The Lovely Bones Movie Vs Book Analysis

Alice Sebold’s novel The Lovely Bones is a hauntingly beautiful story of a 14-year old girl Susie Salmon and her murder, that the reader won’t want to put down. Sebold demonstrates how everyone in the Salmon family copes with loss in their own way. She also illustrates the struggle that Susie has coming to grips with her own death. The film, however, is different. As the novel was transferred from paper to film Peter Jackson the director let key components of the book get lost in translation. The movie does a disservice to the book because the adaptation of the film weakened the novel’s narrative

The novel The Lovely Bones is about a typical American family that lives in the suburbs of Philadelphia and the horrific event that happens within

the family. Mr. and Mrs. Salmon have two daughters Susie and Lindsey who are only one year apart and one son Buckley who is three years old. As Susie was walking home from school on December 6th she ran into her neighbor Mr. Harvey, who induced her into an underground den. While in the den Mr. Harvey ends up raping and murdering Susie, he then continues to dissemble her body. Even though Susie is dead, she is still able to see everything on earth because she’s stuck in the in-between. While in the in-between Susie is able to watch her family manage the grief of her death, while also watching her killer live life as normal. Sebold is effectively able to explicate the different steps of grief that loved ones go through while experiencing a loss.