Reviews with content warning for Body horror - The Lovely Bones

Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

12 reviews

pumpkinmasterug's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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.

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kryolitee's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

I don’t quite know what to say about this book. It was okay, but I didn’t like the writing style. It had me hooked for the first and the last few chapters but I couldn’t tell you what happened in between. In the middle of this book it kind of started to drag, nothing was really happening and I had to force myself to continue reading.
Overall I would say that this book wasn’t good but it also wasn’t bad. 2 stars.

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litzy56's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

This is a good book the chapters always left with an interesting thing making you want to read more and this was the first book that I ruined my sleep for idk probably 4 days? And the ending was alright I felt like it was rushed like you knew the end was coming and I also had so many questions at the end of the book like did the mom leave? Were they a happy family?

I loved the father I’m glad he didn’t die cuz his son needed him and he was such a good father to his son and daughter like when he would carry his son in order to see him smile or when he talked to her about shaving when he wasn’t supposed to do that. I hate how that grandma died and how she didn’t see Susie in heaven like what??? First of all I loved that grandma I was here for her craziness she just made me smile I really hope they can reunite. Probably the only death I accept is Holiday’s like I could feel his excitement when seeing Susie. I hate how Mr. Harvey died like I really wished for something worse yk like being tortured death was kind of the easy route. Also that one scene when Ray and Susie made love was so cute like bro this is also my first time reading a book that had that in like it kinda described it but not really idk they were just so cute but I hated how it was Ruth’s body and not hers like if would have been better if they had sex with her body but oh well he knew it was her that’s all that matters. Also Lindsey and Samuel are so cute like bro the proposal was cute and everything they got me screaming at night but why would they name their child the same name as her mother? Is everything good now? Does the mother and son now get along well? Was he able to forgive her? So many questions I really would have wished that they were answered or they were clarify better.

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