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suzzeb22's review
3.0
I truly did enjoy the first half of this novel. I think Alice Sebold has an interesting voice in fiction and her characters seemed quite real. The pacing of the novel, however, was all over the road. At times it was like she inserted a new character and someone (or maybe she herself) wrote out a vague physical description and then threw that in like it was part of the story but it came off as a footnote.
Case in point, Ray's mother.
I hated the bit towards the end where Suzie inhabits someone else's body. Horrible plot device in my opinion. It's too bad because I'd liked it until then. Also, the Mother character was not very well fleshed out.
So, I'm giving this one a 3.
Case in point, Ray's mother.
I hated the bit towards the end where Suzie inhabits someone else's body. Horrible plot device in my opinion. It's too bad because I'd liked it until then. Also, the Mother character was not very well fleshed out.
So, I'm giving this one a 3.
finn_marten's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
0kokokay's review
4.0
Reading this for the second time I found so much more that I had missed the 1st time. I held a different place and different meaning to me as I got older. Still such a well thought out book and a very good read
embermai's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
lilyinspring's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
4.0
“i wish you all a long and happy life”
❤️
❤️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Murder
wanderlustcrew's review
4.0
A re read for me. I didn’t like this the first time I read it, but gave it another shot for book club and really enjoyed it. The writing is really beautiful. It’s very sad though and major trigger warnings for death, rape, etc.
swapacoinforafish's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
Pros: Interesting way of telling the story from the point of view of Susie already in Heaven.
- I grew very attached to all of the main characters and enjoyed how they were built upon.
- The parts about Susie being on earth were my favourite; that she could be in a room with her father and him feel her there, or when Buckley saw her in the clock. I wanted so much for that to ignite people but it never acted as a catalyst for any advances in the plot.
Cons: There was a lot of description of her heaven that felt very empty to me, that is was going to lead to something that never came to fruition.
- I did find it frustrating all throughout that the murderer wasn't being more actively hunted. But you really need to get into a headspace that this isn't a murder-mystery book.
-There was a lot of overly descriptive language that, for me didn't go very far to making me understand things better.
-The last chapter of Susie coming back to earth in Ruth's body was very strange to me as I still had that generation of characters as children in my head. There was some immortal innocence in Susie that I found uncomfortable to shake.
Overall I did like this book I was just left a bit disappointed by some of the answers I was left with.
- I grew very attached to all of the main characters and enjoyed how they were built upon.
- The parts about Susie being on earth were my favourite; that she could be in a room with her father and him feel her there, or when Buckley saw her in the clock. I wanted so much for that to ignite people but it never acted as a catalyst for any advances in the plot.
Cons: There was a lot of description of her heaven that felt very empty to me, that is was going to lead to something that never came to fruition.
- I did find it frustrating all throughout that the murderer wasn't being more actively hunted. But you really need to get into a headspace that this isn't a murder-mystery book.
-There was a lot of overly descriptive language that, for me didn't go very far to making me understand things better.
-The last chapter of Susie coming back to earth in Ruth's body was very strange to me as I still had that generation of characters as children in my head. There was some immortal innocence in Susie that I found uncomfortable to shake.
Overall I did like this book I was just left a bit disappointed by some of the answers I was left with.
bethyyyrose01's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
emldavis001's review
3.0
My mistake with reading this book was watching the movie first. If I would have known that this was a book before I saw the movie I would have read the book first. Because I ended up watching the movie before I read the book I already knew how the book was going to end, therefore it was very hard for me to read and get into. It wasn't an awful book, but I shouldn't have wasted my time trying to read it after I already watched the movie. I would say the movie is better which is something youll rarely hear me say, but in this case it is true. This could be a good book, but don't make my mistake and watch the movie first.