PositiveThe New York Times...consider that the bones of The Lovely Bones belong not to the victim but to an abstract and quite positive idea — namely, that bones are the structure on which living things are built ... a high-wire act for a first novelist, and Alice Sebold maintains almost perfect balance. There are a couple of faltering moments ... Susie is our guide through the maze of grief and dysfunction that follows her brutal death. Her dispassionate, observant young voice and poignant 14-year-old view of life don't change much ... [Sebold] deals with almost unthinkable subjects with humor and intelligence and a kind of mysterious grace.
