Blog Entry #1

Blog entry #1

I first read Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold sometime during my winter vacations. I was bored, and when I found the e-book online, I thought of it as an ordinary novel and started reading it. When I finished reading it, however, I fell in love with it almost immediately.

Now, I have lots of favourite authors, but then you have authors whom I love for their writing style, and authors whom I respect for their writing style.

I would say that Alice Sebold is somewhere in between the two categories.

Her book, Lovely Bones, set in a small town near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1973 to 1981, describes how the murder of Susie Salmon affects the rest of her family. The family goes through the five stages of grief, as mentioned below in detail, and in the end, comes to terms with her death.

The five stages of grief are:

1. Shock or denial- The first reaction is denying the reality. You cannot believe your loved one is dead, and believe it to be a mistake. 

2. Anger- As the denial begins to wear off, you start to feel angry. You feel angry towards objects, strangers, and even the deceased person.

3. Bargaining- This is when you start to think 'If only we sought medical attention earlier', 'If only i was a better person' and other 'If only's. 

4.Depression- The sadness you feel when you are preparing to let go of the person. Sometimes, all you really need is a hug. 

5.Acceptance- You finally accept the fact that yoru loved one is gone, and are finally moving on. 

The first chapter starts with ‘My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie.’

This sentence has a lot of power and importance in the sotry as it is used by Susie to identify herself, and because even after she goes to heaven, she is still Salmon, like the fish, with the first name susie. Its one thing that doesn’t change, its who she is, and is used by her to identify herself.

The chapter describes how George Harvey, a young bachelor who lives in the same neghburhood as Susie lures her into his hiding place, which he claims is a clubhouse for the kids. Susie tries to leave, but instead he violates her body, stuffs her hat into her mouth to keep her quiet and stabs her with his knife, hacking her body into separate parts.  We must remember that in 1973, people refused to believe that girls could get raped and murdered. Also, a fourteen year old girl back in those days had the maturity of an eleven year old girl nowadays. Susie noticed the warning signs but naively followed him into his underground hiding place.

The second chapter deals with Susie reflecting on her dreams for her life- visiting high school, setting an example, having a boyfriend- all the things she would never get a chance to do. She goes to heaven, and makes friends with a girl named Holly. Heaven is said to be a place where you get whatever you want, whenever you want. When the girls meet their mentor, Fanny, they realize they have unconsciously been wishing for a mother.

Meanwhile, back on earth, her family refuses to accept the loss of their daughter, saying ‘Nothing is ever certain.’  (This is the first step in the five stages of grief- shock and denial) Susie’s elbow is found by a dog, but even then her mother remains optimistic, saying that her daughter can survive without an arm. Soon, her school books and notebooks are found as well. When her hat is found, her family enters the second stage of grief- anger. Her mother wails and her father cries, while her sister Lindsey builds up walls around her to portect herself. She starts distracting herself by studying and working out, pushing everyone away from her.

In chapter three, she recalls the night she died. That night, she ran into Ruth, a girl from her school. Ruth wasn’t very popular in school, preffering art over sports. Ruth sees Susie's soul going to heaven, and while her mother blames her imagination, Ruth starts writing poems to help her cope. She starts investigating Susie’s death.

At the Salmon household, Lindsey, while going through Susies room, finds a few photographs. We learn that Susie was an avid photographer, and one of the best photos she had taken was of her mother. Her mother was without any make-up, any jewellary, she wasn’t the well presented woman everyone else saw. That was a new, mysterious side to their mother that neither Susie nor Lindsey have ever seen.

Her dad gets the courage to visit the upstairs room that is full of ships in bottles. He and Susie used to spend hours working on those bottles, and in a fit of rage, he breaks all of them. Susie accidently reveals herself in the glass pieces but her father believes he is going crazy and laughs. He reflects on how much he loves Buckley, his son, and that Susie lives on in him, and how he must stay strong for his children.

The next chapter describes how Mr.Harvey disposed of Susie’s body, by throwing it in the sinkhole. Her father starts to suspect Mr.Harvey, saying that he is wary of the man and is sure that he has something to do with Susie’s murder.

Chapter five deals with her father asking the detective assigned to Susie’s case, Len Fenerman to question Mr. Harvey. He does so, and finds nothing suspicious about him. However, Mr.Harvey slips up, calling his late wife ‘Leah’, which puzzles Susie’s dad as he thought his wife’s name was ‘Sophia’. It is revealed that both of these names belonged to girls who were killed by George Harvey.

It is Christmas day, and the Salmon family gets a surprise from Samuel, a boy form Lindsey’s grade. He gives Lindsey a gift, and Mr.Salmon finally tells Buckley that his sister is dead. Samuel and Lindsey kiss, and Susie says she feels ‘alive’, watching her sister move on and be happy.