Lovely Bones B1

Name: Jessica Perl

Class period: B1

Book Title: Lovely Bones

Author: Alice Sebold

Pages: 498

Rating: ***

Recommendation: This book begins with more horror than you could imagine or think possible of, but in closes with more beauty than you could hope for or dream of. This book is great for anyone to read. But, if you start reading you have to read it the entire way through are you are going to miss out on a lot good things. This book builds out of grief that makes hopeful moments in life become, well then what they are. The character Susie dies at the begging of the book and the whole time she is watching everything from heaven, the worst things of the family’s grief and pain of Susie dyeing transformers into a suspenseful and even funny novel about love, memory, joy, heaven, and healing.

Summary: Susie Salmon gets raped and murdered in 1973 and is know in heaven. Through the whole book she is able to be in heaven and see everyone and everything people do that have touched her life and in death. She is not able to grow up but, she does get the joy of watching and witnessing the changes of her family and friends. The story does not have to do with death; it has to do with moving on not only for those she left behind on earth but also for herself. Throw the whole story you see the joy of Susie in heaven and the sadness of her family, friends and boy friend. As months pass without leads of where she is, Susie sees her parents' marriage being destroyed, her sister hardening herself in an effort to stay strong even when she looks just like Susie, and her little brother trying to grasp the meaning of the word gone which does not make sense to him. While she is in heaven everything she ever wants arrears as soon as she thinks of it except for some really important wants that she can’t get is to be back on earth with her boyfriend and the people she loves and misses. Throw all of this her family is not doing well and her boy friend is moving on. But lucky for her boyfriend he finds himself at the center of a miraculous, when things come to end really cool things happen, but I can’t tell you. You will have to read it to find out what happens.

Explanation of the rating: This is a really good book that you should consideration reading. But the reason it is not rated as a three not a five is because when Susie gets murdered it goes into a little too much detail with the murdering and when her mom makes love with the police officer and when Susie makes love with her boy friend. That is why I highly recommend that you whoever decides to read this book be older and make sure it is oaky with your parents and her boy friend. Make sure that they are fine with you reading a book that had that much making out and descriptions in it that make it kind of a nasty so ask first before you read the book. That is why I have rated it the way I did.

Favorite Passage: In chapter Twelve in says, "Like snowflakes," Fanny said, "none of them the same and yet each one, from where we stand, exactly like the one before." This sums up the nature of souls and lives from heaven's perspective. I love how it has great significant to the book because it is true for Susie. Another one I like, “Stones and bones; snow and frost; seeds and beans and polliwogs. Paths and twigs, assorted kisses, we all know who Susie misses . . .” (p. 278) Susie recites a poem her father always said to her when she was small. It comforts her now that she knows she will soon be able to let go of Earth. Even when it is the hardest thing she will every do in her life. Throw out the whole book there is more and more good pomes or quotes. The one thing that makes the book so great is that the author keeps you wonting to read it with the fullness of light and life throws all the hard things in the book!