YOYO-ISG 100702 Novel /The Lovely Bones Ch9-Ch16

[Sherry Liao]

Chapter 12
31. What does the sentence on p.163 mean? It was Hal Heckler, a tall handsome “slash” of a man.

I think it means Hal Heckler presented a slender but impressive image.

32. What does the sentence on p.164 mean? Like a firm waxen cover it had locked him away tight into the “hard-blessed” hours where there was no dead daughter and no “gone knee”,…

“hard-pressed” means having difficulties doing something. I guess the author used “hard-blessed” to express that her father was restrained by the treatment in somewhat a “good” way, since he could temporarily stop thinking of his dead daughter.

As to “gone knee”, he broke his leg and injured his knee, didn’t he?

33. What does the sentence on p.165 mean? She had her “beating-around-the-yard” ballet flats on her feet.

I think it was adapted from the famous idiom “beat around the bush”, using to describe that her mother was wearing a pair of shoes that was usually used to walk around the neighborhood of their house.

34. What does the sentence on p.168 mean? “It had only ever been my father who stretched her laughter out into the rooms of the house and made it okay, somehow, for her to leg go.”

I guess it means her father had made the house full of her mother’s laughter, but not limited her pleasure to the house.

35. What does the sentence on p.171 mean? She pulled back the “tough-cord” Sears bedspread,…

It’s a type of bedspread sold by Sears.

36. What does the sentence on p.174 mean? In her eyes she was climbing back to “the surface”.

She stopped thinking deeply and made her attention go back to the reality.

[Kooper]

37. What does the sentence on p.181 mean? Grandma Lynn “was due” for Thanksgiving.
Grandma Lynn is expected to visit their house for Thanksgiving.

38. What does the sentence on p.182 mean? Buckley and Holiday were romping…in an increasingly hyper “game of tag”.
Tag is a children’s game in which one player chases and tries to touch the other.

39. What does the sentence on p.190 mean? “Ten-four”. Grandma Lynn, I thought.
According to Urban dictionary, ten-four is “a code used by CB owners possibly since the dawn of amateur radio, the code 10-4 simply means "Message received"”.

40. What does the sentence on p.190 mean? Now, never having tried to before,…my grandmother found that she was suddenly “catching up”.
For the first time in her life, the grandmother tried to influence Aligail and retrain her from doing something “not kosher”(The word “kosher” is also on page 190.)

41. What does the sentence on p.194 mean? The pragmatic, “prim mistress” that my mother had always been was gone.
Prim: very formal and careful in the way you speak and behave
Mistress: a woman who has control over or responsibility for sb or sth
It is describing the image of Aligail as a responsible and discreet mother and female owner of the house.

[Sherry Liao]

Chapter 14
42. What does the sentence on p.202 mean? As her eyes mounted…Samuel were there to climb down after her…, “fitting into her limbs”.

She hoped Samuel was there to keep her company, to give her power to look for the evidences of Susie’s death.

43. What’s the sentence structure on p.208 and what does it mean? “How alive she was consumed me whole that day.”

I think it means Lindsey filled Susie with a strong feeling of vitality the whole day, but the sentence structure looks strange to me.

Chapter 15
44. What does the sentence on p.219 mean? They discussed the damages, which Mr. Harvey said he would take care of “out-of-pocket”,…

It means Mr. Harvey would cover the loss by himself.

Chapter 16
45. What does the sentence on p.225 mean? Blessedly, in another moment, “Jethro Tull erupted again, shutting out all else.”

Jethro Tull is the name of a band. At that time Ruana was listening to the music Jethro Tull was performing, and she was glad that the music drowned all other sounds out.

46. What does the sentence on p.225 mean? Ruana was happy for the escape, and though she was someone “to whom order was also a sort of meditation”,…

At that time she was doing exercise (To be precise, I think she was doing yoga.). To her, it was important to arrange everything in the exercise (meditation was part of it) in a particular sequence, but she hopped up to answer the door.

When I read this paragraph, it was what I thought. Did I get it wrong?

[chiron]

Chapter 12
31. What does the sentence on p.163 mean? It was Hal Heckler, a tall handsome “slash” of a man.

I think it means Hal Heckler presented a slender but impressive image.

Yeah, possibly.

32. What does the sentence on p.164 mean? Like a firm waxen cover it had locked him away tight into the “hard-blessed” hours where there was no dead daughter and no “gone knee”,…

“hard-pressed” means having difficulties doing something. I guess the author used “hard-blessed” to express that her father was restrained by the treatment in somewhat a “good” way, since he could temporarily stop thinking of his dead daughter.
As to “gone knee”, he broke his leg and injured his knee, didn’t he?

Well, in my humble opinion, I think “hard-blessed time” means the period when the patient’s families have to pray for him/her pretty hardly, namely, a critical phase. What do you say?

And I agree with the “gone knee” part.

[chiron]

37. What does the sentence on p.181 mean? Grandma Lynn “was due” for Thanksgiving.
Grandma Lynn is expected to visit their house for Thanksgiving.

Agree!

39. What does the sentence on p.190 mean? “Ten-four”. Grandma Lynn, I thought.
According to Urban dictionary, ten-four is “a code used by CB owners possibly since the dawn of amateur radio, the code 10-4 simply means "Message received"”.

Wow, you know, you are amazing!

40. What does the sentence on p.190 mean? Now, never having tried to before,…my grandmother found that she was suddenly “catching up”.
For the first time in her life, the grandmother tried to influence Aligail and retrain her from doing something “not kosher”(The word “kosher” is also on page 190.)

*catch up (with somebody) : to reach somebody who is ahead by going faster

[chiron]

Chapter 14
42. What does the sentence on p.202 mean? As her eyes mounted…Samuel were there to climb down after her…, “fitting into her limbs”.

She hoped Samuel was there to keep her company, to give her power to look for the evidences of Susie’s death.

Possibly. Does anyone have any idea?

43. What’s the sentence structure on p.208 and what does it mean? “How alive she was consumed me whole that day.”

I think it means Lindsey filled Susie with a strong feeling of vitality the whole day, but the sentence structure looks strange to me.

Pls check the discussion on the previous page.

Chapter 15
44. What does the sentence on p.219 mean? They discussed the damages, which Mr. Harvey said he would take care of “out-of-pocket”,…

It means Mr. Harvey would cover the loss by himself.

Pls check the discussion on the previous page.

Chapter 16
45. What does the sentence on p.225 mean? Blessedly, in another moment, “Jethro Tull erupted again, shutting out all else.”

Jethro Tull is the name of a band. At that time Ruana was listening to the music Jethro Tull was performing, and she was glad that the music drowned all other sounds out.

Well said!!

46. What does the sentence on p.225 mean? Ruana was happy for the escape, and though she was someone “to whom order was also a sort of meditation”,…

At that time she was doing exercise (To be precise, I think she was doing yoga.). To her, it was important to arrange everything in the exercise (meditation was part of it) in a particular sequence, but she hopped up to answer the door.

When I read this paragraph, it was what I thought. Did I get it wrong?

Agree! In other words, to Ruana (to whom), “order” is also a sort of meditation practice.

[chiron]

Chapter 11
30. What does the sentence on p.158 mean? “Brian was black and white with blame.”

For Brian’s simple dualistic judgment, there is only right or wrong, no ambiguous state.

We did it! We answered all of them. Bravo!!