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Title: Navigating the differences within the book versus the movie, The Lovely Bones
The book The Lovely Bones was written by Alice Sebold and published on Sep 30, 2009 by Little, Brown and Company. Much of the book`s focus, stems from an early incident in Alice’s own life. While attending college, Alice was raped and beaten in a nearby tunnel. Not long prior to her own tragedy, another victim had been raped and dismembered in the very same tunnel. Alice, left with no closure, took to her pen and paper and wrote down her feelings in the book. The book resembled much of the violence she’s seen which was located in the state of Pennsylvania. The book is widely recognized as a good read and quickly hit the #1 bestsellers’ list. The film robbed it’s readers of the details, timeline and the conflicting scenes. The film, The Lovely Bones was written and directed by screenwriter, director and producer Peter Jackson and was released by Paramount Pictures.
The thesis of this essay is that there are more books brought on to the big screen than one can count. Many producers fail to bring real life from the book, but instead feed us as moviegoers including what they feel will make for good box office sales. It is not easy taking a 214 page book and adapting it to the big screen with a running time of two hours and 19 minutes. At this point, the film is merely a summary of the real story. Book readers anxiously wait for the film to debut with the expectations that their imagery of the book will finally be on the big screen. Sadly, many are disappointed due to the lack of detail and the confusion stemming from the conflicting scenes on the big screen. First, I will discuss a bit about the story behind The Lovely Bones. I will also discuss the differences between the book and the movie and compare and contrast both the book and the movie as linked to the thesis.
Both the movie and the book center on a young, teenage girl who was murdered. In the book, we are introduced to the main character and narrator, Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan in real life) where the surname is pronounced like the fish salmon. She reveals to the readers that she was raped, murdered, and dismembered. She describes in detail where and how her murderer touched her in places he should not have. She describes his voice, tone, and the words that came out of his mouth. She explains how she at times, thought that she might actually stay alive (1-5). The film only shows Susie falling into her murderers trap by checking out his newly built clubhouse for the neighborhood kids. The next scene of the movie, The Lovely Bones, cuts to her watching the after events of her death before she realizes that she has been murdered by the man who lied to her. The horrific details from the book were omitted from the film and speak only of her murder. While neither storyline is pleasant, leaving these details out of the film was not in poor taste.
The book tells of her loved ones at her funeral (38). The film has no mention of a funeral for Susie and only tells us that she was murdered and without the details of the gruesome events, surrounding her death. In the book, Susie’s elbow is found by the neighbor’s dog and leads the police to the cornfield. In the film, the police find a pomp pom from her winter hat. It is this kind of misconstruing of the actual facts of the book translated to the movie that tamper with the images that were created by all of the readers of The Lovely Bone that would have them go to the movie theaters to see the film.
The book describes Susie as having a roommate in heaven (6). The film hints that the girl is another victim of Mr. Harvey’s (Stanley Tucci). In the book, she watches over her family and friends from heaven and sees her sister going through the different stages of life including her first kiss and then losing her virginity (45-46). There is much more sexual content in the book, including Susie watching her mother have sex with her father and also with someone other than her father. The book states that Susie visits her family in the form of a ghost-like image in the mirror, reminding her father (Mark Wahlberg), of her disappearance which torments him even more. She is seen running by her sister (Rose McIver), in the direction of her murderer. In the film, this is clearly not the case. Again, these are all differences with the movie would disappoint the millions of people who read the book because the actual events of the movie do not mirror the actual events of the book.
Susie describes that most of the town dumped lots of unwanted things in the hole. The book depicts her killer (Mr. Harvey), dumping a safe containing Susie’s body into the sink hole and leaving town very early (19). In the film both events were done closer to the end of the story. Mr. Harvey only leaves town once he’s realized that he’s becoming more and more of a lead suspect.
The book describes that the police arrive at Mr. Harvey’s home because Jack, Susie’s father, requested them to after much suspicion. The film shows the police going door to door asking questions of her whereabouts (24). The book speaks of the extreme torment of Jack. The film shows us more agony and more obsessions. Jack does not obsess with Mr. Harvey until later in the film when he starts to seem suspicious of him which contradicts the book. Again this becomes another disappointment of the book lover over the movie.
Abigail (Susie’s mother), is depicted as a woman that has lost her way in life soon after Susie disappeared. She grew distant from her husband and had an affair with Len Fenerman (the detective), before leaving her family. She returns after hearing of Jacks heart attack. The film does not speak of an affair or of a heart attack for Jack. This is again another disappointment for the moviegoer that has read the book.
Susie watches from her “in between” place and recalls seeing her parents have sex and also her mother with a man who is not her father. She also sees her sister losing her virginity at summer camp. In the movie, none of this sexual activity is mentioned or seen. She becomes aware of her friend Clarissa’s sex life.
In the book, Susie is kissed by Ray (her love interest), before her death. The film does not show a kiss between the two. Susie is able to use Ruth’s (Susie’s friend), body to have sex with Ray (119). In the film, it’s simply a kiss. The book shows Ray as a prime suspect but the film does not mention that at all. The book says that Ray’s mother tells Jack that he should kill Mr. Harvey. The film does not suggest such thing. All of these aforementioned differences between the book and the movie would leave the book reader disappointed in the changes that the film made to the images they had as they were reading the book.
In the book, we learn of Mr. Harvey’s bad childhood and that he now kills animals to feed his hunger. Neither of these events happens in the film.
In conclusion, the entire film describes only about a third of what the book does. The book depicts the story as being told over at least one year’s time. The film depicts the storyline lasting only a few months. The book lover of The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold would be surprised to see what the director Peter Jackson did to the film, and many of the lovers of Sebold’s eloquent words and stark imagery of the book would be disappointed in the film. As usual and what is common place when comparing a book and a movie, the movie does not even hold a candle to the book.
Annotated Bibliography
Ebert, Roger. “The Lovely Bones.” Critic Review. 13 Jan 2010. Web.
The Lovely Bones is a deplorable film with this message: If you're a 14-year-old girl who has been brutally raped and murdered by a serial killer, you have a lot to look forward to. You can get together in heaven with the other teenage victims of the same killer, and gaze down in benevolence upon your family members as they mourn you and realize what a wonderful person you were. Sure, you miss your friends, but your fellow fatalities come dancing to greet you in a meadow of wildflowers, and how cool is that? Web. 14 May 2016
Freer, Ian. “Empire. The Lovely Bones.” Critic Review. 14 May 2016. Web.
Like “The Lord of the Rings,” The Lovely Bones does a fantastic job with revered, complex source material. As terrific on terra firma as it is audacious in its astral plane, it is doubtful we’ll see a more imaginative, courageous film in 2010.
Jackson, Peter, The lovely bones the films writer and producer with screenwriter help from
Philippa Boyens, Jackson's wife Fran Walsh. 15 January 2010. Motion Picture.
Schwarzbaum, Lisa. The Lovely Bones Review.” Critic Review. 14 May 2016. Web
“A sad-but-hopeful, dramatic-but-gentle fairy tale intentionally made less upsetting for teens.”
Sebold, Alice. The Lovely Bones. 9 February 2002. Print.
This is an online version of the book that I downloaded and read in its entirety. Once read, I frequently referred to the book to verify my comparisons to the film.
Sebold, Alice. The Lovely Bones. Web.
Travers, Peter. “Rolling Stone.” Critic Review. 14 May 2016. Web.
All this is conveyed in the remarkable performance of Ronan, an Oscar nominee for Atonement. She and Tucci -- magnificent as a man of uncontrollable impulses -- help Jackson cut a path to a humanity that supersedes life and death.
Williams, Joe. “The Lovely Bones Review.” St. Louis Post. 14 May 2016. Web.
“Yet so much about The Lovely Bones is so skillfully orchestrated, from the chillingly methodical villainy to the thrillingly paced manhunt, we can accept that we're in the hands of a higher power.”