The Lovely Bones

Title: The Lovely Bones
Author: Alice Sebold
ISBN: 1600240682 (Audio Book)
Narrator: Alice Sebold

Plot Summary: Susie Salmon is a teenager living in a suburb of Philadelphia. When she is brutally raped and murdered by a neighbor, her family must cope with their grief, loss, and determination to find Susie's killer and bring him to justice. Susie is not her killer's first victim, but he has evaded capture for many years, and this time is no exception, although he is eventually met with a form of justice. While all this is taking place, Susie watches her family's goings-on from heaven, eventually witnessing their slow rebirth as a functional family unit, and the continuation of life in the form of her sister's child.


Critical Evaluation: This book is not a murder mystery in the conventional sense: we know who the killer is from the start, he is never officially brought to justice, and although some of Susie's belongings have been found by the end of the book, only one part of her body is ever discovered. Those expecting a "happy ending" in which all the loose ends are tied up will be disappointed by this book's semi-inconclusive ending, and readers used to fast-paced, suspenseful narratives will be turned off by its rambling pace. However, for those willing to adapt to Sebold's narrative style, this book provides a fascinating look at how both murder victims and their families cope with grief, loss, and making peace with their fate. Sebold's narration of her own work, although she has no professional voice acting experience, is calm and effective in depicting the horrific events of Susie's experience, as well as the peace that she and her family eventually find.


Reader's Annotation: After Susie Salmon is raped and murdered as a teenager, she watches her family from heaven as they struggle to come to terms with her death. It will be a long road for both Susie and her family as they seek peace and acceptance, but both the dead and the living will one day rediscover happiness.

About the Author: Alice Sebold was born in 1963 in Antigo, Wisconsin, and grew up in the suburbs outside Philadelphia. She was raped as a student at Syracuse University and testified against her assailant, who received the maximum sentence. Sebold later recounted this story in Lucky, a memoir of this experience that she wrote while attending graduate school at UC Irvine. Sebold also met her husband, Glen David Gold, at UCI, and married him in 2001. She has written one other novel, The Almost Moon, has contributed to numerous literary anthologies, and edited the 2009 edition of The Best American Short Stories. The Lovely Bones has been made into a major motion picture, directed by Peter Jackson, soon to be released.

Genre: Fiction: Murder

Curriculum Ties: None

Booktalking Ideas:

Hook: Susie isn't the first person George Harvey has killed.
Approach: Plot and character-based.
Ideas for Booktalk: Reader finds out gradually about Harvey's victims: who they are, how he killed them, how he treated them before killing them, and eventually why he did so to begin with. Examine traumatic childhood, and how this causes Susie to feel some sympathy for her killer. Is this sympathy justified? Examine how he has evaded detection for so long, and whether or not he finally meets with some form of justice by the book's end.

Hook: Susie's mother has an affair with the detective who worked her daughter's case.
Approach: Plot-based.
Ideas for Booktalk: Discuss circumstances leading up to the affair: father's outraged attack on Susie's best friend's boyfriend (a case of mistaken identity), his subsequent injury, the fact that Len Fenerman has exhausted all leads on the case and has come to let Abigail, the mother, know that the police are dropping her daughter's case. How would this information not prevent Abigail from having an affair with Len, and how did the other circumstances lead to it?


Reading Level/Interest Age: Adult/High School

Challenge Issues: Rape, character death, violence, sexual content.
This book begins with the brutal rape, murder, and dismemberment of an underage girl, and as such may not be appropriate for younger or more sensitive readers. After Susie's death, her mother begins an extramarital affair with Len Fenerman, the detective investigating Susie's case. This affair, although adulterous and therefore potentially morally offensive to some readers, may be seen as a coping mechanism for a woman in despair that her daughter's murder may never be solved. The actual circumstances of Susie's death are not described in a gratuitous fashion, but it is only by knowing them from the beginning that readers can ultimately come to appreciate the peace she and her family find at the story's end. Although I would probably recommend this book remain in the Adult Fiction section, I would recommend it to any teenager mature enough to handle the themes it describes.


Why I Chose This Book: I listened to The Lovely Bones expecting a typical "happy ending" to a tale of murder: killer brought to justice, family presented with the loved one's remains, all parties reaching definitive closure. While I was disappointed in this respect, what the book had to offer instead was a resolution that is ultimately both more spiritually forgiving and more peaceful. The main take-away this book has to offer to readers is the chance to examine the grief process from the perspectives of those who pass on as well as those left behind.