Bibliographic Information: Sebold, A. (2002). The Lovely Bones. Little, Brown and Company, New York, N.Y. ISBN: 9780316168816
Plot Summary: This haunting tale is told by fourteen year old Susie Salmon who is already in heaven. Susie observes her old friends, her family and her killer. She also explores the place called heaven. As the story unfolds, the killer remains elusive but gradually some clues unfold. Susie's father and sister finally figure out that the killer is one of their neighbors.
Critical Evaluation: In reading this tale, I was deeply affected by the sadness I felt for Susie, her family and boyfriend. Sebold does an excellent job of eliciting feelings of loathing and hatred for Susie's killer. By the end of the novel, Sebold does a wonderful job of bringing the positive out of a horrible deed. The reader feels that Susie, her family and boyfriend have finally found peace and closure with the massive amount of grief and misery they had been going through since the loss of Susie. It is a wonderful book about healing.
Annotation: Fourteen year old Susie Salmon is brutally murdered and narrates the story from heaven.
About the Author: Alice Sebold has led a very interesting life. She grew up in Philadelphia and went to college at Syracuse University. While at Syracuse, Alice was brutally raped. Later she recognized her rapist and reported him to the police. She testified against him and he received the maximum sentence. After she graduated from Syracuse she went to the University of Houston for graduate school. She didn't finish because she got into drugs. She moved to New York and tried to pursue her writing career but was still into drugs, including heroin. She ended up moving to Southern California and became a caretaker of an arts colony. Sebold ended up back in graduate school, this time at the University of California, Irvine.
Sebold's first book, Lucky, was written while she was at UCI. Lucky is a memoir of her rape. The police had told Sebold that she was lucky to be alive after her rape. After Lucky, Sebold published The Lovely Bones which became a national bestseller and made into a major motion picture. Sebold wrote The Almost Moon in 2007 which also deals with a terrifying event: killing of a mother.
Plot Summary: This haunting tale is told by fourteen year old Susie Salmon who is already in heaven. Susie observes her old friends, her family and her killer. She also explores the place called heaven. As the story unfolds, the killer remains elusive but gradually some clues unfold. Susie's father and sister finally figure out that the killer is one of their neighbors.
Critical Evaluation: In reading this tale, I was deeply affected by the sadness I felt for Susie, her family and boyfriend. Sebold does an excellent job of eliciting feelings of loathing and hatred for Susie's killer. By the end of the novel, Sebold does a wonderful job of bringing the positive out of a horrible deed. The reader feels that Susie, her family and boyfriend have finally found peace and closure with the massive amount of grief and misery they had been going through since the loss of Susie. It is a wonderful book about healing.
Annotation: Fourteen year old Susie Salmon is brutally murdered and narrates the story from heaven.
About the Author: Alice Sebold has led a very interesting life. She grew up in Philadelphia and went to college at Syracuse University. While at Syracuse, Alice was brutally raped. Later she recognized her rapist and reported him to the police. She testified against him and he received the maximum sentence. After she graduated from Syracuse she went to the University of Houston for graduate school. She didn't finish because she got into drugs. She moved to New York and tried to pursue her writing career but was still into drugs, including heroin. She ended up moving to Southern California and became a caretaker of an arts colony. Sebold ended up back in graduate school, this time at the University of California, Irvine.
Sebold's first book, Lucky, was written while she was at UCI. Lucky is a memoir of her rape. The police had told Sebold that she was lucky to be alive after her rape. After Lucky, Sebold published The Lovely Bones which became a national bestseller and made into a major motion picture. Sebold wrote The Almost Moon in 2007 which also deals with a terrifying event: killing of a mother.
Retrieved February 7, 2010 at: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/writers/writerdetails.asp?cid=996944#bio
Genre: Fiction: Supernatural Thriller, Coming-of-age, Fantasy Fable
Curriculum Ties: None
Book Talking Ideas: What is it like to be in heaven and see all the people you love? What is it like to be in heaven and see the man that brutally murdered you?
Reading Level/ Interest Age: 14 and older
Challenge Issues: The content deals with disturbing issues and the reading level may be somewhat controversial. The Lovely Bones was originally written as an adult novel but became a YA novel because YA's were eating it up. Conservative Christians have complained that Susie's heaven is devoid of any religious aspects.
Reason for Inclusion: This is one of those novels that is very disturbing but one that the reader will never forget. It is a very sad story but, in the end, gives the reader hope and recovery.
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