The Lovely Bones: ending and resolution; Peter Jackson

Once again, the book doesn't end with a big dramatic plot twist but gently and with a sense of resolution of the twin strands of the plot:

1. Susie's coming to terms with a life cut short and all the life experiences she has missed out on
2. The family's coming to term with the loss of Susie

I suppose another connected strand is the fate of Harvey. We need him to be found guilty and put away and he is in a manner of speaking but quietly and gradually.

As one student said in class, having the capture of Harvey as the climax would be too predictable. This book is not about revenge and restitution but about resolving the emotional conflicts and griefs everyone suffered as a result of Susie's murder. The unusual storyline is one some of you struggled with but, remember that this book made millions when it came out because we all have to deal with loss and grief at some stage and the book nails it in so many ways.

It encapsulates the 4 stages of grieving identified by psychologists

Denial
Anger
Depression
Acceptance

As another student said, Lindsay is the sort of "keystone" to the rebuilding of the family. The old house she restores with Samuel symbolises this and of course, there is her daughter.


Here's some more about the book from Peter Jackson

Though "The Lovely Bones" is not on the order of a major fantasy trilogy, Jackson said the book has its own complexities. It was passed on by studios when first shopped; the book opens with the revelation that 14-year old narrator and main character Susie Salmon was raped and murdered. From heaven, she watches how the people left behind handle her tragedy.

Jackson and Walsh, eager to make a small-canvas movie like his early hit "Heavenly Creatures," sparked to it immediately.

"It's the best kind of fantasy in that it has a lot to say about the real world," Jackson said. "You have an experience when you read the book that is unlike any other. I don't want the tone or the mood to be different or lost in the film."

The most perplexing problem, said Jackson, is how to convey Susie in heaven.

"It's cleverly not described that well in the book, because Alice wanted your imagination to do the work and decide what Susie's heaven looks and feels like," Jackson said. "We will have to show something on film. It has to be somehow ethereal and emotional, but it can't be hokey."