Checkpoint #3: Reading Skills

I am over half way done reading The Lovely Bones. I have a couple of questions about what I have read so far. Did Mr. Harvey actually have a wife? In the beginning of the book it said that he had a wife, who died many years ago. "Mr. Harvey was a single man who, it was said, had meant to move in with his wife. She had died sometime before this" (Sebold 63). This quote makes it sound like Mr. Harvey had a wife, but I found another quote, that goes against this.
" 'What did he say about the tent?'
'That he built it for Leah, his wife.'
'I remember Mrs. Stead told Abigail his wife's name was Sophie,' my father said" (Sebold 65). This makes me question whether or not Mr. Harvey actually had a wife. I predict that Mr. Harvey just made up that he had a wife, to use as a cover story. I think he used the names of previous people he had killed, to use as his wife's name.

Another question I have is- Why won't the police investigate Mr. Harvey more, since Mr. Salmon is pretty sure Mr. Harvey killed his daughter? " 'I have something I need to say on behalf of the station and myself.'
'Yes.'
'We need you to stop making calls about George Harvey.'
'But. . .'
'I need you to stop. There is nothing, no matter how much we stretch it, to connect him to Susie's death. Howling dogs and bridal tents are not evidence.'
'I know he did it,' my father said.
'He's odd, I agree, but as far as we know he isn't a killer.' " (Sebold 133). This quote shows how the police are going to stop investigating Mr. Harvey since they don't have any evidence against him. I predict that the Salmon family, all on their own, will gather enough evidence to prove Mr. Harvey's guilt. The police will then arrest Mr. Harvey for killing multiple people and animals. "Sitting down, she braced her body with her arms and then kicked once, twice, three times with both feet until the window smashed- a muffled cracking" (Sebold 177). In this quote, Lindsey, Susie's younger sister, broke into Mr. Harvey's house, and found her first solid piece of evidence. This is the quote that helped me make the prediction.

While reading this book, the bond between Susie and Lindsey is very similar to the bond between Kate and Anna Fitzgerald, in My Sister's Keeper. Lindsey misses Susie a lot, and memories of the time they spent together, just come flooding back to her. "She couldn't stop the memories slamming into her. Every one had a brutal report. Buckley riding on my shoulders down the stairs. Our mother steadying me as Lindsey looked on, jealous that I could reach, with the silver star in my hands, the top of the Christmas tree. Me sliding down the banister and asking her to join. Both of us begging the comics off our father after dinner. All of us running after Holiday as he barked and barked. And the countless exhausted smiles awkwardly dressing out faces for photos at birthdays, and holidays, and after school. Two sisters dressed identically in velvet or plaid or Easter yellows" (Sebold 179). This quote shows just the beginning of how much Lindsey misses Susie. They shared a lot of good memories. The same is for Kate and Anna Fitzgerald in My Sister's Keeper. At the end of this book, Anna dies in a car accident, and Kate is flooded with memories of the times they shared together. Whether they were at the hospital for one of Kate's treatments for her leukemia, or at home, they spent the majority of their time together. "And then, as if we conjured her, the last picture was of Anna. It had been that long since we'd used the camera, plain and simple. She was on a beach towel, holding out one hand to the photographer, trying to get whoever it was to stop taking her picture. My mother and I sat at the kitchen table staring at Anna until the sun set, until we had memorized everything from the color of her ponytail holder to the pattern of fringe on her bikini. Until we couldn't be sure we were seeing her clearly anymore" (Picoult 423). This quote shows how much Kate misses Anna. In both of these books, the sisters have a strong bond.

I can personally connect to Lindsey in The Lovely Bones. Even though I don't know what it feels like for your sister to be murdered, I do know what it is like to have a sister who died. Just like Lindsey, I'm going through a grieving process, where memories will just start flooding back to me. Whether it is from a vacation, being in the hospital ,or just day to day life. I could look at a picture for a while, and remember every part of it. I also feel like my sister is watching over me, in a similar way that Susie watches over her family.

There is also a connection between The Lovely Bones and this article. I agree with this article when it says, "What happens to one impacts the others in some way. . .siblings share a genetic, familial bond that ties them emotionally and invites conscious and unconscious identification." I think this quote connects the book because Susie's death impacted Lindsey and their younger brother, Buckley.  After Susie died, their parents didn't pay as much attention to Lindsey and Buckley. They just sort of kept to themselves. This article overall connects to the book because they both present the topic of the loss of a sibling, and how it can be hard for the whole family.