tastefulness, some awkward sentences requiring rereading to understand, occasional vagueness, and blowing Susie's credibility as a character at the end. Also, Susie is a bit precocious.

Conclusion: A recommended fast read. Be prepared for possible disappointment.
For parents: If this were a movie I would assign it an 'R' rating.

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Haunting, and wondefully written

When I first hear of the Lovely Bones then, the plot (young girl narrates her life and murder from heaven) seemed to just too hokey for me. But, after it was recommended to me a half dozen times, I decided to give it a go. I am really glad I did. Seabold walks a fine line between cheesy and brilliant here. Dead child narrators are not an easy trick, and at times the book is a little maudlin and contrived. But, the scene where the child narrates her own murder gave me chills. Definitely worth a look.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, page 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

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