A review by juleskr02
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

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. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings