The Lovely Bones Book Review Essay

Superior Essays
• The Lovely Bones is a captivating novel by Alice Sebold that undoubtedly deserves to be included in the literary canon.
• Puts a spin on the classic murder-mystery as it is told from the victim’s perspective, Susie Salmon
• Telling the story from her own heaven, we gain a personal insight on the diverse range of flawed characters and how they change because of Susie’s death.
• The book also features a variety of literary techniques that help to further enrich the story
• These factors combined create a moving tale of grief and love, and one that I believe is definitely worth reading by all.

• But before I begin, I’d like to tell you a bit about the author. Alice Sebold was born in 1963 in Madison, Wisconsin.
• Her childhood was not the most ideal as her mother was an alcoholic and her
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• In any great novel, the author helps the reader to understand different perspective and ways of thinking.
The Lovely Bones demonstrates this by having the characters expressing their grief over Susie’s death in different ways.
• For example, before Susie died, she and her father Jack used to assemble ships in bottles together. After she died, he tried to cope by destroying all the bottles they made together.
• Susie’s mother Abigail feels that the only way she could deal with her daughter’s death is if she abandons her family and starts a new life far away.
• Lindsey Salmon, Susie’s sister, develops a steely exterior and doesn’t allow herself to grieve publicly in order to appear strong to the people around her.
• Through these characters, the book inadvertently prepares any reader as they will most likely experience a similar situation (that is, dealing with the loss of a loved one) at some point in their lives. Therefore, by reading this novel, the reader learns to empathise with those around them and understand the reasoning behind their

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