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The Lovely Bones
- Narrated by: Alyssa Bresnahan
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
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Summary
More than 2 million copies sold by Picador, more than 8 million around the world - now a film by Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings, Heavenly Creatures)
My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973. My murderer was a man from our neighborhood. My mother liked his border flowers, and my father talked to him once about fertilizer.
This is Susie Salmon. Watching from heaven, Susie sees her happy suburban family devastated by her death, isolated even from one another as they each try to cope with their terrible loss alone. Over the years, her friends and siblings grow up, fall in love, do all the things she never had the chance to do herself. But life is not quite finished with Susie yet . . . The Lovely Bones is a luminous and astonishing novel about life and death, forgiveness and vengeance, memory and forgetting - but, above all, about finding light in the darkest of places.
"A novel that is painfully fine and accomplished." ( Los Angeles Times)
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Overall
- robert
- 31-12-09
Lovely book!
I loved this book! Convincingly and sensitively read, the story haunted me for three days. I had to ration my listening - the temptation to complete the story in one session was very strong indeed. Never having \"read\" the book previously, I found the storyline startlingly emotive: charged with a childlike intensity yet delivered with a calm detachment which I found at once inspiring and unnerving. This is a story which requires very little suspension of one's disbelief. Though I found some of the final sections a little \"romantic\", I cannot, in all honesty, rate this super book at fewer than 5 stars.
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37 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Kirstine
- 04-04-10
An unusual and moving book
I first heard of this book when the recent film-version was discussed on the BBC's Front Row arts programme. The view was that the book was better and having now listened to the audio version I can see why: it's a book full of thoughts and feelings that would be difficult to depict visually. I find it hard to believe that a film could do justice to the complexity of the narrative and get over all the nuances of the writing. It's a well-written book that suits being narrated and the narrator of this version is excellent. My first impression, that this is a book aimed at teenage girls, was wrong: it has something to say to all ages as it encompasses first love, long-lasting love, marriage, loss of a loved one, the desire for revenge and the complex dynamic of family life when tragedy strikes. As it deals with rape and murder the story is harrowing at times but it is also a deeply moving and thought-provoking book that will remain in my mind for sometime.
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16 people found this helpful
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Overall
- CA Weir
- 22-01-10
I'm hooked....
One of the best audiobooks I've listened to in a long time...and i've listened to hundreds. A haunting yet beautiful story superbly narrated...
I'm a couple of hours left to go and savouring every second.
If you're reading this don't even hesitate to download.
C
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12 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Peter
- 26-01-10
Unique, poignant and imaginative
I enjoyed this book greatly, with one minor exception. The writing is emotive and poetically descriptive and the story is a touching portrayal of how a family may suffer the consequences of the loss of a loved one to a particularly brutal murder, narrated through the eyes of the victim.
The only place I felt it let itself down a bit was during an incident towards the closing chapters, involving a seconday character, Ruth. Without wanting to give anything away, I felt the introduction of the Incident allowerd for so much more with respect to closure and hapiness for the long-suffering family. Instead the author slumps to a bit of a selfish cliche with only a failed after-thought to helping the family.
The book closes nicely and I understand why it has been so well received and adapted for Hollywood. My gripe is a minor one in the context of an excellent, well-narrated book.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Chris
- 14-05-10
Poor
Pretty poor this one for me . . . . . i'm sure the story was great but not well read at all, couldn't stick it out to the end as the narator bored me to tears!
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- T L ELSDON
- 14-04-15
Really profound effect on me
Enjoyed the book, did end a little quick for me and ending seemed rushed, but well worth a listen! ☺️ excellent
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Catherine
- 22-02-12
Lovely Bones
loved the book and movie have read and seen both several times, very enjoyable i would recommend both to everyone old and young
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Susanna
- 26-11-11
Worth reading
Interesting reading, a bit distressing at times and with some beautiful moments. Not my favourite audibook but worth reading.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- John
- 29-03-11
All we have is time
There were moments when i ached with sadness and regret but then islands of hope appeared and life moved on as it must.
Maybe not a truely gripping read but it held me all the way to the end 'i hope you have a long and happy life'
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Sandor
- 25-07-10
Not what I was expecting
I may have enjoyed this more if it had been the murder/how do you expose the murderer mystery I was expecting, but it is actually about the effect a murder of a child has on the parents and siblings and on what happens after death. In that it is interesting if rambeling, I kept waiting for the murderer to get his come uppance, I don't want to spoil it for any one by revealing plot details so lets just say this is for those interested in the after life and phycology not criminology (I apologise for spelling but my strong point). Not for me this one.beta inappVoteInfo
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3 people found this helpful