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A review by dr_rachelmcshane
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
3.0
This boom was alright. Not WONDERFUL. Not awful. But alright. It definitely didn't pan out the way I thought it would.
I expected the story of a young murdered girl, who finds a way to break through from "the other side" and help bring closure to her case. I expected her rapist/murderer (who turns out, also raped/murdered several others) to be brought to justice. And I expected her hurting, grieving family to get some sort of closure through that.
What I got instead was the story of a young murdered girl named Susie, who sits up in Heaven and watches her family, her boyfriend, her murderer, and a seemingly random classmate go on with life. There was no real closure. Her case was never closed. Her murderer "got away" with it, and the only justice he felt was being killed...by an icicle? Her family, after severe emotional suffering, does come together and eventually move on, but not before breaking each other's hearts and splitting up. Her "boyfriend" (if you can even call it that) Ray moves on as well, but not in your typical "moving on" way. The seemingly random girl she watches? Susie inexplicably takes over her body, then makes love to Ray. This helps him move on. However, Ruth (the "possessed") is "a haunted women". We don't really hear much about her development after that—she's just kind of "there".
The book was a fairly entertaining read, but the ending left me going, "...really?" The writing was not the greatest either. There wasn't really a "plot"—just a bunch of events that the reader sees through the eyes of Susie as she watches from Heaven. Characters (such as Len the policeman or even Ruth) enter the story, serve their purpose, and then disappear. I felt that those characters could have certainly developed much more than they actually did. It was a one-time read—I don't think I'd ever read it again, and it's definitely not one of my favorite books. It was just a good "escape" book, to read when you don't want to read anything "deep" or really thought-provoking. Overall, I guess all I can say it that it was "alright".
I expected the story of a young murdered girl, who finds a way to break through from "the other side" and help bring closure to her case. I expected her rapist/murderer (who turns out, also raped/murdered several others) to be brought to justice. And I expected her hurting, grieving family to get some sort of closure through that.
What I got instead was the story of a young murdered girl named Susie, who sits up in Heaven and watches her family, her boyfriend, her murderer, and a seemingly random classmate go on with life. There was no real closure. Her case was never closed. Her murderer "got away" with it, and the only justice he felt was being killed...by an icicle? Her family, after severe emotional suffering, does come together and eventually move on, but not before breaking each other's hearts and splitting up. Her "boyfriend" (if you can even call it that) Ray moves on as well, but not in your typical "moving on" way. The seemingly random girl she watches? Susie inexplicably takes over her body, then makes love to Ray. This helps him move on. However, Ruth (the "possessed") is "a haunted women". We don't really hear much about her development after that—she's just kind of "there".
The book was a fairly entertaining read, but the ending left me going, "...really?" The writing was not the greatest either. There wasn't really a "plot"—just a bunch of events that the reader sees through the eyes of Susie as she watches from Heaven. Characters (such as Len the policeman or even Ruth) enter the story, serve their purpose, and then disappear. I felt that those characters could have certainly developed much more than they actually did. It was a one-time read—I don't think I'd ever read it again, and it's definitely not one of my favorite books. It was just a good "escape" book, to read when you don't want to read anything "deep" or really thought-provoking. Overall, I guess all I can say it that it was "alright".