The Lovely Bones Themes

Do you like suspenseful novels that you just cannot put down because they’re so good? While I highly suggest that you read The Lovely Bones if you are into crimes and investigations. This book just happened to catch my attention and put me in the shoes of the main character. It was written by Alice Sebold, who is best known for being an educator, poet and author. The Lovely Bones was one of her bestselling books since Gone with the Wind. Throughout the selection the themes were grief, isolation, love and mortality. Overall the main theme would be grief because it’s portrayed all throughout the novel. Susie Salmon is a fourteen year old girl who was raped and killed by her neighbor Mr. Harvey. She is watching down from her in-between heaven while her family is struggling to survive with grief and trying to find her killer.
On a snowy afternoon, Susie is walking home from school and decides to take a shortcut. She sees Mr. Harvey, a man from her neighborhood standing in the field. He convinces her to come down and check out something he has built but when she realizes something is wrong and tried to leave he pulls her down, forces her to have sex with him and then later kills her. He cuts her up and puts her body parts in a safe and takes it to a sinkhole. Most of the story is told from her in-between heaven, while in …show more content…
Susie’s death was a blessing in disguise because it built connections that formed after she passed that rebuilt a structure ruined by a horrible tragedy. All of the themes Sebold uses throughout the novel all intertwine and connect to fit the message of the novel which is how to deal with grief. Susie makes the readers feel her and her family’s emotions as she takes us on an emotional roller coasters. When she finally gets to witness a miracle and learns to let go it allows her to enter the Heaven she truly belongs