“The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold Essay (Book Review)

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Introduction and overview of the plot

The Lovely Bones is a novel written by Alice Sebold in 2002. The novel got a lot of critical comments and turned to be a constant bestseller.

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It is the narration of a teenage girl who, after being viciously raped and killed, observes from heaven as her people and friends live their own lives without her, while she gets along with the terms with her death. Nevertheless, rather than write this story as a crime novel, which had been written lots of times previous to it, Sebold narrates the story from Susie’s point of view: the dead victim informs her own story. This draws the attention from anticipation to the poignant collision of such an offense. The Lovely Bones suggests in minute feature just how much was taken from this teenage girl, and how much she missed out on, but it also outlines in beautiful, tender detail how these aggressive and unmerited offense disfigures her family. Her mother parts with her father for eight years. Her father attempts to catch Susie’s murderer and is crippled in the course of the investigation. Susie’s sister and brother are coerced into affecting recoil, turning to be very remote from their formerly friendly family.

Sebold lived through the original occurrence that the main character suffered; it isn’t unexpected that The Lovely Bones detains her anguish so well. What is remarkable is how Sebold joins well-selected detail and beautiful prose to catch poignant images of the whole suffering society, and how well she civilizes the serial rapist and murderer Mr. Harvey, but without ever explaining his awful crimes.

Themes

Grounded on her own real-life undergo of rape, Alice Sebold raises a dreadful and offensive theme – the rape and killing of a child, and from this dark backdrop interlaces a distressing, thought-infuriating, and uplifting tale of lasting love, getting, and salvation.

The novel is fundamentally a coming-of-age story. The narrator is Susie Salmon, a 14-year-old girl from a usual family with the general expectations and dreams of a teenage girl on the edge of maturity.

Unfortunately, Susie is killed by a neighbor in 1973 and her remains were never found. Her family experiences excruciating pain and misery, yet from her meticulous description of rapture. Susie observes the lives of the people she left on the earth open out over years.

Moreover, the story is heartbreaking in some episodes; it is never gloomy or slushy. The manner is always of expect and hopefulness. Susie although reasonably regretful, ultimately takes her destiny and studies how to be happy despite what she has lost and as the years go on, her relatives and friends find powers that help them to ultimately live their lives after such a loss.

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The theme of grief is the most significant one in the book. The author gives to realize clearly what this family undergoes. In her book, she narrates the story of her rape and almost slaughter. This type of experience can be so overwhelming that the sufferer must lament what happened to her and how she has transformed. After getting to heaven, Susie can look down and see her family as they resist their feelings about her killing. The family has forever changed after Susie’s murder. Susie looks at the gradual parting of her parents, and her siblings and friends become adults and have practices Susie can only observe. Her mother wants to escape from her sentiments, while her father, Jack, desires to tackle those sentiments straight on. Jack Salmon, discontented with the investigation and starts his own on Susie’s killing. This inquiry directs Jack to suspect George Harvey. Nevertheless, police cannot capture Harvey as there is absolutely no verification connecting Harvey to Susie.

The family is not the only people impacted by Susie’s murder. Raj Singh is the first and only boy Susie kisses in her life, and he is the first at suspicion. He is rapidly discarded by police, by remainder haunted by the reminiscence of Susie’s death. Ruth Connors, a not-liked girl in Susie’s class, is also entailed in the occasions by Susie’s death. She is the final person Susie handles as her soul leaves this world. Consequently, Ruth turns out to be preoccupied with death and even starts watching the dead on Earth. Ray and Ruth become eternally connected in their split sorrow and sympathies.

George Harvey, Susie’s murderer, is also observed by Susie. In paradise, Susie convenes and studies the stories of all of his casualties. Susie witnesses Harvey conceal her body, stretch out to her family and the police, and escape from the misdeeds he has entrusted. Susie wishes to help the people catch her murderer, but can only observe as the police and her relatives try to gather confirmation and find her killer.

If comparing the “Lovely bones” with other novels, it is necessary to mention, that the style of narration is unique for the literature, as no one told the story from the viewpoint of the killed person, but, as for the theme of grief, the novel named “Grief” is a novel by American author Andrew Holleran, issued in 2006. An open homosexual, Holleran maintains the reputation of a respected writer of Gay Literature. It reveals the mattes of killing the main character and further changes in his friends’ lives after the tragic loss.

Yet, as with the fiction of James Salter – the writer Holleran’s prose most evokes – this slender volume conjures up a rich and deeply seductive, satisfying world, one that welcomes readers gay, straight, single, coupled or otherwise.

Another novel is “Lord of the Flies”. When Lord of the Flies was first released in 1954, Golding described the novel’s theme in a publicity questionnaire as “an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature.” In his 1982 essay A Moving Target, he stated simply “The theme of Lord of the Flies is grief, sheer grief,

Conflict

Susie, as the central character of The Lovely Bones, states her story as the storyteller and witness of how life modifies in a family where a kill occurs. She offers the reader a deep consideration of each family member and how they tolerate the sorrowful procedure. She is staying a 14-year-old girl forever and so, even while she can examine what occurs to those she loves, she has an intricate time taking her death and moving on to her “wide, wide Paradise.”

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On the exterior, the adversary is Mr. Harvey. Nevertheless, he is a serial murderer with deep mental troubles. He is a hazard to any young girl whom he looks for to “liberate from her horrifying existence.” However, another rival is much deeper: sorrow and the responsibility that associates with it. The Salmons is not so much in a struggle against the killer of their daughter and sister. They are in rivalry with themselves and everyone as they attempt to get along with the tragedy that has happened in their family. This rivalry endures for eight years, pending all entailed have undergone each step of their sorrow, comprising Susie.

The culmination of a plot is the key turning point that permits the key character to resolve the conflict. This minute comes when Susie has her biggest desire come true: she creates love with Ray Singh through the wonder of penetrating Ruth’s body. This permits her to “become an adult” and so enter the paradise where she really must be.

In the conclusion, every family member has taken his or her manner of feeling sorrow for Susie and cut the string that connects him or her to Susie, wires that keep Susie attached to Earth. They advance with their existing and Susie takes her death.

Conclusion

Telling the story from the viewpoint of the murdered victim is an innovative concept. generally, Alice Sebold maintains things heartrending, attracting the reader’s attention, and her style is forever reliable with the themes and motives of the novel. Nevertheless, the flaws delineated above mean that I did not benefit from this novel quite as much as lots wanted to, in esteem to its uniqueness.

References

Golding William, Lord of the Flies, Perigee Books, 1959.

Holleran, Andrew Grief, Hyperion publisher, 2006.

Sebold, Alice The Lovely Bones Little, Brown and Company publishers, 2002.

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IvyPanda. 2022. ""The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold." June 10, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-lovely-bones-by-alice-sebold-review/.

1. IvyPanda. ""The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold." June 10, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-lovely-bones-by-alice-sebold-review/.


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IvyPanda. ""The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold." June 10, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-lovely-bones-by-alice-sebold-review/.

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