Elsewhere

Reader reviewed by Alexandra

Fifteen-year-old Liz has just died, and she's not exactly thrilled about it. Now she is in a strange place called Elsewhere, which looks like Earth, but isn't really like Earth. In Elsewhere, you have an avocation, not a job, and most people don't continue the same profession they had in life. You can watch people on Earth from the Observation Decks, but Contact is strictly forbidden. Most noticeably, you age backwards from your age of death, until you are a baby, at which time you are sent back to Earth for your next life. For Liz, this is not appealing at all. She is unhappy that she will never reach sixteen, and she thinks she missed out on too many things in life that she will now never get to experience. Most importantly, she thinks she will never fall in love. However, Liz learns to love her new life (or death), as she learns to be open to new experiences. And, she is happy to learn, in Elsewhere, very little is impossible, even falling in love. Gabrielle Zevin's first young adult novel is well-written and moving, and a true coming-of-age story, though age may be regressing.

Reader reviewed by two sided freek

Liz, an excited 15-year-old, can't wait to turn sixteen, to finally drive. So dying somewhat hinders her innovative plans. After the accident, she wakes up on a strange ship. On that ship she meets a soon to be best friend, ALOT of old people, and her favorite drug addict band member. It takes a while for her to accept that she won't ever turn sixteen, but when she does, she discovers there's more to death than ever imaginable. In this exceptional story, where in Elsewhere (consider it a heaven, that's where the deat go) you age backwards, where your own grandmother can be younger than you, where you find a sense of peace, and finally realize that every moment in life and death should be cherished.

This book has a wonderfully thought out plot that not only churns emotion, but inspires ideas within your head. You somehow start to wonder, what if there is life beyond death, what would it feel like? Would you miss your family, or do you just float in essence for the rest of your life? This book is definitely worth a read.

Reader reviewed by Mary

Ok I got this book at my school, Gabrielle Zevin came and talked about it. While she was telling me about it I was thinking it was going to be a piece of crap book that I will get to throw away but Me being the type of person I am I decided to read maybe just a couple of pages...This book drew me in so fast. It made me think and kind of scared me. Made me ask questions about life and death and everything in between what does happen!? Well I think this book is amazingly good and I give it 5,0000 thumbs up!!

Reader reviewed by Jocelyn

In Gabrielle Zevin's novel Elsewhere, Liz is fifteen, looking forward to turning sixteen and getting her driver's license, when everything changes. She's riding her bike, only three months from driving a car instead of using her bike as her main mode of transportation, when she is hit by a car. She wakes up on a ship, sharing a room with a girl named Thandi who has what looks like a bullethole in the back of her head. Liz doesn't look like she normally does, either; she doesn't have any hair. In this "dream," as she thinks it is, things are a little weird. There are no modern electronic devices on the ship, and everyone with the exceptions of herself, Thandi, and Liz's favorite singer, Curtis Jest, is over 80.

After watching her own funeral (used by her high school principal as an opportunity to lecture on traffic safety), Liz realizes that this is no dream. Nor is it exactly her "life." Liz is dead. She was killed in a car crash, and, in the world skillfully created by Gabrielle Zevin, this is where people go once they die. On a ship. Of course, boats have to go somewhere, and this one finally lands in Elsewhere. The afterlife, though not as anyone on earth imagined it. In Elsewhere, for one thing, people age backwards. Liz will never turn sixteen (but they'll still let her get a driver's license); instead, she'll be turning fourteen again, under the care of her dead grandmother, who is surprisingly young (about the same age as Liz's mother).

Elsewhere, though the people grow younger rather than older, is a lot like earth. Some artists continue their work here (you can see new paintings by Picasso!), just as they did on earth. Marilyn Monroe is a psychiatrist. Everything you can find on Earth--music, books, artwork--you can find Elsewhere. Elsewhere, Liz thinks, "could have been a walk to the next town or an hour's ride in the car or an overnight plane trip." It shouldn't be too hard adjusting to this...right?

Gabrielle Zevin's first YA novel is brilliant, and readers can only hope there will be a second! Sad, hopeful, creative, and well-written, this is a book that is not to be missed. The afterlife in Elsewhere is an original, interesting view of things that is somewhere between the heaven and hell spoken of by most religions; as has been said, this afterlife is a lot like an extension of life on earth, only backwards. It seems like a nice place, a happy place to be--except for what it takes for people to get there. Gabrielle Zevin creates this world brilliantly, in a novel that is sure to have readers hooked from the very first page. Definitely worth your money; you'll want to read this book, sure to be a favorite with readers of all ages for a long time to come, again and again.

Reader reviewed by Court

When Liz dies she has no idea where she's headed.Imagine arriving in Elsewhere, where people grow young and have Jobs they love! As great as it sounds, Liz isn't so happy about dying(and missing out on all the great growing up experiences! She can't even drive!)

Elsewhere is a VERY different take on the afterlife!(and I loved it!) It's so believeable but a little out there. It's truly an enjoyable read.

Reader reviewed by Writer's Block Reviews

Elsewhere is a story about a girl named Liz who died from a hit and run accident. She wakes up to find herself on a boat called the USS Nile, with a girl named Thandi. Thandi also has died from a gunshot wound. They have no idea where they are going, so they explore the boat and both girls get to watch their funerals through binoculars. They arrive in Elsewhere to find that relatives that have passed away before them are waiting on their arrival. Liz is depressed and keeps going to the binoculars at the Observation Deck ( OD ) to see friends and family. Then Liz realizes that maybe Elsewhere isn't as bad as she had once thought, even though you age backwards, just to be born on Earth again.



Elsewhere is a beautiful, captivating novel. It is defiantly different than your regular YA read, but well worth the effort to pick up. It's a book that made me think and ponder on some of the ideas that Gabrielle instills in us. You feel sorry for poor Liz as she battles with depression and missing her family. But, you also feel good that there's so much more for her waiting there at Elsewhere, so of which she couldn't do on Earth. It's safe to say that this is one of my favorites that I've read this year and I'm going to read it again!

Reviewed for http://writersblockreviews.blogspot.com

Reader reviewed by Mindy

Wonderful interpretation of what the afterlife could be like. Imagine meeting up with those who died before you. Would they remember you? Would you have a life or a just a sense of drifting to nowhere? This book gives hope and meaning to life after death. A good read but the plot dwindles and feels to far fetched by the end of the novel.

Reader reviewed by mearley

Here's an unusual twist on an afterlife. Elsewhere is where you go after you die, and you begin getting younger. Once you are a baby again, you return to earth and live a new life. There are obvious new challenges to a life lived backwards.

Interesting concept. Totally against my own beliefs of what happens after death, but taken as a fantasy, not bad. I could see strong influences of "The Giver" in this book.

Reader reviewed by Kv

I LOVED this idea of after death aging backwards, it just floods your head with a million other thoughts. How you have a chance of meeting your friends and family again after you or they have passed away. How age really is just a number, it just depends on when you die. Also makes you think, hey if the afterlife is Elsewhere, is it really that bad?

Even though the idea was great, the writing bored me a bit. However the concept kept me from putting it down. Drew me in really fast though

Reader reviewed by Adriana M.

I read this via an audio CD version. The narrator was great; she really captured the voice and feeling of the main character. The story centers around almost-fifteen year old Liz. It starts out with her death after she is hit by a taxi cab while riding her bike to the mall to meet her best friend for some shopping. Liz ends up in Elsewhere, which is basically a version of heaven, but everyone starts to age backwards until they become babies and are sent back to earth to live out a new life. At first she is heartbroken and obsessed with returning to her former life, but eventually she comes to accept her destiny and along the way she meets her maternal grandmother whom she hadn't met before, and several other characters that help enrich her new "life" after death in Elsewhere. It is a tender, heart-wrenching tale, that has some laugh out loud moments, and it made me want to believe in such a place as Elswhere.