Title: Elsewhere
Author: Gabrielle Zevin
Genre: YA Paranormal
Publisher: Square Fish
Published: May 15th, 2007
Page count: 277 pages
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased
Book Summary:
Welcome to Elsewhere. It is warm, with a breeze, and the beaches are marvelous. It’s quiet and peaceful. You can’t get sick or any older. Curious to see new paintings by Picasso? Swing by one of Elsewhere’s museums. Need to talk to someone about your problems? Stop by Marilyn Monroe’s psychiatric practice.
Elsewhere is where fifteen-year-old Liz Hall ends up, after she has died. It is a place so like Earth, yet completely different. Here Liz will age backward from the day of her death until she becomes a baby again and returns to Earth. But Liz wants to turn sixteen, not fourteen again. She wants to get her driver’s license. She wants to graduate from high school and go to college. And now that she’s dead, Liz is being forced to live a life she doesn’t want with a grandmother she has only just met. And it is not going well. How can Liz let go of the only life she has ever known and embrace a new one? Is it possible that a life lived in reverse is no different from a life lived forward?
This moving, often funny book about grief, death, and loss will stay with the reader long after the last page is turned.
*The Chef’s Review*
My rating: 5/5 stars
Elsewhere is a book about death. It’s about dealing with the next step. How difficult it can be, how simple dying is and how, in spite of everything, you must go on.
This is the story of a girl named Liz who dies in an accident and is forced to go into “Elsewhere”. As she enters the beyond, she is plagued with the harsh reality that there’s no going back. This afterlife raises tons of questions since Elsewhere is so different and in a way, exactly how people imagine it to be.
When I was reading this book, I had so many mixed feelings bordering on overwhelming. We rarely give death a thought and suddenly here I come across this book that makes me think about it in many ways I never had the need to in the first place. Elsewhere gives you a whole new view about the what ifs about the afterlife . To be honest, I found this book to be quite depressing, but despite that, I can’t stop thinking how it’s so beautiful and stunning. Gabrielle Zevin hypnotizes with her words and makes sure you don’t get off the trance well after you finish her work.
It’s really hard to explain this book and I’m sure you won’t really get it until you read all about it, but I assure you the characters and this place are worth meeting. However, if you’re looking for an action-packed book where the heroine kicks cupcakes, then I’m sorry to say this book is not what you’re looking for, not by a long shot anyway. But, if you are looking for a read that will make you grow inside, however small that growth may be depending on your openness, then I say you should give Elsewhere a try.
I actually like Gabrielle Zevin. I want to check this one out! Great review. I love these kinds of books!
I really enjoyed reading this book. You should try it 😉