Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

191 reviews

carmeta's review

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dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

3.25

Extremely sad and graphic at times. Unforgettable.
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brittanykroeckel's review

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dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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.
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murderousscottishgremlin's review

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emotional reflective sad 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? No

4.75

Such an intriguing exploration of grief and haunting. Sebold’s writing evokes a surreal sense of liminality (is that a word?), or the feeling of being in a liminal space, and I really enjoyed that. 
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devynrj's review

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A beautiful amazing book. So sincere and bittersweet. Dreamy and ethereal. Cathartic.
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una_klavina's review

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

4.0

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serenityxnicole's review

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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greatexpectations77's review

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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

5.0

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.
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mika_thewriter's review

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dark emotional hopeful sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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pumpkinmasterug's review

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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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