Reviews with content warning for Gore - The Lovely Bones

Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

7 reviews

leeshisreading's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

I wished to complain about how the ending doesn’t fulfil me. But I can’t, because life isn’t fair- it isn’t perfect, and therefore I cannot sit here and complain for an unrealistic perspective. Susie Salmon is a cool, compassionate and genuinely kind character- her personality so intrinsically sewn into her narration that I struggle to come to terms with the fact that she is not real. And I believe Sebold had a similar experience in what must be the best, most heartfelt afterward I have ever read:

“Susie has turned out to be more powerful than I could ever be. I may have created Susie Salmon, but I hold no doubt that it is the act of letting her go that redeems me.”

Overall, it was beautiful- i didn’t like the relationship between Samuel and Lindsay to begin with, but I will blame that on the sisterly bond I felt with her- this underlying need to protect her, just like Susie. It only increases my love for the book more that it was able to make me feel such a way.

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juleskr02's review

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-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? Yes

2.25

i wanted to love this book. i really did. however beautiful the beginning and end were, what filled the middle section of the novel moved at such an odd pace i found myself often bored and uninterested. alice sebold is able to connect heaven and earth in such a unique fashion, which is fun to read about. however, i wasn’t a fan of her vernacular and use of run-on sentences, as they left me often confused.

i have always loved the movie, but this is one book where i enjoyed the movie adaptation a lot better than the novel. i think the murder was so well written, but it happened so quickly, that everything that came after it had so much unmet potential in terms of entertaining writing.

i will say though the middle chunks of the book were quite dull, i enjoyed experiencing ruth’s and ray’s relationship and their conversations about susie, as well as the family dynamic after losing a member. there were many highlights but not enough to save the overall enjoyment of this novel.

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