The Lovely Bones: Chapter 17 Summary & Analysis

At twenty-one years old, Lindsey is many things that Susie will never become, but Susie no longer “grieves” this fact. She still lives vicariously through Lindsey, however, and now she watches breathlessly as Lindsey graduates from college and rides home from the ceremony on the back of Samuel’s motorcycle. As they near home, it begins to rain, and soon they cannot ride any further. Samuel pulls off the road, and the two of them take shelter beneath a tree. They remove their helmets and kiss as the rain falls around them. Susie watches them with envy, knowing that they are each other’s “one and only.”

Lindsey and Samuel, searching for more cover, tramp through the underbrush until they come upon an old Victorian house. Wondering if someone is inside, they venture up to the door and let themselves in. The house is abandoned and empty, and as the two of them explore it, Samuel marvels at the careful woodworking. Examining a large walk-in fireplace, he remarks that someone could be “walled into” the space, and an awkward silence passes between them as they both think of—but do not mention—Susie, and Susie is slightly disappointed. Samuel announces that he wants the house—he feels it “needs” him. Lindsey taunts him, calling him the “fixer of broken things,” and then the two make love in the empty living room.

At home, in his den, Jack Salmon plays with an old snow globe that Susie once loved. Hal Heckler has made it back from the ceremony on his motorcycle, so the fact that Lindsey and Samuel have not worries him. Buckley, now 12, knocks on the door, reassuring him that Lindsey and Samuel will be all right and reminding him that Hal and Grandma Lynn are still downstairs. Buckley leaves, and Jack flips through a stack of photos—the last of Susie’s film, which he recently developed. Looking through old photographs of Abigail, he begins falling in love with her all over again, reminiscing about their happier days before Susie’s death.

Back in the old Victorian house, Samuel proposes to Lindsey. He tells he that he wants to refurbish the house with her by his side, and make a life with her inside of it. Lindsey accepts, and Susie, up in heaven, runs joyously in circles—Lindsey and Samuel have fulfilled her “dream.” Lindsey and Samuel embrace, but soon Lindsey pulls away, knowing that her father will begin worrying soon. She tells Samuel that they’re only eight miles from home, and suggests they run for it. As Samuel and Lindsey sprint wildly through the rain in only their t-shirts and underwear, Lindsey remembers swimming at the local pool with Susie. As Susie, in heaven, watches Lindsey run, she knows that her sister is not running away from her or toward her. Lindsey, full of joy, stops running to kiss Samuel in the rain.

At four o’clock, while Hal and Lynn are baking brownies in the kitchen, the doorbell rings. It is Lindsey and Samuel at the door, soaking wet. Buckley fetches towels for them, and Jack lights a fire in the living room. As the Salmons and the Heckler boys sit cozily in the living room, Samuel tells Jack that he has asked Lindsey to marry him. Jack is thrilled, and the family erupts with joy. There is an undercurrent of sadness, though, and out of the corner of his eye, Buckley sees Susie standing in the room, watching them all celebrate.