TLB: character profiles

Question 1

Susie Salmon

Answer 1

Narrator. Murdered in Ch1. Narrates the story from heaven. Novel follows the process of coming to terms with her own death and letting family go.

Question 2

Lindsey Salmon

Answer 2

susie’s sister. Her process of coming to terms with her sister’s death is an important focus of the novel.

Question 3

Jack Salmon

Answer 3

susie’s father. He is closest to Susie and is very aware of her presence. Has to learn how to let susie go.

Question 4

Abigail Salmon

Answer 4

Susie’s mother. Grief and guilt cause her to leave the family and go away to California, but she returns to rebuild the family.

Question 5

Grandma Lynn

Answer 5

Abigail’s mother. Brash and not conventionally maternal, but helps keep the family together when it is falling apart.

Question 6

Len Fenerman

Answer 6

The detective in charge of busies case. His wide previously committed suicide so he is also coming to terms with loss and grief. He has an affair with Susie’s mother.

Question 7

George Harvey

Answer 7

Next door neighbour to the Salmons. Susie’s killer. He is obsessive, cold and calculating - a psychopathic serial killer of girls and women.

Question 8

Ruth Connors

Answer 8

A contemporary of Susie’s from school. They become connected through Ruth’s supernatural abilities.

Question 9

Ray Singh

Answer 9

busies first boyfriend, an outsider who becomes a suspect. His mother Ruana has tried but significant interactions with Jack and Abigail.

Question 10

Samuel Heckler

Answer 10

Loves Lindsey and helps to keep the family together. He and his brother Hal support them, especially Buckley.