The Lovely Bones
Alice Sebold (2002)
“A murdered fourteen-year-old narrates from heaven — watching her family break apart and slowly reassemble while her killer walks free.”
Character Analysis
Fourteen years old at her death, Susie is the most unusual narrator in recent American fiction: she knows the outcome of every plot thread, can observe scenes she was not present for, and is physically incapable of intervening in any of them. Her voice is the novel's greatest achievement — recognizably adolescent yet endowed with the patience of someone who has crossed to the other side of the thing everyone fears. She is never fully at peace and never fully despairing. She watches. She loves. She eventually lets go.
A fourteen-year-old's voice — specific, enthusiastic, sometimes naive, occasionally sardonic. Uses 'I' relentlessly. Never over-explains.