Author's Purpose
The Lovely Bones was written in 2002 by Alice Sebold. This story is about a teenage girl who was raped and murdered by her neighbor, George Harvey, she then watches her family and friends stuggle to move on with the rest of their lives from her personal heaven.(http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/21/business/media-a-dark-first-novel-suddenly-soars-to-the-top.html)
Sebold is an American writer who was born in Wisconsin but grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia. She graduated from great valley High school in 1980. She went to Syracuse University in 1981 (http://syr.edu) she graduated four years later, then attended the university of Texas. At the age of 33 she began writing a novel called "Monsters" which eventually renamed "The Lovely Bones". In one of her interviews she said, "I was motivated to write about violence because I believe it's not unusual. I see it as just a part of life, and I think we get in trouble when we separate people who've experienced it from those who haven't. Though it's a horrible experience, it's not as if violence hasn't affected many of us." (Alice Sebold, Publishers weekly). The Lovely Bones ended up being on the Times Bestseller list for five months, it was so good they made a movie about it in 2009 with the same name by Peter Jackson. In 2003 she won the Book of the Year award from the American Booksellers Association under Adult Fiction and the Bram Stoker Award for her first novel in 2002. (http://pabook2.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Sebold__Alice.html) "The Lovely Bones" has been described as the most successful novel since "Gone with the Wind". In "The Lovely Bones" "Ms. Sebold has the ability to capture both the ordinary and the extraordinary, the banal and the horrific, in lyrical, unsentimental prose." (Daniel Mendelsohn says in the New York Times). "The Lovely Bones" is a disturbing story, full of horror and confusion and deep, bone-weary sadness. And yet it reflects a moving, passionate interest in and love for ordinary life as it’s most wonderful, and most awful, even at its most mundane.” (Connie Ogle stated in the Houston Chronicle).
Sebold is an American writer who was born in Wisconsin but grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia. She graduated from great valley High school in 1980. She went to Syracuse University in 1981 (http://syr.edu) she graduated four years later, then attended the university of Texas. At the age of 33 she began writing a novel called "Monsters" which eventually renamed "The Lovely Bones". In one of her interviews she said, "I was motivated to write about violence because I believe it's not unusual. I see it as just a part of life, and I think we get in trouble when we separate people who've experienced it from those who haven't. Though it's a horrible experience, it's not as if violence hasn't affected many of us." (Alice Sebold, Publishers weekly). The Lovely Bones ended up being on the Times Bestseller list for five months, it was so good they made a movie about it in 2009 with the same name by Peter Jackson. In 2003 she won the Book of the Year award from the American Booksellers Association under Adult Fiction and the Bram Stoker Award for her first novel in 2002. (http://pabook2.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Sebold__Alice.html) "The Lovely Bones" has been described as the most successful novel since "Gone with the Wind". In "The Lovely Bones" "Ms. Sebold has the ability to capture both the ordinary and the extraordinary, the banal and the horrific, in lyrical, unsentimental prose." (Daniel Mendelsohn says in the New York Times). "The Lovely Bones" is a disturbing story, full of horror and confusion and deep, bone-weary sadness. And yet it reflects a moving, passionate interest in and love for ordinary life as it’s most wonderful, and most awful, even at its most mundane.” (Connie Ogle stated in the Houston Chronicle).