99 pages • 3 hours read
Alice SeboldThe Lovely Bones
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2002A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Introduction
The Lovely Bones
- Genre: Fiction; mystery/psychological
- Originally Published: 2002
- Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 809L; college/adult
- Structure/Length: 23 chapters plus unnumbered chapters “Snapshots” and “Bones”; approx. 368 pages; approx. 11 hours on audio
- Protagonist and Central Conflict: Set in 1973 in Norristown, PA, this novel features a 14-year-old girl, Susie Salmon, whose murder has already happened. Susie narrates from heaven as she observes her family begin to reconcile with her tragic death, each in their own way.
- Potential Sensitivity Issues: Rape and murder of a young girl; family trauma and grief; serial killings; some language; alcohol and drug abuse; sexual content
Alice Sebold, Author
- Bio: Born in 1963 in Wisconsin; attempted writing after post-secondary education while living in New York City; published a memoir (Lucky, 1999) just a year after earning an MFA in creative writing at the University of California at Irvine that discusses her trauma and recovery after being sexually assaulted as a college freshman; met with success as a best-selling novelist with The Lovely Bones
- Other Works: Lucky (1999); The Almost Moon (2007); Looking Glass: A Special Edition of The Lovely Bones (2009)
- Awards: Bram Stoker Award (2002); an American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults (2003); Women’s Prize for Fiction (Longlisted; 2003)
CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:
