Isn't She Lovely

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold is an overwhelmingly powerful novel. The subject matter—consisting of rape, death, and grief—alone is emotional and heart wrenching. The realism of her characters’ sense of humanity only adds to the drama of the literature. Suzie Salmon, a young girl who is murdered in the beginning of the story, tells the story of her family while looking down on them from her heaven. By removing Suzie from the plotline of her family, Sebold creates a perfect way for her reader to get inside the minds of Suzie’s family.

After suffering the loss of a loved one, any human is susceptible to going through all of the stages of grief: denial, anger, sadness, aloofness, and desperation. Sebold includes all of these human reactions in the recovery of her characters. Almost every character has a specific way of coping with Suzie’s death, some very different from others—just like in real life. For example, Suzie’s father Jack clings to the idea that she is still alive for as long as a lack of evidence can permit. Once acknowledging her death, he weeps and smashes the products of his and Suzie’s hobby—building ships within bottles. From heaven Suzie watches and says, “I watched him as he smashed the rest. He christened the walls and wooden chair with the news of my death…” Immediately after demolishing the reminders of his dead daughter, Jack Salmon falls into a fit of sobbing, so weakened that he can’t even conceal his anguish from his very young son, Buckley. Sebold portrays in Jack anger, sadness, and denial. Scenes like the boat-smashing one are present throughout the course of The Lovely Bones and are so realistic that they compel the reader to cry along.

Unlike her father, Suzie’s sister Lindsey copes with her loss in a very different way. Lindsey emotionally shuts down and physically distances herself from others. Upon returning to school, Lindsey withdraws into her own mind even more when a concerned faculty member tries to address the issue. Sebold gives a perfect example of Lindsey’s shutting others out with her and Mr. Caden’s conversation. Mr. Caden asks Lindsey if she would like to “talk about it.” When Lindsey replies, “What?” he answers with, “Your loss.” After hearing this, Lindsey, cold and blank, says only, “I wasn’t aware I had lost anything.” Sebold mastered the art of bringing tension to life with this scene. Every description of Lindsey’s body language, speech, or habits evokes this same awkward avoidance of the reality of her pain. For many human beings, this is a necessary step in the route to recovery.

Along with the humane and natural, there is the inhumane and the disturbing. Unlike either her daughter or her husband, Suzie’s mother Abigail chooses a path of recovery that to most readers is as shocking and horrendous as George Harvey’s twisted murders. Upon losing her daughter, Abigail Salmon also causes her other two children to lose a mother. She abandons her family for an affair, some plans to escape, and job at a vineyard. By showing a human’s capabilities for such selfishness in others’ time of need, Sebold nicely contrasts both the goodness and indecency that tragedy can bring out in people. Sebold so completely humanizes her characters that the reader can actually feel what they feel and experience their hardships. (557)

ABC's :]

To Mr. Coon,

I was born with fondness for reading. My mom encouraged me to read whatever and whenever I could throughout my youth. Therefore, I developed the ability to read quickly but thoroughly early in life. Upon entering my teenage years, school became more demanding and pleasure reading took a back seat to my participation in both social and athletic activities. Although I do not read as much as I should or would like to, I enjoy every page of the novels that I can find time to read. My favorite genre is historical fiction. Authors of historical fiction novels give personalities to well-known figures in history and thereby bring them to life. The information presented in a historical novel is much more fun to read and much easier to absorb than the information found in strictly factual history textbooks. I like reading because it is easy to get lost in the world you are reading about. I often find myself so far immersed in a story that I cry, laugh, and relate with the narrator. Since I am so busy during the school year, summer is really my only opportunity to discover new authors and read their works.

Unlike reading, which came so naturally to me, writing has always been a struggle. I never seem to be able to get my thoughts on paper. One word in a sentence that doesn’t quite feel write could plague me for hours and detain me from moving on with my thought process. I also have a hard time knowing what to look for when I do research and I begin papers without a concise idea of where it is headed. My topic sentences are generally weak and I have trouble focusing the body of the paragraph around them. I feel as though I have only ever written two papers that I am actually proud of. One was a “Describe Your Bedroom” paper for Dr. Allison and the other was a “Describe a Person” paper for Miss Garagiola. Obviously description is my most-favored writing style. Though writing is most definitely my biggest academic weakness, I look forward to developing and honing my skills in your AP class.

Your student,
Chelsea Robbins
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