Both Uses of
futile
in
The Lovely Bones
- In my mind I had wavered between the bittersweet joy of seeing my mother name all the things I carried and loved and her futile hope that these things mattered.†
Chpt 2
- ... the bright lights made her think only of all the futile efforts that hospitals contained to keep people awake for more bad news—the weak coffee, the hard chairs, the elevators that stopped on every floor...
Chpt 20 *futile = unsuccessful
Definition:
effort that is pointless because it is unproductive or unsuccessful