Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

187 reviews

2132anna's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Child death

kassidypf13's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault

dale96's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death and Kidnapping

carlytenille's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Alcohol

carmeta's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.25

Extremely sad and graphic at times. Unforgettable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Rape, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder

brittanykroeckel's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

An excellent read. This has been one on my TBR for a while. Honestly, I initially thought it was a romance-based novel and was shocked when I actually took a look to see what it was actually about. This novel is intertwined with multiple plots and intricate character development while also not becoming difficult to follow along. I personally get much anxiety in topics around death and dying, but this component was present in a way that

did not focus on the death itself, but life after loss and how it can make or break relationships.

The characters all brought something of value to the table. I feel that each of them got their screen time and added importance to the plot and themes. Characters were not over complicated, which I appreciated; each person had growth and development without it taking up too much of the book. My one point that I wish was more developed on was about

Ruth's journals and her new found interest in discovering how people had left the world.

Other than that, I thought the characters were excellent and thoroughly portrayed.

The reason I docked 0.25 in my rating is because the final parts of the novel felt out of place. More specifically, the part where

Susie takes over Ruth's body and becomes her took away the realistic nature of the story and made me confused.

However, even though this part slightly ruined it for me, the bulk of this work was beautiful and the ending left me in tears (which is a very rare occurrence for me). I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Grief

murderousscottishgremlin's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

Such an intriguing exploration of grief and haunting. Sebold’s writing evokes a surreal sense of liminality (is that a word?), or the feeling of being in a liminal space, and I really enjoyed that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, and Murder

sarawildoosen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Kidnapping, and Grief

una_klavina's review against another edition

sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, Rape, and Murder

serenityxnicole's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Beautiful book! As an oldest sister, this made me cry twice! The only complaint is I hate the ending, but overall a good read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Alcohol