The Lovely Bones

Before you start reading this I just wanted to let everyone know this is not a poem so before I get hate comments about "omg this is supposed to be a poem are you serious?" nigga no! This is a book report for The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold! I just want to know what you guys think?

                                                              The Lovely Bones

                                                               by: Alice Sebold

     The Lovely Bones is a suspenseful and thrilling novel based on the life, or death, of 14 year old Susie Salmon. The title of this novel, “The Lovely Bones”, is a very significant part to this story. It is the spirit of Gothic convention, love, life, death, and beauty. It shows that there is not only death, but there is life within death.

     14 year old Susie Salmon, grew up with an amazing life, with an amazing mother, father, sister and brother. Susie, taking a different route home from school, was invited by her neighbor, Mr. Harvey, into his underground home. Susie, being young and naive, went in. There, Mr. Harvey raped, murdered, and dismembered Susie, later throwing the remaining body parts into a sink hole. Mr. Harvey comes from a home with an abusive father. Mr. Harvey's childhood was almost the complete opposite of Susies. While her life was amazing, his life was complete and utter hell. 

     “The Lovely Bones” is based in the harsh Pennsylvanian Winter of 1973. “The Lovely Bones” is all based upon grief, love and acceptance, and good versus evil. The novel itself really attracts the reader to the point where we can feel the grieving and suffering of the family. We can feel every little detail from the cold and harsh Winter to smelling dirt in the “underground cave”.

     Our narrator of this story is Susie “like the fish” Salmon. Susie was a fourteen year old teenager. Notice the word was. She was fourteen when she was led into an underground hole and was brutally raped, murdered and dismembered by her neighbor Mr. Harvey. Susie is now in her own personal heaven, watching over her family. Susies parents, Jack and Abigail Salmon received a visit from Len Fenerman (a local detective) with news that the police had found Susies elbow bone. While everything is all happening so quick, Susie is watching from heaven as her parents get eaten alive by the loss of their oldest daughter. In an attempt to prove Mr. Harvey is the murderer, Susies father Jack does a little studying. Jack sees a light in the cornfield late at night and goes out to see what is causing it. With a baseball bat in hand, Jack soon finds out that the light was caused by Clarissa, one of Susies friends. Clarissa was out in the cornfield waiting on her boyfriend Brian. Brian, startled by seeing a man with a baseball bat, steals the bat and beats Jack with it. Jack is now in the hospital, where his wife Abigail and Detective Len Fenerman start a secret affair. Mr. Harvey packs and flees town. During that following summer Abigail decides to leave her home and her family to go live in her father’s cabin in California, and start work in a winery. Eight, somewhat, years after Susies death, Jack has a heart attack, attracting Abigail back home. Abigail fall back in love with Jack in the Hospital room. Eventually, Mr. Harvey heads back into Susies home town. Mr. Harvey is yet again attempting an attack during a cold Winter, but an icicle falls from above, killing Mr. Harvey instantly. The story ends with Lindsey and her husband Samuel as adults, with their daughter, Abigail Suzanne.

     My favorite quote from this novel is one from Susies angel Franny, she says “When the dead are done with the living, the living can go on to other things.” Franny is having Susie find her own heaven. Franny is letting Susie know that her family will not grieve forever. They will eventually move on with their lives and be okay.

     This quote is my favorite, because we will eventually have to move on with our lives. We can not let something as horrible as a family member dying keep us from living our lives. For Example, Lyndsey was absolutely devastated when Susie died. It took a lot of grieving and a lot of support, but Lyndsey grew up and made a family of her own. People will grieve with death, It is inevitable. You might grieve for a short amount of time or a long amount of time, but you can not let that one incident stop you from making your dream(s) possible.