"Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold

Alice Sebold’s novel “The Lovely Bones” is a very sentimental, yet also straightforward, look at the lives of one family who are coping with the disappearance and then ultimate truth of the murder of one of their family members. The family member was a young girl and she is in heaven. She is the voice of the novel, the one who observes all the life that takes place in her family, and in other people, as they grow and cope with her death. Her name is Susie and she has a certain level of power when it comes to helping her family. But, at the same time she often just watches and allows them to grow on their own, as she is up in heaven. The following paper examines this story, focusing on the character of Susie.

The Lovely Bones
As mentioned in the introduction, this story, or the plot (one literary element) is about the family of one young girl, Susie Salmon. Susie is in heaven and when the story begins she is already there and beginning to experience the wonder of heaven. She then notes her family below, still alive and on earth, not knowing she is dead. She has been kidnapped and they do not know what has happened. Susie, from...