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greatexpectations77's review
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Death, Grief, Child death, and Murder
Moderate: Infidelity, Kidnapping, Rape, Abandonment, and Bullying
Minor: Animal death, Blood, Sexual content, and Stalking
pumpkinmasterug's review
- 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
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Confinement, Kidnapping, Body horror, Gore, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, and Violence
Moderate: Infidelity, Abandonment, and Cursing
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Mental illness, Alcohol, Body shaming, and Death of parent
mysimas's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
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
Graphic: Murder, Rape, Grief, and Child death
eleanor_18's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
The lovely bones starts off with quite a graphic scene in which the main character Susie is raped and murdered, which given the coming-of-age nature of the book feels unnecessarily descriptive.
It then depicts how Susie in heaven and her family on earth deal with the aftermath. This is where the book truly shines. It has beautiful depictions and ideas of heaven. From heaven, Susie recalls her teenage life and Alice Sebold perfectly captures these moments of what it means to grow up but to day-dream like a teenager. Sebold depicts Susie’s family’s struggle to reconcile her death and how each member copes with their grief in their own unique way, whilst struggling to keep the family together. Sebold does this by giving each character their own rich background and story in a way that allows the reader to sympathise with each one. The film also displays this well and is able to capture Sebold’s rich descriptive and emotive tapestry.
However, where the film ends, the book caries on. This is when Sebold loses her essence. The plot starts to become very drawn out with not much happening to keep interest, whilst the characters appear to stop developing and keep recycling the same emotional patterns. Finally, towards the end things begin to get wrapped up, albeit with one very weird sex scene.
Also throughout, despite the running theme that Susie’s killer took everything from her. Sebold continuously makes slightly weird and uncomfortable comments sexualising the pubescent girls in the book. These are purely added to the description and add quite literally nothing to the story. Given, what happened to Susie they seem especially bizarre and uncomfortable.
Therefore, as a book it’s mixed, the first 1/3 is very good but that’s where the book needs to end, just like the film does.
Graphic: Child abuse and Rape
Moderate: Child death and Murder
deshanejt's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
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.
Graphic: Alcohol, Sexual assault, Child death, Death, Pedophilia, Stalking, Animal death, Gaslighting, Murder, Grief, Rape, Blood, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical content, and Pregnancy
becks444's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Death, and Child death
rylee_marcoux's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Child death
lesdialazo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Rape and Child death
abullis's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
2.5
Graphic: Rape and Child death
girlfawn's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Death, Murder, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Grief