The Lovely Bones: Characters

 I have recently finished reading The Lovely Bones. All in all, it was a really good book. However the book wouldn't be nearly as good if it weren't for the characters. Each character had an important role to play in this book. There were multiple complex characters, that developed over the course of the text. It was the whole Salmon family: Susie, Lindsey, Buckley, Jack, and Abigail.

 
Susie was the character that changed the most throughout the book. In the beginning of the book, she was a typical teenager. She attended school, had sibling drama, and even had a crush on Ray Singh. "He kissed me by my locker the day before we turned in our photos for the year book. When the yearbook came out at the end of the summer, I saw that under his picture he had answered the standard 'My heart belongs to' with 'Susie Salmon'. I guess he had plans. I remember that his lips were chapped" (Sebold 13). After Susie was killed, and went to heaven, she still missed her life on Earth. She spent most of her time watching her family, and Ray from heaven. She also was constantly wishing to still be alive. "I could not have what I wanted most: Mr. Harvey dead and me living. Heaven wasn't perfect. But I came to believe that if I watched closely, and desired, I might change the lives of those I loved on Earth" (Sebold 20). Susie was with her family in spirit, everyday. By the end of the book, Susie decided that it was time to let her family live their lives, and didn't keep as much of an eye on them. "I was done yearning for them, needing them to yearn for me. Though I still would. Though they still would. Always" (Sebold 318). As you can see, what was important to Susie at the beginning out the book, is different than what is important to her now. She used to be all caught up in the dramas of being a teenager, but now all she wishes for is to be with her family.

Buckley Salmon, and Lindsey Salmon are Susie's siblings. In the beginning of the book, they didn't know how to handle life without Susie there to support and guide them. "Of everyone in the family, it was Lindsey who had to deal with what Holly called the Walking Dead Syndrome- when other people see the dead person and don't see you. When people looked at Lindsey, even my father and mother, they saw me. Even Lindsey was not immune. She avoided mirrors. She now took showers in the dark" (Sebold 59). This quote shows how Lindsey was scared to look in the mirror since she would see Susie in the reflection. Buckley wasn't having an easier time with all of this either. "He wanted something neat, something that could explain death to a four- year- old. He placed his hand on the small of Buckley's back. 'Susie is dead,' he said now, unable to make it fit in the rules of any game. 'Do you know what that means?' Buckley reached over with his right hand and covered the shoe. He looked up to see if his answer was right" (Sebold 69). This is an important quote because it is the first time that Mr. Salmon knows that Buckley understands what was happening. Mr. Salmon and Buckley were playing Monopoly. Whenever Susie played Monopoly, she was the shoe. When Buckley covered the shoe with his hand, it was his way of saying that Susie was gone. After playing Monopoly that night. Buckley took the shoe back up to his room to keep as a part of Susie. By the end of the book, Lindsey and Buckley still think of Susie often, but they are still able to live their lives. "If I'm to be honest with you, I still sneak away to watch my family sometimes. I can't help it, and sometimes they still think of me. They can't help it" (Sebold 323).

Jack and Abigail Salmon are Susie's parents. They were a really tight-knit family until Susie's death. After Susie died, they had a hard time being in the same room together. "For three nights. . . [he didn't know] what to say. Before, they had never found themselves broken together. Usually, it was one needing the other but not both needing each other, and so there had been a way, by touching, to borrow from the stronger one's strength. And they had never understood, as they did now, what the word horror meant" (Sebold 20). In the middle of the book, Abigail Salmon left her family. She traveled across the United States, wanting to try and get rid of her problems. She missed major parts in Lindsey and Buckley's life. She wasn't there when Lindsey got engaged. However, towards the end of the book, Jack had a heart attack, and ended up in the hospital. She flew all the way home to make sure he was okay. Abigail was planning on going back to California, but she decided to stay. "My mother, for her part, was thinking moment by moment that she might be able to survive being at home again" (Sebold 316).