What is the setting of "The Lovely Bones"?
Sebold's novel takes place in 1973, in upstate, rural New York's Stofulz County. The protagonist, Susie Salmon, was killed on December 6. Susie alternates between watching action on Earth from Heaven, remembering her past on Earth, and adjusting to her new reality as a spirit.
Most of the descriptions of her home on Earth are non-distinct,
But on December 13, 1973, it was snowing and I took a short-cut through the cornfield back from junior high. It was dark out because the days were shorter in winter, and I remember how the broken cornstalks made my walk more difficult. The snow was falling lightly, like a flurry of small hands...".
We learn that the Susie is in New York from her description of taking a day-trip in which she goes with her class to the Museum of Natural History.
Later, in Chapter 4, the news item announcing her murder, we get the name of the county:
MISSING, FOUL PLAY...
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SUSPECTED; ELBOW FOUND BY NEIGHBORING DOG; GIRL, 14, BELIEVED KILLED IN STOLFUZ COUNTY CORNFIELD.
Sebold probably purposely made her setting on Earth rather vague because Susie's story could be anyone's story. It helps the reader identify with her life and after-life.
The setting shifts in both time period and place in this novel. The novel begins with an exact date-December 6, 1973, but the plot shifts back and forth from past, present, and future.
The place also shifts back and forth. It takes place on both heaven and Earth. Most of the action takes place on Earth, but some does occur in heaven.
Alice Sebold's critically acclaimed 2002 novel The Lovely Bones, about a young girl named Susie who is murdered, was adapted by Peter Jackson into the 2009 film of the same name.
The setting of the novel is Norristown, in Pennsylvania; it is shown to be near Philadelphia. Norristown is a typical small town in the 1970s-80s. The people there are friendly and everyone knows everyone else. In the novel, it is unthinkable to the locals that one of their own is a pedophile and murderer; everyone is convinced that it "can't happen here." Local residents are suspected, but the actual murderer escapes legal justice because he knows how to appear innocent. The small town is contrasted with the larger city of Pennsylvania; Norristown contains hay and corn fields, and people are on a first-name basis, while Susie's mother instantly suspects strange people in Philadelphia while she lives there. The murder breaks apart the local trust that people have with each other, making their interactions hostile and more like those in a larger city. The alteration of Norristown from friendly to suspicious is contrasted with the alteration of Susie's family from normal to broken after her murder; it affects both her family and everyone around them, spreading in what she calls:
...the lovely bones that had grown around my absence: the connections -- sometimes tenuous, sometimes made at great cost, but often magnificent -- that happened after I was gone.
(Sebold, The Lovely Bones, Google Books)
References
What is the significance of the setting in "The Lovely Bones" and its influence?
In this novel, the setting, the time and place of the events, is very important, and this setting is one of the most unusual I've seen. Most of the events happen on earth, but Susie tells what is happening from heaven. There are a few scenes that occur in heaven, but they expand the story rather than propel the plot forward. The events that occur on earth move the plot forward.
As far as the time of the novel, we immediately know it takes place in the 1970s because we are given the specific date of December 6, 1973. In telling the story, Susie flashes back into the past to bring the reader important information we need to understand what happened prior to the December 6th date. Susie also refers to the future and throughout the book, she shifts among the past, present, and future.
The setting is tied to the theme of loss and grief that Susie's family feels after her death. It also refers to the coming-of-age of the characters in the novel. Susie can't move on in heaven until she knows her family is going to be all right. Her sister and brother must come to terms with Susie's death as well as her father and mother.
The function of setting varies from work to work. It may be minimal, unobtrusive, conventional, and non-influential (as in early Greek romance) or purely decorative - pretty pictures without a burden of meaning (see Rasselas); or causal even determinative (as in Zola's Nana); or reflect states of mind (almost any gothic novel); or be fraught with symbolism (Mann's The Magic Mountain). The possibilities are endless. What matters is the reader's willingness to test for connections between setting, action, passion, and thought.
Describe the setting in The Lovely Bones.
Alice Sebold's poignant novel is largely set in what would appear to be a semi-rural area near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This is evidenced by the fact that when she came across her rapist and murderer, Mr Harvey, Susie Salmon was taking a shortcut through a cornfield on her way home from school.
The first setting which is described in detail is the underground cavern which Mr Harvey has prepared for his victim—it is equipped with lights, batteries and shaving things, and has been meticulously prepared.
The other setting in this great novel is Susie's heaven. It is described as looking like a typical suburban high school, complete with an array of sporting facilities. In this world, each person's version of heaven consists of the simplest things they had dreamed of on earth.