Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - The Lovely Bones

The begining is very disturbing, then it gets interesting, then it gets WTF??? The story starts stretching indefinitely, it becomes a bit hard to follow some events as the author takes her sweet time to continue some parts left suspended, and then close to the end some very nonsense things take place and I wondered "why put this in the story?". The whole thing with Susie and Ruth and Ray next to the end was just unnecessary and weird and it spoiled the book for me. What started off as a strong yet difficult topic to swallow became a nonsense by the end. I'm really frustrated by how things evolve in the last third of the book. What a shame...

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fkshg8465's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I saw the movie years ago and remember it differently than the book. So some of the content was surprising to me. I’m undecided on how I feel about these differences.i think I liked the movie better than the book because the movie was more dramatic and had actual resolution. The book is satisfying in a different way, and in some ways, more realistic in that when people die, the rest of us still need to find a way to keep living.

I thought the writing was strong, but I’m conflicted on the story.

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tamzy6's review against another edition

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dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

3.5 stars. It's a beautiful story and I really liked the concept of the Inbetween. The story is filled with broken people but they didn't feel like caricatures. Each one of them had distinct and rich personalities. It was really bittersweet seeing them grow up and experience the things that Susie will never be able to do in human form.

UNTIL... The ending.

What the fuck was that about? I really disliked how Sebold just HAD to give Susie that 'perfect' ending in human form, where Susie kind of possessed Ruth's body and then had sex with Ray? I'm all for fantasy and magical realism, we are reading about a ghost's thoughts after all, but romanticising this possession felt vulgar and weird. This could have been a 4 star read but meh, it felt weird after that.

Also, how did this book get published without a copyeditor because I found there were lots of weird phrases and spelling mistakes, e.g. using "reverted" instead of "riveted", and I had to re-read it to make sure I wasn't imagining things. You know, basic writing stuff.

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agosto111's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I love this book so much!! WARNING RAPE AND A LOT OF REALLY TRAUMATIZING THINGS.

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sammispaniol's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

I was really excited to read this book but I couldn’t yawn harder. The first two chapters were on your toes and then after that, I was fully seated the rest of the book. Falling asleep thinking about it. Whoever wrote the review that this will be “a classic in vein of To Kill a Mockingbird,” what kind of drugs were you on? Cause no. I gave it two stars instead of one just because I like the idea of what the book COULD HAVE BEEN but it definitely wasn’t it. So glad to have it over with. Took way too long for me cause I was dreading picking it up.

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