Independent Reding Log #2

10/10/2012

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Pages 31-53

11.)    Summary of what I read: As previously established, Susie Salmon has been murdered and now is watching down from heaven as the events following her murder unfold. She watches her family deals with the grief of her passing. She also tells of how as she was leaving her life on earth she accidentally touches a girl named Ruth. Susie is already dead, but as she passes from Earth to Heaven she manages to brush her. She leaves her mark on Ruth, and Susie watches as Ruth’s life unfolds and changes as she deals with what Susie has inflicted on her. In these pages, Susie also describes her eleventh birthday and how she got a camera as her present from her parents. It was her dream to become a wildlife photographer and she describes how much she loved and appreciated her camera.

22.)    Important quote from the text:  “He would find his Susie now inside his young son. Give that love to the living. He told himself this – spoke it aloud inside his brain – but my presence was like a tug on him, it dragged him back back back” (Sebold, 48). When Susie says this she is referring to the “he” as her father and I think that this is an important quote because it describes the slight brokenness of the family now that Susie is gone. Because of Susie’s death her father will always look at his son and see part of Susie and become sad and burdened by the grief of her passing. He will always love Susie immensely and he knows that he needs to give that love to his son, but Susie will always be there in his mind and he will always hold onto her.  

33.)    Connections to the text: Once again I do not feel a very strong connection to this text. I have never lost a child or a sister and because of that it is very hard for me to fully understand what the family in this story is going through. I can imagine, but until I have lost someone so dear to me I don’t think that I can truly understand the pain and suffering that it creates.