Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

42 reviews

pumpkinmasterug's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

Not the best novel I’ve read, but definitely not the worst. It presents grief through a range of perspectives and is definitely dark and uncomfortable at several points. I enjoyed majority of the book, however

the possession scene spoiled the tone of it all for me, especially since the argument for Susie sleeping with her crush instead of tracking down her killer is her reclaiming what was taken from her during her murder, but after she hopes her father dies to be in heaven with her TWICE she let’s her family suffer in grief when she could’ve caught her killer or unveiled the location of her body and helped them. Of course that would’ve been very cliche so I understand why Seabold avoided this, but it just made Susie come across very selfish and quite unlikeable.

It’s a bit corny in some places and I don’t think the writing style will suit everyone, and some of the characters are so flat and predictable they read more like AI trying to blend in than actual human beings, but I honestly didn’t mind that too much in this case. Overall though, it’s a good read with a hopeful message and I did enjoy it for the most part.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Infidelity, and Abandonment

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Alcohol

deshanejt's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

The premise was dark, heartbreaking and sweet; The reality was, almost halfway thru the book, the plot seemed lost to me.

Painstakingly, you watch the family struggle to accept their grief while a community never stops moving forward. 

I guess the message the author wanted to leave us with would be life goes on. Remembering those you've lost along the way doesn't have to be painful... Lastly, it's a stark reminder, that justice isn't always served, but monsters still meet their end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

ltux's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, and Alcohol

books_and_coffee_vibes's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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? Yes

3.75

This book was really good and sad at the same time. I really felt the pain of the salmon family and I loved how I could follow their grieving. 

It was very realistic in the sense of not getting any closure. I also really enjoyed the fact that we are viewing it from Susie’s perspective and how she yearns to be with her family and make it right. 

It was a really good book and very sad. I really do feel sorry for what the characters went through but I’m glad they have managed to move on. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

book1hoarder's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Grief

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Pedophilia, and Rape

serein42's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Violence and Abandonment

Minor: Animal death

chiara_dose's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Murder

kly227's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

This book was extremely fascinating in the beginning. The premise is promising but it does not follow all the way through. 
I found myself emotional many times during this book. It put me in a dark headspace going to bed each night, which was hard. I felt connected to the characters because the family set up is exactly like mine as a child- and I would have been Susie. I found myself empathizing so much for Susie and her family in the first half; I found this book to be a very real and very difficult demonstration of grief.
On the negative side… the characters were extremely flat and hardly had any purpose for the story. The development of the plot was strange- as I kept hoping it would go a certain way or that there was a reason I was learning something specific about a character, and it never came back. This was frustrating and made a lot of the random paragraphs of detail throughout the book literally pointless. 

The end of this book was really rocky. There was a paranormal, tricky sex scene that was basically sexual assault (but is glorified to be this amazing, transcendent experience between a 14 y/o and a 20 y/o) that made me extremely uncomfortable. It did not align with the rest of the story and it ruined some characters for me. Loose ends with characters were never tied up or dealt with in any shape or form. Characters were never held accountable for their mistakes and nothing was ever reprimanded.
Finally, maybe this is a personal thing, but I was not happy that the lovely bones were never found. That was my desire the entire time, and maybe it’s more realistic that we lose the body of the person forever but darn it! There are still so many questions. 

Going to watch the very low-rated movie now, wish me luck!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical trauma, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

sadiaa's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, Stalking, and Murder

mariavdl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, and Murder

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Infidelity, and Abandonment