Heaven, as it is on Earth: Representations of literary heavens in contemporary literature, with a focus on Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones

Are you studying The Lovely Bones? Are you teaching it to high school/university students? Then this paper is a rare academic analysis that will help you get the most out of reading Sebold's novel. This is an academic study (easily accessible by high school and university students), examining the landscape of heaven in Alice Sebold's popular novel. It includes a thorough analysis of that landscape and the effects of using Heaven as a narrative device. The text also includes the first taxonomy of heavenly landscapes in contemporary literature (comparing three texts). The narrative analysis covers the use of fauna, evil and corruption, love, creativity, lust, as devices that manipulate the heaven motif. The text also looks at other literary heavens such as those in Mitch Albom's "The Five People You Meet in Heaven", and Adena Halpern's "The Ten Best Days of My Life." An excellent companion for those teaching "The Lovely Bones" as a text to high school and university students.