Lovely Bones -- Do you think her time back on earth was well spent?
Valenia
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Lovely Bones -- Do you think her time back on earth was well spent?
Susie got a chance to come back to earth, and she spent it having sex. Do you think that was time well spent?
Should she instead have thought about putting her family's minds at ease with her time?
jennbaby
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Re: Lovely Bones -- Do you think her time back on earth was well spent?
I'd rather have spent it with my parents
jenny11.9
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Re: Lovely Bones -- Do you think her time back on earth was well spent?
I wasn't sure she had that choice?
jennbaby
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Re: Lovely Bones -- Do you think her time back on earth was well spent?
very true jenny. i think she went to ray through ruth and thats they only choice she may have had
LisaT
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Re: Lovely Bones -- Do you think her time back on earth was well spent?
but once she was there, she could have gone anywhere. Maybe she thought Ray was the only one she could convince that she was Susie and not Ruth, but I would still have gone to my house and hugged my family. Told them what happened to me so they could be at ease (even if they thought Ruth was crazy with this story).
jenny11.9
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Re: Lovely Bones -- Do you think her time back on earth was well spent?
I think the siblings would have benefited from that. But the parents seemed to be too far gone in different directions to appreciate it. And maybe there was a part of Susie that understood that she could only do so much to convince them of her well-being, and that the time might be better used to feel something she hadn’t been able to feel for the 'right' reasons. That she died knowing sex as only something that took her life, and this was her opportunity to find the joy and love in that companionship.
LisaT
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Re: Lovely Bones -- Do you think her time back on earth was well spent?
but after having your first sexual experience be something violent, wouldn't you be less likely to want to try it again? -especially as a child...
This goes back to her sounding much more mature than she should have been. At 13 or 14, her being able to have that kind of awareness (that you mention Jenny), seems unrealistic.
shamma
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Re: Lovely Bones -- Do you think her time back on earth was well spent?
I would have spent the time leading them to my killer/ my body. But I think she feels as if its the one thing she almost did or wanted to do and did not get the chance to
jenny11.9
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Re: Lovely Bones -- Do you think her time back on earth was well spent?
good call lisa
unless we are supposed to assume that she matures at the rate her sister does – like along with her. Maybe as her sister comes into her own, she sort of lives vicariously through that?
Fran M
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Re: Lovely Bones -- Do you think her time back on earth was well spent?
Thats exactly what I thought Jenny - that she continued to mature in her heavan. There were certain things she left behind or stopped doing there over time. But I do agree that even as a mature young woman that first experience with sex would have turned her off completely.
christine1221
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Re: Lovely Bones -- Do you think her time back on earth was well spent?
I'm torn about this part ...
on one hand ... there was a sense from the author that you 'matured' in heaven. As she lived through Lindsey, she saw what she missed out on and what she wanted. She spent a lot of time in the story aching for Ray. Being so sad that she did not kiss him when she got the chance ... she watched him mature and wanted to be with him. He felt the same way about her.
on the other hand ... I thought that the whole incident was odd. It added a twist I'm not sure was needed. I was a little disturbed by it. The thought of 'switching places' with Ruth ... what was accomplished by it, plot wise? Was it necessary to the story line?
natasha
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Re: Lovely Bones -- Do you think her time back on earth was well spent?
I think the author wanted us to believe that she matured with her siblings and friends.
However, I was hoping that she would lead them to her body during her time on earth. I was really dissapointed about that because they were so close.
nylisa
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Re: Lovely Bones -- Do you think her time back on earth was well spent?
I think that the author showed us that she matured by being in heaven and seeing all that was taking place on earth. I was hoping that she was going to see her family and explain to them what had happend to her.
christine1221
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Re: Lovely Bones -- Do you think her time back on earth was well spent?
natasha ... I thought the exact same thing! Why, when they were RIGHT THERE, would she not lead Ray to her body's whereabouts? But maybe that's too contrite. Too predictable for the story line.
A comment b/f ... about the need for family and friends to have 'tangible proof' so to speak, in order to have closure .... was very interesting. maybe we do put too much emphasis on the material world. In some cases, a missing body becomes the reason the family cannot move on. Instead of feeling the grief and sadness, they pour their energies into finding the body. Not really so in this case, here it more about finding, or not finding, the killer.
Valenia
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Re: Lovely Bones -- Do you think her time back on earth was well spent?
christmasbride1221 - I have a slightly different interpretation of the need to find a body. To me its about giving up hope. Without a body there is still the chance that she could be alive somewhere. What parent would want to give up the possibility that their child could return without evidence proving otherwise? They don't have permission to grieve in some ways until the body is found.
So, to answer my own question, I think that she wasted an opportunity to do a great service to her family (who she obviously cared deeply for).
michele31
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Re: Lovely Bones -- Do you think her time back on earth was well spent?
I don't think she could have done or said anything she wanted to. That was not the impression I got. Also, the point was NOT for her to lead her family to her bones or help them. She needed something in order to move on from her life on Earth. This moment was not about her family, her body or anyone else's feelings. She needed to let go of the 'adult' she would never become. From Heaven Susie wanted to live the life an adult, which includes $ex. By having $ex she was able to taste the life that would never happen and thus, put it behind her. I never thought that she was a 'ghost' who would help her parents find her killer. It was about her, not them.
dandj
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Re: Lovely Bones -- Do you think her time back on earth was well spent?
I thought it was weird initially that is what she chose to do, but then I realized throughout the book it was the one thing she kept going back to and the one unfulfilled thing (kissing him) that she regretted not doing in life. I think it expanded to sex because like someone said she had matured in heaven the way he matured on earth.
