Elsewhere: A Novel

**There is a spoiler in the 5th paragraph** This book was introduced to me as the August read for my book club. I ambled over to Amazon and downloaded my Kindle copy. Since I was between books I started to read it right away, not even sure what it was about. Within five pages I was happy this book won the vote. I was instantly engaged and did not want to put it down. I finished this book in 3 days. I found it easy to relate to Liz and the author's tempo was soothing and easy to just dive into. The story of how Liz adjusted to life in Elsewhere was interesting and it was easy to see myself feeling the same way as she had felt that first year. But I think I really liked this book for more than the story line. Since I have lost a lot of important people in my life, I often wonder where they have gone and what they are doing. This story presents another idea of what the afterlife may be. When Emily arrives in Elsewhere, she tells Owen that she felt like she knew when he was watching her and she also knew when he wasn't. That touched me deeply. I know that feeling. There are times when I feel my mom is there watching me, interacting in my live. And there are times when I feel like she isn't really paying attention. The idea of Elsewhere is very appealing to me. My mom was 38 when she died 18 years ago. In Elsewhere she would be 20. That's kind of cool to think about. She would be about to send our family dog back down the river, she would be with her mom who would be healing from Alzheimer's, she would be taking care of my cousin who would be retiring from his avocation soon. For some reason, these thoughts make my heart warm. For a book that was a quick read and read as a YA novel, I was deeply moved and I would say this book has changed me in a way. I give this book 5/5 stars.

Gabrielle Zevin's YA novel Elsewhere conjures up an interesting answer to the question of what happens to us after death. Elsewhere exists alongside but apart from Earth. Death itself turns out to be much like life--rather boringly so, in fact--the singular exception being that the dead age backwards, regressing from the age they were at death to infancy and, finally, rebirth. This makes things interesting logistically, as a dead person's "real" and physical ages don't correspond, and the relative ages between people who knew one another in life are more often than not altered significantly. Also strange is the body's backward development: tattoos eventually disappear and bald heads sprout hair; people who've been gumming food for decades teethe. The protagonist of Elsewhere is Elizabeth Hall, who is killed in a hit-and-run accident at the age of 15. The book follows her death from her initial difficulties accepting the truth through her embrace of life in Elsewhere. I found the book clunky in parts: A couple things Lizzie does--but which I won't reveal--don't seem realistic, and none of the characters jumps off the page as particularly appealing or true to life. The idea of talking dogs also left me cold. (In Elsewhere, communication with dogs is an easy matter of picking up a new language, Canine.) Presumably this is meant to appeal to readers, but dogs would lose much of their charm if they could betray our confidences or comment on our ability as providers. They'd just be stupid humans with fur. In short, Elsewhere is not a great book, but the author's conception of an afterlife is an interesting one, and young readers may be intrigued by the logistics of reverse aging. -- Debra Hamel

So good

Summary Elizabeth Hall is dead. She died when her bicycle was hit by a cab, a senseless accident, and when she awakes, she finds herself on a boat taking her to Elsewhere—the afterlife. Elsewhere is a society similar to our own, except that here everyone ages backwards and once they become a baby, they will be sent back to earth. Most people in Elsewhere have had lived their lives, but Liz died when she was fifteen. As she copes with the sudden loss, she must grapple with creating a new “life” in Elsewhere. But is there a point to “living” when you’re already dead? Review I first found out about Elsewhere when the title appeared on Goodreads list of YA books with dead protagonists. I wanted to read Elsewhere, because the idea of a society of people aging backwards intrigued me, and while most books about dead protagonists featured ghosts, this one attempted to build an afterlife. Elsewhere is a good book to read when you’re sad. The book has a languid and distant melancholy to it. This is to be expected; the book deals with death. There is grief and loss and mourning. And that, I feel, is the strongest part of the book. Liz’s grieving process is vivid and real. When she arrives at Elsewhere, she is not eager to explore this new land; rather, she sinks into a depression and gets stuck mourning the life she lost. I feel like Liz never fully comes out of that depression. Even as she acclimatizes to her new “life” in Elsewhere, there is a lingering sadness that permeates the novel. In some ways, this has to do with the style of writing. The prose is simple, matter-of-fact, and not terribly descriptive. Anything that might elicit emotion is glossed over. As a result, the sadness is never too sad, but the happiness is not all that happy, either. In fact, everything is such an even keel of lukewarm, I started to feel like I was reading about a person coping with a low-key but persistent case of clinical depression. Part of the trouble, for me, was Elsewhere itself. Now, I write fantasy, so I’m picky with world-building, and here there were some noticeable holes. You’d think that building the Afterlife would require the author to grapple with spiritual or metaphysical issues, but these are barely addressed. The question of God is brought up briefly and shoved into a corner. There is no Judgment, but neither are their saints or murderers. There are laws, but no consequences for breaking them; jobs, but they don’t seem to matter; money, but no real sense of an economy. For that matter, whether people have bodies or not is rather murky. Everyone speaks English, and there doesn’t seem to be any subcultures. Basically, Elsewhere is middle-class America with a few retro references and some magical elements tossed in. Now, as a fantasy writer, I find it a little disappointing to have the whole afterlife to play with and make it so mundane. You’d expect the Afterlife to be, if not perfect, then at least different. You wouldn’t think that there would be snappish bureaucrats or gift shops filled with the same kitschy junk found everywhere. But this all plays into the theme of the book. Life—and death—is what it is. It will never be perfect; it will always be temporary; it will never really change; and the best you can hope for is to find little moments of happiness along the way. I personally read Elsewhere as a way of coping with the crushing disappointment of existence. Dreams are shattered, and then you move on. The characters are likable and relatable. I liked Liz. I related to Liz. But the more I read, the more it struck me how passive she was. It seemed like everything just happened to her. Friendship happened, family happened, a job happened, and eventually love happened. The romance annoyed me at first, because it seemed so easy and simple, and I was jealous. But then, as I watched the love story play out, it seemed sort of… passionless. Like everything else in the novel. I had no trouble reading Elsewhere; in fact, once Liz arrived, I found it went rather quickly. It was not strongly plotted, but there were enough things happening to keep my attention right until the end. Although emotions were dampened, I still felt moved. It was a good novel, and for certain people—perhaps, those dealing with grief or depression—it may even be poignant. I, however, prefer a little more hope and passion in my fantasy novels.

I am an avid reader of young adult books. I do not often find the need to write reviews for such books because, honestly, they are all quite the same. Although they may be based around different situations somehwere in there you'll find the same themes of love/friendships/teenage angst/parents that a teenager themselves is supposed to feel. Elsewhere is no exception to the norm; it is centralled around an idea we have all probably seen before (the afterlife) and has all the young adult qualities...yet it manages to be so different. Liz's life is cut short after a hit-and-run accident outside the local mall and she is sent to live in Elsewhere. The fact that she is dead is hard enough for Liz to take, and she is apalled at the ease of others. In the beginning she becomes addicted to watching her family, ignores the people around her, and gets pretty sassy with her grandmother (also dead, and has never seen Liz before Elsewhere). And why shouldn't Liz be upset? She was only fifteen. She'll never get to fall in love and get married, go to college, get a job, or see any of her loved ones again. But as Liz slowly learns to let go, she realizes she can make her own life in Elsewhere. She meets some witty and wonderful people and animals alike, and gets used to the idea of aging backwards (which is what happens in Elsewhere). Zevin's style of writing is so pleasing to the mind, and the words sweep you by. I finished this book in record time, around 3 hours, because it's not one you will want to put down. Liz's story has no pauses, and at the end you feel you have gone through a lifetime with the characters. While I do agree that sometimes the dialougue can get a bit flat, the situations too surreal, and the details a bit lacking, I still say it is a wonderful book and a quick read.

cute quick read, love this concept of the afterlife and reincarnation!!

Ok, so imagine that you're almost 16... and then you die. And then you wake up on an ocean liner, and you keep trying to figure out where you are, and how you can get back to your life. And when you realize that you're dead, suddenly the life you've left behind doesn't seem as bad as it did when you were almost 16 and still alive. The ocean liner is moving inevitably towards an unknown shore... Turns out, you end up in Elsewhere. A perfectly nice place to be, but still, you're dead and separated from the people you love. At least, that's how Lizzie sees it. She never got a chance to go to prom, or get her driver's license, or fall in love, and now she's separated from everything she knows and everyone she loves. She's dead, and she's stuck in Elsewhere. Slowly, Lizzie starts to let go of the obsessive need to revisit the life and people she left behind. She starts to embrace living, even though she's dead. She makes new friends, she experiences love, and all of it means more than what she experienced in life, because now that she's dead, she knows just how fleeting it all is. She learns to appreciate the life she has and the people (and dogs) she loves in Elsewhere. She does a lot of growing up, even though she's also moving backwards. You'll have to read the book to understand what that means. No matter what, it is comforting to imagine that we all pass through Elsewhere eventually. And it is also comforting to imagine that none of the love, none of the laughter, none of the happiness is ever wasted just because it eventually comes to an end. In fact, sometimes Elsewhere is even better than Earth, because you know exactly how much time you have left, and you try to never waste a single moment. As Lizzie learns, it all depends on how you look at it, after all. And after reading this book, I'm taking a second, or even a third look at what it means to be born and to die, and what might be possible in between. Great premise. Very plainly written, but there was a lot of whimsy, too. (Talking dogs, anyone?) This was young adult fiction, but definitely the best type of young adult fiction that any adult would also enjoy.

Well, thanks to a friend of mine I recommended this to me, last night I finished Elsewhere, and what great read it is! As everyone probably knows, it is a "what happens when you die" story where a 15 year old girls is killed in a hit and run accident and wakes up dead in "Elsewhere" -- a world hauntingly similar to earth, but where everyone ages backwards. I don't want to give anymore of the story, but it kept me intrigued the entire time. Some books are great reads, but tedious and take time to get through -- Elsewhere is a great read AND a page turner. Don't let the Young Adult category turn you off -- this book tackles serious issues about life, death, and what it means to be "alive" or "dead" in THIS life. No, this is not your typical "floating on clouds" or worshiping God in heaven story -- it's not meant to be. The message is quite clear -- live your life to it's fullest TODAY because you never know what tomorrow may bring. Great, great read. Bravo to the author. 5 stars!

Con el ingenio y buen oficio de Gabrielle, una enternecedora historia llena de buenas sorpresas. El otro lado no es como lo imaginamos.

Bellissimo, letto tutto d’un fiato

Wonderfully charming. Utterly absorbing. Unique writing style. This story taps into the questions we ask ourselves such as why am I here and am I leading my best life?! Definitely will read more by this author. Thank you!

I've read this book so many times and I still love it so much. I don't think I'll ever stop, it's been read so amny times it may fall apart soon and I'll have to buy a new copy. Its one of those books I loved so much that I've bought copies for friends because I know they'll love it too, but I can't bare to part with my own copy! Liz, I really loved her, one reviewer said that the writing was too simple for her and compared it to The Lobely Bones. How rediculous. Firstly Liz is a young girl and so to use complex language like that of an adult would have made no sense and really wouldn't have worked. You have to stay true to a character for them to be believable, and I thought this character was. Secondly The Lovely Bones and Elsewhere may both be about young girls experiencing the afterlife but that is where any similarity ends. Different authors, set in different times. How could you compare them. If you always compare new books to a different book you'll always be disappointed. Judging this book on its own merits and making no comparisons it really is excellent. I love the simplistic writing, it worked for the character, especially as she got younger. To me it felt like she died twice. Once for real and then again as she got younger and younger in Elsewhere, losing all the things she'd learnt. Getting ready to be reborn. I loved this interpretation of the afterlife. Its something that can be written about in so many ways and I love reading about other peoples ideas of visions for what it may be like and Gabrielle Zevins is truly unique and very enjoyable to read. Highly recommended by me.

Lo leí de pequeña y me sigue encantando, una visión diferente del futuro