In the tragic tell all tales of “The Lovely Bones” emotions are heightened and perspectives are changed. While this is a fiction book, it tells a story that is not unheard of in the real world. Through this, the reader is able to comprehend and relate much more easily; the theme becomes apparent to the reader very easily by the end of the book. In “The Lovely Bones”, Alice Seabold is able to portray that the reaction of tragedies in what shapes people, showing this through characters growth. Along the plot line it becomes obvious Seabold is showing the human nature ways of mourning, the effects one person has on everyone, and how in the end people grow from tragic events.
Lovely Bones starts off with the narrator Susie, a fourteen year old girl living in the 70’s, with as much of a normal teenage life you could imagine. As she takes her normal shortcut home she comes across her familiar looking neighbor, Mr. Harvey. Her parents seem to be fond of him so she beckons to his call, as he shows her an underground dugout he made. His deceit results in Susie’s rape and murder which then sets the tone and story line for the rest of the book. In Susie’s after life, she has her own heaven which consists of watching the current lives of the people she was close too. Lindsey is Susie’s younger sister, who she seems to watch much more than the others. Lindsey faces Susie’s death with silence and solitude, nonetheless trying to solve the murder of her sister. She, along with her father, suspects Harvey but never find enough evidence to incriminate him. Jack, Susie and Lindsey’s father, has an especially hard time with his daughter’s death. His undying love is represented throughout the story. Susie’s mother, Abigail, deals with Susie’s death much like her daughter in the way that she often results to solitude and silence. However, differing from all the others, Abigail becomes lost and tries to find herself in the detective on the case. After sleeping with Detective Len Fenerman, she then leaves her family for California where she stays without contact. It isn’t until Jack has a heart attack that brings the family together again.
Throughout the whole book it is transparent that the theme is that how one deals with tragedies alters and shapes who they are; but in the end it makes you much stronger. And how everyone mourns and recovers in their own way. Lindsey’s growth is the most apparent, however very subtle. With the death, Lindsey becomes distant to friends and school mates, but she maintains a relationship with Samuel. He helps fill the void Susie and her mother left, and eight years later proposes to Lindsey. Jack and
