A review by wyemu
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

4.0

A novel as poignant as it is devastating. The subject of a child's death is sensitively handled by Sebold and the images he paints of heaven are deftly painted without ever becoming cloying, cliched or overdone. This book is beyond a moving story of one family coming to terms with losing their daughter, and sister, it is a perfect portrayal of the different ways in which people fall apart and rebuild themselves. The opening scenes are suffocating and this is a testiment to Sebold's witing skills that they are so well written as to be almost unbearable to read. I can highly imagine many readers struggling to get through them because of the realism and horror portrayed. It is an incredible novel that should be read but that one shies away from reccommending to friends because of the nature of the material, not something to be taken lightly.