The Lovely Bones: Overview

I am half way through The Lovely Bones now. I like this book, although it is a little slow moving at times. The protagonist's name is Susie Salmon. She was 14 when she was killed by her next door neighbor, Mr. Harvey. Susie was on her way home from school one afternoon, when she ran into her neighbor, Mr. Harvey. Mr. Harvey seemed friendly enough, so when he insisted on showing Susie his little clubhouse, she willingly followed. This little clubhouse he built was underground. Since Susie was so curious, the thought of escape never ocurred to her. " 'This is neato!' I said to Mr. Harvey. . . I hadn't used the word neato in pubic since elementary school" (Sebold 9). This quote shows how cool Susie thought this little clubhouse was, that Mr. Harvey made underground.

Susie was killed that night in the cornfield, in the hole that Mr. Harvey called his 'clubhouse'. Susie's parents called the police that night to report that Susie was missing. "In the hours I was murdered, as my mother made phone calls and my father began going door to door in the neighborhood looking for me, Mr. Harvey had collapsed the hole in the cornfield and carried away a sack filled with my body parts" (Sebold 49). A couple of days later, one of  their neighbors' dog's found Susie's elbow. This and a few other clues, indicated to the police working on the case, that Susie Salmon was dead. A few days later, a memorial service was held for her. "They walked into the cramped vestibule of our church. I wanted to snake up my father's back, circle his neck and whisper in his ear. But I was already there in his every pore and crevice" (Sebold 109). After the memorial service, Mr. Salmon becomes aware that Mr. Harvey could have murdered his daughter. How will Mr. Salmon prove to the police that Mr. Harvey is the murderer?