Reviews with content warning for Grief - lovely bones

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

lovely bones by Alice Sebold

130 reviews

brittanykroeckel's review against another edition

4.75

dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

An excellent read. This has been one on my TBR for a while. Honestly, I initially thought it was a romance-based novel and was shocked when I actually took a look to see what it was actually about. This novel is intertwined with multiple plots and intricate character development while also not becoming difficult to follow along. I personally get much anxiety in topics around death and dying, but this component was present in a way that

did not focus on the death itself, but life after loss and how it can make or break relationships.

The characters all brought something of value to the table. I feel that each of them got their screen time and added importance to the plot and themes. Characters were not over complicated, which I appreciated; each person had growth and development without it taking up too much of the book. My one point that I wish was more developed on was about

Ruth's journals and her new found interest in discovering how people had left the world.

Other than that, I thought the characters were excellent and thoroughly portrayed.

The reason I docked 0.25 in my rating is because the final parts of the novel felt out of place. More specifically, the part where

Susie takes over Ruth's body and becomes her took away the realistic nature of the story and made me confused.

However, even though this part slightly ruined it for me, the bulk of this work was beautiful and the ending left me in tears (which is a very rare occurrence for me). I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone in the future.

Content Warnings

sarawildoosen's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Content Warnings

serenityxnicole's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Beautiful book! As an oldest sister, this made me cry twice! The only complaint is I hate the ending, but overall a good read.

Content Warnings

nburkk's review against another edition

4.0

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Okay, why the hell did I think this was a young adult book?? I swear that it was mis-shelved at my library growing up because what was I doing reading this as a pre-teen??? I was just in love with this. It moved me and disgusted me and made me feel for these characters like entire whole people. Emotions are extremely complicated, as is grief. And there are so many beautiful lines in here. What a triumph of a novel about how survival is the most innate human urge. I wish I could speak in beautiful words like Ms. Sebold.
*bought at Bank Street Books, a used book store in Luray, VA, near Shenandoah National Park

Content Warnings

pumpkinmasterug's review against another edition

3.75

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Not the best novel I’ve read, but definitely not the worst. It presents grief through a range of perspectives and is definitely dark and uncomfortable at several points. I enjoyed majority of the book, however

the possession scene spoiled the tone of it all for me, especially since the argument for Susie sleeping with her crush instead of tracking down her killer is her reclaiming what was taken from her during her murder, but after she hopes her father dies to be in heaven with her TWICE she let’s her family suffer in grief when she could’ve caught her killer or unveiled the location of her body and helped them. Of course that would’ve been very cliche so I understand why Seabold avoided this, but it just made Susie come across very selfish and quite unlikeable.

It’s a bit corny in some places and I don’t think the writing style will suit everyone, and some of the characters are so flat and predictable they read more like AI trying to blend in than actual human beings, but I honestly didn’t mind that too much in this case. Overall though, it’s a good read with a hopeful message and I did enjoy it for the most part.

Content Warnings

mysimas's review against another edition

1.5

dark hopeful sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

And I thought that terrible sex scene from Stephen King’s It couldn’t be topped… Haha, how naive! (Of course I’m not referring to Susie’s murder, talking about the other, supposedly positive scene…)

Anywho, this book is overall weirdly obsessed with sex. Also it features a questionable lesbian and Asian representation (the Asians are fetishized, the lesbian sort of enjoys sex with a guy).

The characters are flat like a board, and there’s not really any plot — the murder isn’t being solved, it’s just about the family dealing with the grief in a series of disjointed scenes that generally don’t have much emotional impact, not to mention the rapid and massive time skips in the last third of the book. Also there’s nearly no cool or spooky ghost scenes. So much potential, unrealized.

Would round up to two stars if pressed because there were moments that I liked

(the group therapy in heaven, the strong if grim beginning, the positiveness of Lindsey and Sam’s relationship…)

and also I do feel kinda good about finishing a book in German. :)

Content Warnings

deshanejt's review against another edition

2.5

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

The premise was dark, heartbreaking and sweet; The reality was, almost halfway thru the book, the plot seemed lost to me.

Painstakingly, you watch the family struggle to accept their grief while a community never stops moving forward.

I guess the message the author wanted to leave us with would be life goes on. Remembering those you've lost along the way doesn't have to be painful... Lastly, it's a stark reminder, that justice isn't always served, but monsters still meet their end.

Content Warnings