The Lovely Bones

by

Alice Sebold

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Detective Len Fenerman Character Analysis

The detective assigned to Susie’s case, Len Fenerman is a sensitive and well-meaning but often blind or irresponsible man whose feelings for Abigail often get in the way of his police-work. Len is at first disinclined to believe Jack’s suspicions about George Harvey, but after Lindsey retrieves a piece of evidence—illegally—from Harvey’s house, Len is forced, too late, to see the truth. He misses catching George Harvey on his way out of town, as Len is busy making love to Abigail in a secret passageway in the local mall. Years after missing out on apprehending Harvey, new evidence forces Len to reexamine Susie’s case, and to come to terms with the fact that George Harvey was not just Susie’s killer but the killer of a string of women and girls all along the Northeast Corridor. Fenerman, a widower, is a victim not just of his own grief and desire, but Abigail’s as well. His arc represents the dark side of sexual longing and desire for connection alike, showing the disruptions that desire can engender, and the ways in which it can steer one off the beaten path.

Detective Len Fenerman Quotes in The Lovely Bones

The The Lovely Bones quotes below are all either spoken by Detective Len Fenerman or refer to Detective Len Fenerman. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Justice and Injustice Theme Icon
).
Chapter 12 Quotes

And I watched that flat red mouth move across an invisible line that separated her from the rest of the world. She pulled Len in and kissed him on the mouth. He seemed to hesitate at first. His body tensed, telling him NO, but that NO became vague and cloudy, became air sucked into the intake fan of the humming hydrant beside them. She reached up and unbuttoned her raincoat. He placed his hand against the thin gauzy material of her summer gown… I knew what was happening. Her rage, her loss, her despair. The whole life lost tumbling out in an arc on that roof, clogging up her being. She needed Len to drive the dead daughter out. He pushed her back into the stucco surface of the wall as they kissed, and my mother held on to him as if on the other side of his kiss there could be a new life.

Related Characters: Susie Salmon (speaker), Abigail Salmon, Detective Len Fenerman
Page Number: 148, 152
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 20 Quotes

At some point, to counter the list of the dead, I had begun keeping my own list of the living. It was something I noticed Len Fenerman did too. When he was off duty he would note the young girls and elderly women and every other female in the rainbow in between and count them among the things that sustained him. That young girl in the mall whose pale legs had grown too long for her now-too-young dress and who had an aching vulnerability that went straight to both Len's and my own heart. Elderly women, wobbling with walkers, who insisted on dyeing their hair unnatural versions of the colors they had in youth. Middle-aged single mothers racing around in grocery stores while their children pulled bags of candy off the shelves. When I saw them, I took count. Living, breathing women. Sometimes I saw the wounded—those who had been beaten by husbands or raped by strangers, children raped by their fathers—and I would wish to intervene somehow.

Related Characters: Susie Salmon (speaker), Detective Len Fenerman
Page Number: 271-272
Explanation and Analysis:
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Detective Len Fenerman Quotes in The Lovely Bones

The The Lovely Bones quotes below are all either spoken by Detective Len Fenerman or refer to Detective Len Fenerman. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Justice and Injustice Theme Icon
).
Chapter 12 Quotes

And I watched that flat red mouth move across an invisible line that separated her from the rest of the world. She pulled Len in and kissed him on the mouth. He seemed to hesitate at first. His body tensed, telling him NO, but that NO became vague and cloudy, became air sucked into the intake fan of the humming hydrant beside them. She reached up and unbuttoned her raincoat. He placed his hand against the thin gauzy material of her summer gown… I knew what was happening. Her rage, her loss, her despair. The whole life lost tumbling out in an arc on that roof, clogging up her being. She needed Len to drive the dead daughter out. He pushed her back into the stucco surface of the wall as they kissed, and my mother held on to him as if on the other side of his kiss there could be a new life.

Related Characters: Susie Salmon (speaker), Abigail Salmon, Detective Len Fenerman
Page Number: 148, 152
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 20 Quotes

At some point, to counter the list of the dead, I had begun keeping my own list of the living. It was something I noticed Len Fenerman did too. When he was off duty he would note the young girls and elderly women and every other female in the rainbow in between and count them among the things that sustained him. That young girl in the mall whose pale legs had grown too long for her now-too-young dress and who had an aching vulnerability that went straight to both Len's and my own heart. Elderly women, wobbling with walkers, who insisted on dyeing their hair unnatural versions of the colors they had in youth. Middle-aged single mothers racing around in grocery stores while their children pulled bags of candy off the shelves. When I saw them, I took count. Living, breathing women. Sometimes I saw the wounded—those who had been beaten by husbands or raped by strangers, children raped by their fathers—and I would wish to intervene somehow.

Related Characters: Susie Salmon (speaker), Detective Len Fenerman
Page Number: 271-272
Explanation and Analysis: