Social Issues in the book The Lovely Bones

      In the book The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. I have only just started the book and already there are two main issues.The story began with the main character, Susie Salmon. She was raped and murdered by one of her neighbors. The social issue I chose to write about for this particular book is rape.
     Rape in the United States is more common than it should be. In an article I read on statistics of rape and sexual assault occurring it stated that 44% of rape victims are under the age of 18, 80% of the victims are under 30 years old. It also stated that every 2 minutes another american gets sexually assaulted. This is far too many occurrences, and this is only in the U.S. In the story Susie is only fourteen years old when she is raped. In the book Mr Harvey, the man who rapes and kills her says,
"You aren't leaving Susie. You're mine now." How is this not terrifying, for anyone no matter your age. 
    In conclusion there is a big theme of sexual assault in the beginning of this story. The Lovely Bones portrays this theme in a way that really makes you think about how sadly common this horrid issue is.