10 Deeply Unusual And Unconventional Literary Heroes

10. Susie Salmon

First (And Only) Appearance: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold Susie Salmon is a very typical, kind of boring, 14-year-old girl. She likes art and has a crush on a boy from school. Why she belongs on this list is because she's dead. She is brutally raped and murdered at the beginning of the book. After she's murdered, her soul goes to her own personal heaven where she watches over her family, friends and even her murderer. The Salmon family is devastated from the loss of their daughter and sister. Over the next couple of years, they struggle to come to terms with the loss while the police have given up on finding her body or her killer. The whole thing is quite frustrating especially for Susie who, despite being in heaven, is heartbroken at the sight of her broken family. And since she exists on another plane of existence, there is nothing she can do to help anyone she loves. Then some freaky body switching happens and while Susie doesn't save her family or send her killer to prison she does get laid (through her friend's body). Yet, incredibly, this helps move Susie along her journey. She realises her family needs to work itself out, because she can't do anything about it. As for her killer, she knows that sometimes crimes go unsolved and there is no justice and that if you hold on to that rage you might never be able to move on. All three of these things combine to create a heroic ending for her. She doesn't save anyone except herself. And if there is one person in the Lovely Bones who deserves to be saved, it's Susie.