Lisa of Troy’s Comments (group member since Jun 14, 2022)

Lisa of Troy’s comments from the The Lovely Bones Readalong group.

Welcome to Day 23/The Last Day of the Readalong!

Thank you everyone for participating in the Readalong!

Did you enjoy this book? Did you enjoy the ending?

Going full tilt since January, I am going to pause the Readalongs for now. I am still going to continue to read the books so please feel free to direct message me or drop a comment on my reviews!

Welcome to Day 21!

Do you think Susie's body will ever be recovered?

Why do you think Mrs. Salmon came back when she hasn't changed her ways?

Welcome to Day 19!

I have to admit that I don't like the way the last few chapters were written. I much prefer when authors go deep instead of vague. To me, the last few chapters seemed like a high level overview of many years.

Also, do you find it strange that nothing happened in the 5 years before the father's heart attack? Between two children, no one broke an arm or required stitches?

Do you think that the Salmons would have been able to move on if Susie's body was found?

Welcome to Day 17/Chapter 17!

Isn't it interesting how grief can bring us closer together and also drive us farther apart?

Does it seem to you that the father is more attached to Lindsey and everyone is less attached to Buckley?

Chapter 17 marks the one year disappearance of Susie. At what point do you think that people move on?

A very long time ago, when I was about Susie's age, a girl that I know was killed in a murder-suicide. This has always stayed with me. After about 10 years, I went to visit her grave, and I noticed that there were no flowers. It was as if life had just moved on for everyone else.

Welcome to Day 15 and 16/Chapter 15 and 16!

Do you think Mr. Harvey will ever be brought to justice?

Do you think Mrs. Salmon is going to leave her husband?

Would it be better for the family to move away?

Welcome to Day 14/Chapter 14!

What did you make of the mom's question, "How?" when she was asked, "Shall we head back?" That is a great point: How does this family head back?

Do you think that Lindsay will be caught going into Mr. Harvey's house?

Why do you think Grandmother cares about her daughter's affair? How did she know?

Welcome to Day 12/Chapter 12!

No one is surprised that Mr. Salmon had a nutty. Do you think that someone should have gotten Mr. Salmon help in advance? And who should that have been?

Why do you think Len can law down the law with Mr. Salmon but he kisses the mother?

Welcome to Day 11/Chapter 11!

What do you think happened in the cornfield?

Do you think that Len was correct in telling Mr. Salmon to cool it?

Welcome to Day 9 and 10/Chapters 9 and 10!

What do you think about Grandma? Is she making Susie's death all about her?

Chapter 10 was interesting in the sense that True Crime has become more popular. Do you think that people forget that real people are involved? Can we become desensitized to violent crimes?

Welcome to Day 8/Chapter 8!

Do you feel sorry for Mr. Harvey? Because I don't......

I actually feel worse because he doesn't even seem to be troubled by what he did.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Welcome to Day 7/Chapter 7!

What do you think of Buckley, the little brother? Will he grow up and even remember Susie? Will he always live in her shadow? What will it be like for him with parents always reminded of his older sister? Will his parents be cool with him having sleepovers at someone else's house?

Welcome to Day 6/Chapter 6!

Do you think Mr. Salmon should take matters into his own hands?

Why do you think Seebold included the portion of the book about the teacher with the paddle? Why didn't she just jump into that the front was locked so Susie went around the back?

Welcome to Day 5/Chapter 5!

Mr. Salmon asks the police to investigate Harvey, and Samuel comes over on Christmas Day.

Have you ever been convinced of something, everyone thought you were crazy, and you turned out absolutely right?

Have you ever been deeply touched over a small gesture?

Welcome to Chapter 4/Day 4!

Do you think Mr. Harvey will ever be found out? Will he face the criminal justice system?

How would Mr. Harvey know that the safe was "just air" if he lost the combination? Why do you think that Mr. Harvey accepted Mr. Salmon's help?

Do you think that Susie will ever be able to control the flowers in her father's world?

@Christopher - Please feel free to post at any time consistent with the reading schedule. Please don't feel that you have to wait for me to post!

I should have mentioned this earlier, but I do like how Susie is bored after only a few days in heaven. Have you ever achieved something in life, something that you thought would make your life perfect, only to grow bored or disappointed rather quickly?

Second, I found it interesting the contrast in parenting between now and the time of this story. Ruth comes in smelling of marijuana. Her parents say that they hope she is making some new friends. How do you think that the parents would react in 2022?

Chapter 2 -

I loved the sister's reaction. It is in such sharp contrast to the other overreactions.

Isn't it incredible how we can start to dream of other things once we have seen them?

Have you ever held to a belief that you knew deep down wasn't true because you couldn't face the truth?

Recently, I was reading a book about storytelling, how authors have to decide where to start the story, the beginning, middle, or end. Most authors usually start in the middle (according to the author).

This book starts at the end. What other books have you read that start with the main character's death? The only other one that I can think of is The Death of Ivan Ilyich.

Hi Everyone! Thank you so much for joining The Lovely Bones Readalong! I'm so glad that you are here. Please do introduce yourself.

I'm Lisa of Troy and will be hosting this readalong. This is my first time going through The Lovely Bones. However, I have heard more about this book than all of the other books on my reading list for the year combined!

There will be another thread called, "Readalong Discussion (no spoilers/spoilers keeping pace with readalong)." That will be where you can log in and view/post discussion for the book.

Hi Everyone!

Thanks for joining today! This thread is to discuss The Lovely Bones as we progress through the book. The purpose for this discussion board is to keep pace with the schedule posted.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!