257:. Abigail's mother, Grandma Lynn, moves into the Salmons' home to care for Lindsey and Buckley (the younger brother). Eight years later, Lindsey and her boyfriend, Samuel Heckler, become engaged after finishing college. They find an old house in the woods, owned by a classmate's father, and decide to fix it up and live there. Sometime after the celebration, while arguing with his son Buckley, Jack suffers a heart attack. The emergency prompts Abigail to return from California, but the reunion is tempered by Buckley's lingering bitterness for her having abandoned the family for most of his childhood.
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238:. George Harvey, her 36-year-old neighbor, a bachelor who builds doll houses for a living, persuades her to look at an underground kid's hideout he constructed in the field. After she goes into the hideout, he rapes and murders her. He puts her remains in a safe that he dumps in a sinkhole, and throws her charm bracelet into a pond. Susie's spirit flees toward her personal Heaven; it rushes past her classmate, social outcast Ruth Connors, who sees Susie's ghostly spirit.
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with a baseball bat. The figure is not Harvey, but
Clarissa, Susie's best friend who is dating Brian, one of Susie's classmates. As Susie watches in horror from heaven, Brian—who was going to meet Clarissa in the cornfield—nearly beats Jack to death, and Clarissa breaks Jack's knee, as they believed he was after them. While Jack recovers from knee replacement surgery, Susie's grieving mother, Abigail, begins an affair with the widowed Det. Fenerman.
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Harvey has killed and is physically overcome. Susie, watching from heaven, is also overwhelmed with emotion. She feels that she and Ruth transcend their present existence; her spirit enters Ruth's body. Ray senses her and is stunned. The two make love as Susie has longed to do after seeing her sister and Samuel's love. Afterward, Susie returns to heaven and Ruth to her earthly body.
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Meanwhile, Harvey returns to
Norristown, which has become more developed. He explores his old neighborhood and notices the school is being expanded into the cornfield where he murdered Susie. He drives by the sinkhole where Susie's body rests and where Ruth and Ray are standing. Ruth senses the women
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These were the lovely bones that had grown around my absence: the connections—sometimes tenuous, sometimes made at great cost, but often magnificent—that happened after I was gone. And I began to see things in a way that let me hold the world without me in it. The events my death brought were merely
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Later, Detective Len
Fenerman tells the Salmons that the police have exhausted all leads and are dropping the investigation. That night, Jack peers out of his den window and sees a flashlight in the cornfield. Believing Harvey is returning to destroy evidence, Jack runs out to confront him, armed
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The Salmon family initially refuses to believe that Susie is dead, until a neighbor's dog finds Susie's elbow. The police talk to Harvey, finding him odd but not suspicious. Susie's father, Jack, gradually suspects Harvey. Jack's surviving daughter, Lindsey, eventually shares this sentiment. Jack
268:, Harvey is hit on the shoulder by an icicle and falls to his death down a snow-covered slope into the ravine below. At the end of the novel, a Norristown couple finds Susie's charm bracelet but don't realize its significance. Susie closes the story by wishing the reader "a long and happy life".
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Trying to help her father prove his suspicions, Lindsey sneaks into Harvey's house and finds a diagram of the underground den. She leaves when Harvey unexpectedly returns. The police do not arrest
Lindsey for breaking and entering. Harvey flees from Norristown. Later, evidence is discovered that
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secured the book's film rights. In a 2005 interview, he said the reader has "an experience when you read the book that is unlike any other. I don't want the tone or the mood to be different or lost in the film." In the same interview, regarding Susie's heaven, he said the movie version would
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Sebold has said that she did not intend the book to be religious, "but if people want to take things and interpret them, then I can't do anything about that. It is a book that has faith and hope and giant universal themes in it, but it's not meant to be, 'This is the way you should look at the
38:
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Critics in the US were generally positive; many noted that the story had more promise than the concept suggested. "This is a high-wire act for a first novelist, and Alice Sebold maintains almost perfect balance", wrote
Katherine Bouton in
577:"is a determined reiteration of innocence, a teeth-gritted celebration of something not dismembered or shattered at all, but continuous: the notion of the American family unit, dysfunctional, yes, but pure and good nonetheless."
557:, based on mostly American publications, the book received "positive" reviews based on seven critic reviews, with one being "rave" and five being "positive" and one being "mixed". The book received a 72% from
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takes an extended leave from work. Meanwhile, another of Susie's classmates, Ray Singh, who had a crush on Susie in school, develops a friendship with Ruth, drawn together by their connection with Susie.
348:, the first and only boy to kiss Susie, who becomes Ruth's friend. He is an initial suspect in Susie's death, but proves his alibi. Years after her death, Susie's spirit spends a brief time with him.
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considers that the novel was "very readable" but "ultimately it seems like a slick, overpoweringly saccharine and unfeeling exercise in sentiment and whimsy". Hensher notes too that "It's a very
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The film opened to a limited release in three U.S. theaters on
December 11, 2009, and received international and wide release on January 15, 2010. It was met with mixed reviews, but garnered an
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322:, Abigail's mother, an eccentric alcoholic, comes to live with the Salmons when Jack asks her for help after Susie's death. After Abigail leaves, Lynn helps raise her grandchildren.
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Susie moves to a larger part of Heaven, but occasionally watches earthbound events. Lindsey and Samuel have a daughter they name
Abigail Suzanne. While stalking a young woman in
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as her family and friends struggle to move on with their lives while she comes to terms with her own death. The novel received critical praise and became an instant bestseller.
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372:, the police detective in charge of investigating Susie's death. His wife had committed suicide some time before the events of the novel. He has an affair with Abigail.
316:, Susie's younger brother by 10 years. His unplanned birth had forced Abigail to cancel her plans for a teaching career. He sometimes sees Susie while she watches him.
338:, a classmate whom Susie's spirit touches. Ruth becomes fascinated with Susie, despite having barely known her, and begins writing about seeing visions of the dead.
390:, Clarissa's boyfriend. He sees Jack Salmon holding a bat with a distraught-looking Clarissa nearby. He assumes Clarissa is Jack's victim, and severely beats Jack.
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the bones of a body that would become whole at some unpredictable time in the future. The price of what I came to see as this miraculous body had been my life.
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The novel's title is taken from a quotation at the novel's conclusion, when Susie ponders her friends' and family's newfound strength after her death:
378:, Susie's best friend. Susie had admired her because of Clarissa's freedom to do things, such as smoke and wear platform shoes, which Susie could not.
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links Harvey to Susie's murder and those of several other girls. In heaven, Susie meets Harvey's other victims and sees into his traumatic childhood.
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reported on reviews from several publications with a rating scale for the novel classified under "Love It", "Pretty Good", "Ok", and "Rubbish":
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On
December 6, 1973, 14-year-old Susie Salmon takes a shortcut home from school through a cornfield in
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endeavor to make it appear "somehow ethereal and emotional, but it can't be hokey". The film stars
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of young girls. Susie refers to him in the novel as Mr. Harvey, as she had addressed him in life.
280:, a 14-year-old girl who is raped and murdered in the first chapter. She narrates the novel from
194:. It is the story of a teenage girl who, after being raped and murdered, watches from a personal
436:, Mr. Dewitt's wife, an English teacher at Susie's school. She teaches both Susie and Lindsey.
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coach at school. Mr. Dewitt encourages
Lindsey, a successful athlete, to try out for his team.
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400:. She took her American name from the character Holly Golightly, played by
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551:(4.5 out of 5) based on an aggregate of critic reviews. According to
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328:, the Salmons' neighbor who murders Susie. He is revealed as a
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Abigail leaves Jack and eventually takes a job at a winery in
1022:"The Lovely Bones stage adaptation UK tour casting announced"
969:"Peter Jackson confirms The Lovely Bones as his next project"
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366:, Sam's older brother who runs a motorcycle repair shop.
19:
This article is about the novel. For the 2009 film, see
420:. She becomes Susie and Holly's mentor in their Heaven.
650:(Tucci), and other praise for his and Ronan's acting.
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Yoori Kim (design); Daniel Lee (photo-illustration)
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514:reviews fell under a conclusion of "Rubbish".
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1085:Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel winners
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442:, the principal of Susie and Lindsey's school.
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1044:A Dark First Novel Suddenly Soars to the Top
664:A stage adaptation of the novel, adapted by
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1075:American fantasy novels adapted into films
775:"Books of the moment: What the papers say"
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523:Nov/Dec 2002 issue, the book received a
360:, Lindsey's boyfriend and later husband.
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676:on 1 September 2018. It also toured to
478:review was classified under "Love It",
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940:Viner, Katharine (August 24, 2002).
860:""The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold"
746:Bouton, Katherine (July 14, 2002).
526:
190:is a 2002 novel by American writer
1080:American novels adapted into plays
983:"The Lovely Bones Box Office Data"
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971:. Movieweb.com. January 18, 2005.
674:Royal & Derngate, Northampton
672:, made its world premiere at the
635:as Susie's Grandmother Lynn, and
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1145:Little, Brown and Company books
921:"An eternity of sweet nothings"
1135:Novels about spirit possession
753:The New York Times Book Review
561:based on five critic reviews.
463:The New York Times Book Review
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733:10.1016/S0262-4079(09)63264-4
711:(2009). "The Lovely Bones".
686:Birmingham Repertory Theatre
1125:Novels about psychic powers
1110:Novels about serial killers
1105:Novels about missing people
678:Everyman Theatre, Liverpool
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1140:Novels about the afterlife
1115:Novels set in Philadelphia
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416:, a woman who worked as a
304:, not returning for years.
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16:2002 novel by Alice Sebold
484:under "Pretty Good", and
292:Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania
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23:. For the 2018 play, see
781:. 7 Sep 2002. p. 58
384:, Buckley's best friend.
236:Norristown, Pennsylvania
1120:Novels set in the 1970s
1070:American bildungsromans
997:"The Lovely Bones Tour"
660:The Lovely Bones (play)
606:The Lovely Bones (film)
25:The Lovely Bones (play)
21:The Lovely Bones (film)
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407:Breakfast at Tiffany's
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894:"A perfect afterlife"
648:Best Supporting Actor
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210:play of the same name
1100:Novels set in heaven
1065:2002 American novels
502:reviews under "Ok".
455:Alice Sebold in 2007
919:(August 11, 2002).
892:(August 17, 2002).
779:The Daily Telegraph
725:2009NewSc.204Q..42H
639:as Lindsey Salmon.
631:as Abigail Salmon,
469:The Daily Telegraph
398:Vietnamese American
179:PS3619.E26 L68 2002
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1049:The New York Times
1003:. 15 February 2018
1001:britishtheatre.com
985:. The-numbers.com.
942:"Above and Beyond"
833:"The Lovely Bones"
806:Bookmarks Magazine
801:"The Lovely Bones"
690:New Wolsey Theatre
627:as George Harvey,
520:Bookmarks Magazine
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1150:2002 debut novels
1130:Novels about rape
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202:A film adaptation
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759:January 29,
670:Melly Still
637:Rose McIver
573:wrote that
434:Mrs. Dewitt
364:Hal Heckler
352:Ruana Singh
288:Jack Salmon
1059:Categories
1027:2018-11-02
1007:2018-11-02
953:August 14,
890:Smith, Ali
844:16 January
838:Book Marks
817:14 January
696:References
554:Book Marks
424:Mr. Dewitt
302:California
272:Characters
255:California
610:Director
565:Ali Smith
447:Reception
342:Ray Singh
167:813/.6 21
120:audiobook
116:paperback
79:Publisher
505:Observer
487:Guardian
376:Clarissa
154:48495099
112:hardback
63:Language
874:12 July
785:19 July
721:Bibcode
110:Print (
66:English
496:, and
428:soccer
414:Franny
282:Heaven
196:heaven
45:Author
481:Times
394:Holly
346:India
216:Title
126:Pages
74:Novel
71:Genre
955:2011
876:2024
846:2024
819:2023
787:2024
761:2010
688:and
508:and
382:Nate
230:Plot
148:OCLC
135:ISBN
114:and
94:2002
1046:in
729:doi
717:204
590:God
567:of
517:In
499:TLS
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582:'
409:.
27:.
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