Lovely Bones: Quotes with Importance

"She was standing in my path that night when my soul shrieked out of Earth. I could not help but graze her. Once released from life, having lost it in such violence, I couldn't calculate my steps... In violence it is the getting away that you concentrate on." (Sebold 41).     This quote describes the moment when Susie is leaving Earth, her soul has left her body. When this happens she sees a girl named Ruth and when she sees this girl she touches her, making Ruth have a dream about what has happened to Susie. The next day she tells her mom what she sees and Ruth describes what seems to be so real. Her mother doesn't think anything of this and told Ruth to leave it alone. I think that Ruth has some importance to Susie that hasn't been told yet.
     This has importance within Susie's death, I was wondering, why Ruth?  Why did Susie's soul encounter this girl before she made her way up into the in-between? I am now starting to think that Ruth might be helpful in the investigations of Susie. I can start to conclude that Ruth met Susie in this way for a very specific reason. I predict that Ruth helps find Susie's murderer and helps the police complete the investigation so that Susie can finally rest in peace.

Lovely Bones : The Investigation

In my book the girl Susie Salmon gets murdered. As they look for Susie they find multiple clues leading them to believe she is dead. I also believe that each of these pieces of evidence is a symbol.
     The first symbol I came across was a piece of evidence, her elbow. The elbow gave her family devastation but hope. The elbow symbolizes the pieces of Susie that will never return, It also makes sense that the elbow would stand for the smallest part of Susie, the elbow shows the amount of HOPE Susie had in her life, she didn't have very much. There are many ways that the author of the story hints this to us. The author states various flashbacks that happens during Susie's life, all of them showing her insecurities and her biggest insecurity was her lack of hope.
     The second symbol I found was also another piece of evidence, her book. As the police go further and further into the investigation they find more and more evidence making it ore apparent that Susie is dead. The book that the police found in the corn field was "To Kill A Mocking Bird" . Not only does the title show symbolism but even why she had the book in the first place. In the story it says that in order to receive this book you must have completed the other books on the class list. Since Susie has possession of this book it shows that she was very smart. Also this smartness lead to curiosity.
     In conclusion the two symbols I chose, if put together are what resulted in Susie's murder. The reason Susie went into the cabin with this man is because she was curious and she didn't follow her mothers instructions and let the man manipulate her into staying with him in the cabin. Also since Susie was not hopeful she didn't try to live even if she could have she just gave up her fight to early.

                                                                       

Setting in LOVELY BONES

The story takes place in two common but uncommon places, the in-between and Earth. Both of theses places have special meanings to them but also are there to give the story two perspectives. When having to very different settings it is usually hard to keep track of where you are in the book and what is happening, but since this books settings are taken place in two majorly different places it is a lot easier to keep track of where you are in the book.

The in-between in this story is pretty surreal. In the picture above it shows Salmon in the in-between before she goes to heaven, the only reason she stays in the in-between is so she can see her family catch her murderer. So far nothing major has happened in the in-between but I predict that she can connect with her family in a way while she is up there and she will help her family solve the murder of Salmon and she can finally rest in peace.

The setting that takes place on Earth holds a lot of major events also. This is where Salmon got murdered and where (prediction) her killer will get caught. The setting of this town that Salmon lives in is very rural but yet suburban community. Her neighbors are close but other neighborhoods are farther away and as you can see in the photo her neighbors also have big back yards, big enough that they can farm in them. Even though the in-between seems like a really cool and well developed setting I still think that the setting that takes place on the Earth in the rural but suburban neighborhood will be my favorite.  

New Book- Lovely Bones

     I just finished Paper Towns and the next book I am going to read is Lovely Bones by: Alice Sebold. I haven't gotten a chance to actually start reading this book but I have heard many things about it, viewed many ratings and reviews on this book and I am very excited to actually start reading this book! This book also is very dark and deep so I would only recommend this to people who are 13 and older. Since I really don't know anything else about the book I would like to share my thoughts on what i think the book will contain and more info about the author.
     I think that this book will be very good, yes I believe that there also will be some boring parts to it but other than that I think I will enjoy it a lot. It is about this girl who is 14 (my age) and she gets murdered and instead of going straight into heaven she is stuck in the in between, she wants to help her family figure out who murdered her. In this mysterious yet intensifying story to help Salmon rest in peace knowing that her killer was punished for what he did.
     The author Alice Sebold is the author of Lovely Bones. Alice has also written more books such as; The Almost Moon and Lucky. Alice writes a lot of her books about murder and tragedy. Some compare her to Steven King, the author of Children of the Corn and other extremely haunting stories. The reason she writes about stuff like this is because she writes about what she has experienced not necessarily the murder but everything else that came with it. Actually the book Lucky is about her experience in college. If you want to read more about Alice Sebold click on the link below:
                                                                                               The biography of Alice Sebold

Paper Towns: my personal review

I am just coming to the end of Paper Towns and I wan't to share my thoughts about the book. 

     Rating: My rating of Paper Towns on a 1-10 scale would have to be a 7. There were some good and some bad to the book. I really enjoyed how the author showed us Q's and Margo's friendship by their actions and it wasn't described by the narrator or it wasn't described by their words either. What I didn't like about the book was that in the end *SPOILER ALERT* Margo and Q realize that there relationship will never be more than just friends. This kinda disappointed me because I was really hoping that they would end up with something special.

      Who Would Enjoy This Book: I would  recommend this book to anyone who is interested in mystery and young-adult fiction. Basically any age would be suited to read this book. My range for age would be 12-adult. I think this book would be good for people 12-adult because Paper Towns isn't to sophisticated but its also not an easy read. There are many symbols hidden in this book but also the author foreshadows a lot about the plot and theme. 

     Reviews: “Green’s prose is astounding — from hilarious, hyper-intellectual trash talk and shtick, to complex philosophizing, to devastating observation and truths. He nails it–exactly how a thing feels, looks, affects–page after page.”

-Johanna Lewis, School Library Journal, starred review

“A suspenseful mystery, a compelling central metaphor, and one of those road trips that every senior hopes he or she will have round out this exploration of the kind of relationship that can’t help but teach us a little bit about ourselves.”

-Bulletin for the Center of Children’s Books, starred review

“A powerfully great read.”

-VOYA

                       

                                               

Paper Towns: The Good and the Bad

        The best thing about my book is the connection between the two characters, Q and Margo. In the beginning of the story Q and Margo are young and get along very well. They go on adventures together and they become inseparable. Slowly as they get older they grow apart. They begin to have different friends and different friend groups. Even as this happens Q still holds strong feelings for Margo and the author, John Green, shows it in his text will examples like: "Margo Roth Spiegelman's silver Honda was parked in its usual spot" (Green 12). and "I smiled at Margo even though she couldn't see me... It wasn't even that she was pretty. She was just so awesome, and in the literal sense" (Green 14).                                         

    The fact that Q knows where Margo's "Silver Honda" is parked every morning shows some signs of obsession. Even as they Margo forgot about Q, Q never forgot about Margo. Margo always had a special place in his heart for her. You can tell by reading some of the things that Q does that he has major feelings for Margo and that he always has ever since he was little. Also in my second quote Q proclaims his love for Margo and later on he considers asking her to prom. I haven't gotten far enough to know what actually happens with there relationship but I hope its something good. 

        The worst thing about the book so far is that I feel like all the action is towards the beginning and none will be left for the end of the book. All of the revenge is toward the beginning and all that i am expecting will be left is punishment for what they have done. I also have made a new prediction for Q, he will do something illegal for Margo and lose his acceptance to the college of his dreams but he will eventually get over it because he will win over Margo and they will live a good life together. 

Paper Towns

Text to Text Connection: 
I believe Paper Towns can have a text to text connection with 13 Reasons Why. Yes there plots are very different but during the beginning of Paper Towns I realized that the two books have some in common. Such as in Paper Towns and 13 Reasons Why both of the books start of by mentioning some ones death. This also allows me to want to keep reading to find out what happened and how it connects more to the story. Also both of the deaths were suicides. This could be a symbol for the darkness in both of the main characters lives when the girl of there dreams isn't around. The girl who killed herself in 13 Reasons Why was the main characters crush. Also in Paper Towns the main character discovered this dead body with his crush. Also after these discoveries both of the characters drift away from the one they love and become distant but after awhile they reunite. The reuniting in 13 Reasons Why isn't just about getting together with the one you love its about excepting the problem that they had with each other and in some way, shape or form making it up to them.
                                                             
                  Be instantly linked to the 13 Reasons Why webpage by clicking the photo above
Text to World Connection:
In Paper Towns my text to world connection involves suicide. In the first couple of pages in the book, Paper Towns it talks about Q and Margo going to visit the park and a man was laying on the floor with a gun near him. This is a major problem in today's society. "approximately 1,700 die by suicide each year" states Janice Shaw Crouse (American Thinker). Since this is such a big problem and it has been brought to my attention, I used it as my test to world connection.

Check Out More About American Thinker  

Text to Self Connection: 

I can relate to Paper Towns because in the beginning of the story it talks about how Q and Margo were really good friends and they slowly grew apart as they got older. This happened to me with an old neighbor once she moved away. When we were little we would always hang out and have the greatest time but as soon as she moved away I we slowly became less and less connected. We went on vacations together but that slowly stopped with the rest of our childhood friendship. Now all we send to each other is Christmas cards.