The Lovely Bones
Picador Classic
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4.6 • 87 Ratings
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- £4.99
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
The internationally bestselling novel that inspired the acclaimed film directed by Peter Jackson.
With an introduction by Karen Thompson Walker, author of The Age of Miracles.
My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.
In heaven, Susie Salmon can have whatever she wishes for – except what she most wants, which is to be back with the people she loved on earth. In the wake of her murder, Susie watches as her happy suburban family is torn apart by grief; as her friends grow up, fall in love, and do all the things she never had the chance to do herself. But as Susie will come to realize, even in death, life is not quite out of reach . . .
A luminous, astonishing novel about life and death, memory and forgetting, and finding light in the darkest places, Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones became an instant classic when it was first published. There are now over ten million copies in print. It inspired the film starring Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon and Saoirse Ronan.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Reading her breakout novel, Sebold's even, unemotional voice is a good match for both the drab setting of a Midwest town enduring the 1970s and for her matter-of-fact writing, which manages to seem grounded even as the protagonist narrates from heaven after her brutal murder. Sebold doesn't bother with voicing characters differently; the murdered girl, Susie Salmon, is the listener's window into the world she was forced to leave behind, and Sebold uses a flat, deliberate voice that manages to sound both weary and wistful. Snatches of melancholy chamber music close each track and provide more explicit emotion. What Sebold's voice lacks in stylistic flourish she makes up for with perfect pacing. In an introductory segment, Sebold recounts the novel's genesis and mentions that part of her working process involves reading everything back to herself, which explains her expert rhythm. On the final disc, Sebold reads the first chapter of her 2007 novel, The Almost Moon. While Sebold's fans will be eager for the chance to hear her read, the uninitiated may wish for a bit more passion in her presentation. A Back Bay Books paperback (Reviews, June 17, 2002).
Customer Reviews
Beautiful story
I first read this book when I was 15 years old after receiving it as a birthday gift. It’s one of those books that stays with you for a long time. I read it again at 26 and the story has had the same powerful effect on me as it did a decade ago. I can’t recommend this book enough. The story is told through a young girls eyes as she looks down at her family and friends from the in between. It’s heartbreaking and bittersweet at times and The author did an excellent job of conveying the raw emotions of these characters. I know there was a movie about it but I can honestly say the movie does the book no justice whatsoever.
The Lovely Bones
Read in one sitting. A recommendation of a book I had never heard of.
I could not possibly stop turning the pages.
What a beautiful writer with a beautiful mind and a magical imagination.
This book will stay with me for a very long time and I will of course as done to me, will absolutely recommend to others.
I take my hat off for Alice Sebold
Ending
Amazing book, bad ending that could of been a lot better