The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
"The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold is a poignant novel that explores themes of grief, loss, and the impact of violence on families and communities. The story centers around Susie Salmon, a 14-year-old girl who is tragically raped and murdered by her neighbor, George Harvey, in 1973. After her death, Susie narrates the story from her personal heaven, where she watches over her family as they struggle with their grief and search for justice.
The novel delves into the dynamics of Susie's family, including her parents, Abigail and Jack Salmon, and her younger sister, Lindsey. As the investigation unfolds, it becomes clear that the emotional toll of Susie's murder drives a wedge between her loved ones. The narrative also highlights the detective, Len Fenerman, and how the community grapples with the horror of such violence.
Throughout the story, elements of magical realism are woven in, as Susie interacts with her classmates and influences events from the afterlife. The progression of the plot reveals not only Susie's journey but also the lasting effects of tragedy on those left behind. Sebold's work invites readers to reflect on the nature of loss, the quest for closure, and the resilience of the human spirit.
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Subject Terms
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
- Born: September 6, 1963
- Birthplace: Madison, Wisconsin
First published: 2002
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Magical Realism
Time of plot: 1973–88
Locale: Norristown, Pennsylvania
Principal Characters
Susie Salmon, a teenage girl who is raped and murdered
Abigail Salmon, her mother
Jack Salmon, her father
Lindsey Salmon, her younger sister
George Harvey, her killer
Len Fenerman, the detective investigating her murder
The Story
On December 6, 1973, fourteen-year-old Susie Salmon takes a shortcut on her way home from school in suburban Norristown, Pennsylvania. She cuts through a cornfield where she runs into her neighbor George Harvey. He explains that he wants to show Susie an underground hideout he has built in the cornfield. Susie follows him down into the hideout, where he rapes and kills her.
Shortly after, Susie finds herself in the afterlife, on a sort of in-between plane. It is a personal heaven, where she can keep watch over her family and Harvey. Three days after her murder, Len Fenerman, the detective in charge of Susie’s case, visits the home of her parents, Abigail and Jack Salmon. He tells them that the police have found Susie’s elbow bone. The parents and Susie’s younger sister, Lindsey, are shocked.
The police search the cornfield and find Susie’s belongings. Along with her schoolwork, they find a romantic letter from Ray Singh, a classmate with whom Susie was in love. The police question Ray, who has a strong alibi for the day Susie was murdered. Rumors spread around his high school, however, which leads to him being ostracized by his peers.
Harvey returns to the scene of the crime to collect Susie’s remains. He puts them into a safe that he dumps in a sinkhole outside of town. Susie sees all of this and discovers that Harvey has murdered several other girls and often dreams of killing more. To help fight his urges to kill children, he murders neighborhood pets.
Nine days after Susie’s murder, the police still have no leads. Detective Fenerman tells Abigail and Jack that Susie is most likely dead. From the afterlife, Susie watches her family drift apart emotionally. Her four-year-old brother Buckley does his best to comfort their parents, though he does not fully understand that Susie is really gone. Abigail becomes distant and withdrawn, while Jack’s frustration drives him to start investigating Susie’s murder on his own.
A few days later, Jack sees Harvey building a tent in his yard and he goes next door to help him. While Jack is there, Susie sends him messages from beyond, which leads him to suspect Harvey had something to do with her murder. Jack informs Fenerman about his suspicions concerning Harvey, but the policeman finds nothing incriminating that would make him a suspect.
Susie begins watching Ray and Ruth Connors, another one of her classmates. Susie had touched Ruth on her way up to her heaven. Since then, Ruth has become obsessed with Susie’s case and begins to see visions of dead people. She writes poetry about Susie and starts spending much of her time before school in the cornfield where Susie was killed. It is there that she meets Ray and the two become close friends.
Two months after her death, Susie’s funeral service is held. Harvey shows up as well as Susie’s grandmother Lynn, who moves in with the Salmons. Although they do not know who Harvey is, Lynn and Lindsey have a feeling that he is the killer.
By the summer of 1974, there is still no progress in Susie’s case. Jack still believes that Harvey is the killer, leading him to frequently call the police to question what they are doing about it. He sees a light in the cornfield one night and when he goes to investigate it, he is attacked by a boy named Brian Nelson who was meeting his girlfriend there. While Jack is in the hospital, Abigail begins having an affair with Fenerman.
Urged on by Jack, Lindsey breaks into Harvey’s house to look for evidence. She finds a drawing of the underground hideout and manages to escape with it as Harvey comes home. As she flees, Harvey sees the back of her soccer jersey. When Lindsey returns home with the drawing, Abigail is shocked that her daughter broke into Harvey’s house and leaves for the family cabin to be alone. She later moves to California and cuts all ties with both Jack and Fenerman. The police question Harvey about the drawing, but he tells them he sketched it in an attempt to solve Susie’s murder. He then flees town.
About a decade passes. Ruth, who now lives in New York City and still thinks about the case, learns that the sinkhole near town is going to be filled in. She travels there to search the area surrounding it. Around the same time, Jack has a heart attack, which draws Abigail back into his life.
As Ruth and Ray are looking around the sinkhole, Harvey drives by, and Ruth has a vision of all the girls he has murdered. This causes her to lose consciousness, and Susie’s spirit takes control of her body. She makes love to Ray, while Ruth travels to Susie’s personal heaven. There, she meets all of George’s victims. Before switching bodies back with Ruth, Susie tells Ray he should read Ruth’s journals. In them, he finds that she has been chronicling the locations and causes of deaths of the victims she has been seeing in visions.
Jack is released from the hospital and Abigail returns home with him. Eventually, they give all of Susie’s belongings away to charity, symbolizing the end of their mourning. In heaven, Susie watches Harvey as he stalks another young girl. She sees an icicle above his head and causes it to strike him. He falls down a ravine to his death. Susie then ascends to a greater heaven.
Bibliography
Bouton, Katherine. "What Remains." New York Times. New York Times Co., 14 July 2002. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
Mendelsohn, Daniel. "Novel of the Year." New York Review of Books. NYREV, 16 Jan. 2003. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
Tidy, Samantha Ellen. In Heaven, as It Is on Earth: Representations of Literary Heavens in Contemporary Literature, With a Focus on Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones. Diss. RMIT University (Australia), 2009. PDF File.
Whitney, Sarah. "Uneasy Lie the Bones: Alice Sebold’s Postfeminist Gothic." Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature 29.2 (2010): 351–73. Print.