The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Chapter 2
Written by Katlyn
Edited by Krystal

When Susie first entered heaven she thought everyone saw the same thing she did. In her heaven the buildings all looked like they were built in the 1960’s and had orange and turquoise blocks, just like Fairfax High. She recalled when her father drive past Fairfax High so she could imagine herself there. She would rule Fairfax a queen, but still be nice. Her dreams on Earth were simple ones.

After a few days in Heaven, Susie began to realize that the other people only appeared in the part of her heaven they shared and she soon met Holly, her roommate. They became friends immediately and created their own heavens together with the help of Franny. They created a duplex and ways to entertain them, but Susie couldn’t have the one thing she wanted, Mr. Harvey dead and her alive. She thought that if she watched Earth and willed it hard enough, she might change the lives of those she cared about.

Her father was the one who accepted the call on December ninth from Len Fenerman learning of Susie’s elbow. Of course, nothing was certain. At least that’s what he told Abigail. For three nights her parents didn’t go near each other as they broke down together. Then one night Abigail burst into tears and Susie’s father held her close as they fell asleep. Susie turned her eyes to the cornfield.

Read the rest of this chapter summary HERE.

Memorable Quotes:

Susie: Following the seventh, eighth and ninth grades of middle school, high school would have been a fresh start. (Page 17)

Susie: I had to forget that I too had made lists in the margins of my notebook when Phoebe walked by: Winniebagos, Hoo-has, Johnny Yellows. (Page 18)

Susie: We had been givem in our heavens, our simplest dreams. There were no teachers in the school. We never had to go inside except for art class for me and jazz band for Holly. The boys did not pinch our backsides or tell us we smelled; our textbooks were Seventeen and Glamour and Vogue. (Page 19)

Franny: “Walk the paths,” Franny said, “and you’ll find what you need.”
Susie: So that’s when Holly and I set out. Our heaven had an ice cream shop where, when you asked for peppermint stick ice cream, no one ever said, “It’s seasonal”; it had a newspaper where our pictures appeared a lot and made us look important; it had real men in it and beautiful women too, because Holly and I were devoted to fashion magazines. (Page 21)

Jack Salmon: “So you can’t be certain that she’s dead?” he asked.
Len Fenerman: “Nothing is ever certain,” Len Fenerman said.
Jack Salmon: That was the line my father said to my mother: “Nothing is ever certain.” (Page 22)

Lindsey: “Dad, I want you to tell me what it was. Which body part, and then I’m going to need to throw up.” (Page 24)

Lindsey: Inside, my sister’s heart closed like a fist. “I’d say it would be pretty hard to play soccer on the soccer field when it’s approximately twenty feet from where my sister was supposedly murdered.”
Susie: Score! (Page 36)

Questions for discussion:

How do you think Susie’s family is going to cope with the loss of their daughter and how do you think she can help them?

How do you feel about the way Lindsey is dealing with her grief? Do you think she is going to break down or stay solid as a rock?

Is there anything else in this chapter you’d like to discuss with the book club?

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