Who is the real Susie Salmon?
Susie Salmon from The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Although no one would ever wish for Susie Salmon's character to be inspired by real events, it is based on a young girl's murder in Norristown, Pennsylvania in the 1970s.
| Susie Salmon | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1959 |
| Died | December 6, 1973 |
| Cause of death | Murdered by George Harvey |
| Portrayed by | Evelyn Lennon (aged 3) Saoirse Ronan (aged 14) |
Lindsey Salmon, Susie's younger sister by one year. She tries to help her father investigate Harvey.
On December 6, 1973, he lures his 14-year-old neighbor Susie Salmon into an underground "clubhouse" he had built in the woods near his house, and rapes and murders her once she is in his power. He then dismembers her body, puts her remains in a safe and dumps them in a landfill.
Of course, the Salmon family gets some closure in knowing what happened, but Susie's body is never recovered nor is Harvey apprehended. Lindsey is forced to live knowing that she nearly suffered the same fate as her sister.
Yes — kind of. The afterlife storyline, in which Susie watches her family from purgatory, is not real. But the original author of the book, Alice Sebold, stated that the story was partially based on a real rape and murder of a young girl in Norristown, Pennsylvania, who was kidnapped from her parents in the 1970s.
Mr. Harvey collapses the underground room where he raped and killed Susie. Then he puts her "body parts" (4.1) in a bag, which he puts in his garage, while he goes up for a shower. Susie will learn later that he killed other girls before her.
Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) of Norristown, Pennsylvania narrates a story that begins in 1973, when she was a typical fourteen-year-old in a loving family to which no bad things ever happened.
Susie runs home to find Harvey soaking in a bathtub. After seeing the bloody bathroom and her bracelet hanging on the sink faucet, Susie realizes she never escaped the underground hideout because Harvey murdered her. Screaming, she is pulled into the "In-Between", which is neither Heaven nor Earth.
While still grieving over Susie's death, Jack also struggles with his life as his wife leaves home. He must raises and protects his remaining children alone while he also needs to deal with the grief of accepting Susie's death.
Who was Susie's roommate in heaven?
Holly. Holly is Susie's roommate in her first heaven, but we don't get her back-story.
She becomes infatuated with the lead detective on her daughter's case, Len Fenerman, and within a year the two embark on an ill-fated affair. When Abigail realizes that even adultery will not fill the gaping hole in her heart, she leaves her family and travels out west to California.
George Harvey, Known As 'Crackhead Bob' On 'The Howard Stern Show,' Dead At Age 56. George Harvey, better known as “Crackhead Bob”, died at the age of 56 at his Texas home.
Like many real serial killers, Harvey, the fictional character in the 2002 bestseller "The Lovely Bones," lived a seemingly normal life among his neighbors, evading suspicion and cleverly eluding capture.
George Harvey, Susie's killer, is never caught and punished in the novel. While Susie is watching life on earth from the afterlife, she follows Harvey...
The experience transforms him entirely, and though he returns to his life and his studies, he becomes a confirmed believer in the soul, the afterlife, and the power of desire to “break through” the well between worlds.
Clarissa is Susie's close friend when she's alive. But, Clarissa can't hold up to the demands of being friends with a dead person. Granted, the scene with Jack Salmon sort of attacking her in the cornfield would alienate anybody, but she didn't have to go gossip about it at school.
Susie is saying that a) she sees her loved ones and their stories as the bones of a body of earthly happiness, of life; and b) she can stop anxiously hovering over them, because they are OK.
Donald Harvey (April 15, 1952 – March 30, 2017) was an American serial killer who claimed to have murdered 87 people, though official estimates are between 37 and 57 victims. He was able to do this during his time as a hospital orderly. His spree took place between 1970 and 1987.
George Harvey is a sadistic serial killer known for raping and murdering at least seven girls. He eventually gets killed by falling off a steep hill after trying to lure another girl into his car.
How old is Susie in The Lovely Bones?
Though she doesn't meet outstanding achievements or noble qualities, she symbolizes courage in and many other heroic qualities. She's only fourteen when she's beaten, raped, and murdered by her neighbor, Mr. Harvey. Susie tells us her story from the afterworld in her own heaven.
Ruth is Susie's age, fourteen, when Susie dies. She and Susie had recently become friends, connecting over Ruth's art. Ruth is ghost-Susie's Earthly counterpart. Susie wishes she were alive and is constantly pressing against the Inbetween, trying to break through to Earth.
The conflict of the novel is between the protagonist and the forces that throw obstacles in her way. It seems that it is the conflict between the heaven where Susie lives and the life on Earth she once had. The most obvious representative of the antagonistic forces is the girl's killer, Mr. Harvey.
The Lovely Bones Chapter 2.
Representing her "safe place," the gazebo appears as a shining beacon in a watery glade, a crumbling structure in a stormy wood and elsewhere.
Harvey puts the bag with Susie's body parts into a safe and dumps the safe into a sinkhole about eight miles from the Pennsylvania neighborhood. Afterwards, he walks around an industrial park. He finds Susie's charm bracelet in his pocket, and doesn't remember taking it off of her, or putting it in there.
Driven by the encouraging words of his neighbor, Ruana Singh, Jack goes off into the cornfield one night to catch someone he believes to be Harvey, setting out for another kill—but it is just a pair of necking teens, and Jack is beaten badly both physically and psychologically by his failure.
...
Appears in:
| Jack Salmon | |
|---|---|
| Portrayed by | Mark Wahlberg |
Susie Salmon is just like any other young girl. She wants to be beautiful, adores her charm bracelet and has a crush on a boy from school. There's one big difference though – Susie is dead. Now she can only observe while her family manage their grief in their different ways.
She returns eight years later after eight years, after Jack has a heart attack, and she is able to see how much she's loved Jack all along. She's learned about herself while she's been away, and she's learned about him as well.
Why did the mother leave in The Lovely Bones?
When Abigail learns Susie is dead, she can no longer keep up the façade. She becomes an adulteress (to get all Scarlet Letter on you) and then an abandoner of her family.
JUSTICE STORY: New Jersey's 'Angel of death' Nurse Charles Cullen murdered scores, perhaps hundreds, of patients in his career. This deadly angel of mercy was always able to find new victims. Over 16 years, Cullen was fired or forced to resign from at least five Pennsylvania and New Jersey hospitals.
...
Oklahoma Girl Scout murders.
| Casualties | |
|---|---|
| Doris Denise Milner, age 10 | |
| Deaths | 3 |
| Suspects | Gene Leroy Hart |
| Verdict | Not guilty |
Like many real serial killers, Harvey, the fictional character in the 2002 bestseller "The Lovely Bones," lived a seemingly normal life among his neighbors, evading suspicion and cleverly eluding capture.
George Harvey, Known As 'Crackhead Bob' On 'The Howard Stern Show,' Dead At Age 56. George Harvey, better known as “Crackhead Bob”, died at the age of 56 at his Texas home.
Mr. Harvey is a sexual predator, a rapist, a serial killer. He's the 36-year-old neighbor who rapes and murders Susie, within minutes of her own home. Although indispensable to the novel, his story is always secondary to the stories of Susie and her loved ones.
No, Susie Pierce isn't a real person. But Alice Felzmann is. Felzmann likely serves as the inspiration for the fictional Susie. Carter and Felzmann were on a travel softball team together in the spring of 2012.
The Bathroom Scene
After she is killed, she goes to the Inbetween, a place that is neither heaven nor Earth. Susie, who is unable to move on from her death, stays in the Inbetween and watches the aftermath of her death unfold on Earth.
JUSTICE STORY: New Jersey's 'Angel of death' Nurse Charles Cullen murdered scores, perhaps hundreds, of patients in his career. This deadly angel of mercy was always able to find new victims. Over 16 years, Cullen was fired or forced to resign from at least five Pennsylvania and New Jersey hospitals.
...
Oklahoma Girl Scout murders.
| Casualties | |
|---|---|
| Doris Denise Milner, age 10 | |
| Deaths | 3 |
| Suspects | Gene Leroy Hart |
| Verdict | Not guilty |