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Elsewhere
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.
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.
277 pages, Paperback
First published September 9, 2005
About the author
Gabrielle Zevin
21 books16.8k followersGABRIELLE ZEVIN is a New York Times best-selling novelist whose books have been translated into forty languages.
Her tenth novel, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow was published by Knopf in July of 2022 and was an instant New York Times Best Seller, a Sunday Times Best Seller, a USA Today Best Seller, a #1 National Indie Best Seller, and a selection of the Tonight Show’s Fallon Book Club. Maureen Corrigan of NPR’s Fresh Air called it, “a big beautifully written novel…that succeeds in being both serious art and immersive entertainment.” Following a twenty-five-bidder auction, the feature film rights to Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow were acquired by Temple Hill and Paramount Studios.
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry spent many months on the New York Times Best Seller List, reached #1 on the National Indie Best Seller List, was a USA Today Best Seller, and has been a best seller all around the world. A.J. Fikry was honored with the Southern California Independent Booksellers Award for Fiction, the Japan Booksellers’ Prize, and was long listed for the International Dublin Literary Award, among other honors. To date, the book has sold over five-million copies worldwide. It is now a feature film with a screenplay by Zevin. Young Jane Young won the Southern Book Prize and was one of the Washington Post’s Fifty Notable Works of Fiction.
She is the screenwriter of Conversations with Other Women (Helena Bonham Carter) for which she received an Independent Spirit Award Nomination for Best First Screenplay. She has occasionally written criticism for the New York Times Book Review and NPR’s All Things Considered, and she began her writing career, at age fourteen, as a music critic for the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. Zevin is a graduate of Harvard University. She lives in Los Angeles.
NOTE: Apologies, but Gabrielle doesn't reply to messages on Goodreads.
Her tenth novel, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow was published by Knopf in July of 2022 and was an instant New York Times Best Seller, a Sunday Times Best Seller, a USA Today Best Seller, a #1 National Indie Best Seller, and a selection of the Tonight Show’s Fallon Book Club. Maureen Corrigan of NPR’s Fresh Air called it, “a big beautifully written novel…that succeeds in being both serious art and immersive entertainment.” Following a twenty-five-bidder auction, the feature film rights to Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow were acquired by Temple Hill and Paramount Studios.
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry spent many months on the New York Times Best Seller List, reached #1 on the National Indie Best Seller List, was a USA Today Best Seller, and has been a best seller all around the world. A.J. Fikry was honored with the Southern California Independent Booksellers Award for Fiction, the Japan Booksellers’ Prize, and was long listed for the International Dublin Literary Award, among other honors. To date, the book has sold over five-million copies worldwide. It is now a feature film with a screenplay by Zevin. Young Jane Young won the Southern Book Prize and was one of the Washington Post’s Fifty Notable Works of Fiction.
She is the screenwriter of Conversations with Other Women (Helena Bonham Carter) for which she received an Independent Spirit Award Nomination for Best First Screenplay. She has occasionally written criticism for the New York Times Book Review and NPR’s All Things Considered, and she began her writing career, at age fourteen, as a music critic for the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. Zevin is a graduate of Harvard University. She lives in Los Angeles.
NOTE: Apologies, but Gabrielle doesn't reply to messages on Goodreads.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 6,820 reviews
September 14, 2009
You know what sucks?
When you get 53 (YES, FIFTY THREE) pages into a book and realize that you've read it before. That blows.
You know what doesn't suck?
You really like said book. I mean, it's been a good 8 months, and I was still hazy about the plot throughout the whole book, but it's SUCH a good story that I didn't mind kinda knowing the plot.
Liz is 15 and is a hit and run victim. She wakes up on the S.S. Nile (cute, huh?) and it takes her a bit but she finds out she's died and then ends up in Elsewhere. I think Elsewhere could be whatever your spiritual affiliation wants it to be. Limbo, Heaven, squatting at St. Pete's doorstep, a Quentin Tarantino filmfest....whatever...
Here's the kicker.. in Elsewhere you age backwards until you're a baby again and then you're returned to Earth. The ultimate in recycling, huh?
Now, don't you think that that is a total rip off? I mean, okay... you're just starting to feel out who you are and then you die and everything goes in reverse. So, you hardly have time to define yourself and by the time you're 21, you're really nine... WTF?
Gabrielle Zevin does a wonderful job with this plot, the characters you meet are well developed and the story made me start crying on public transportation. The last three chapters... racking sobs, I tell you... Even the second time around.
My one peeve is the clumsy use of present tense structure. It may be just me, let me rephrase that... it probably isn't clumsy, but it distracted me from the narrative and once I noticed that distraction it was hard to avoid.
Okay, I have to share this... this is when the eyes started to tear and the lips started to tremble:
"There will be other lives. There will be other lives for nervous boys with sweaty palms,for bittersweet fumblings in the backseats of cars, for caps and gowns in royal blue and crimson, for mothers clasping pretty pearl necklaces around daughters' unlined necks, for your full name read aloud in an auditorium, for brand-new suitcases transporting you to strange new people in strange new lands. And there will be other lives for unpaid debts, for one-night stands, for Prague and for Paris, for painful shoes with pointy toes, for indecisions and revisions."
And none of that stuff made me weepy or sentimental when it happened to me, but you bet I'll be thinking like this when my daughter hits that age.
So, if I forget that I read this, please don't remind me... I wouldn't mind another go around.
When you get 53 (YES, FIFTY THREE) pages into a book and realize that you've read it before. That blows.
You know what doesn't suck?
You really like said book. I mean, it's been a good 8 months, and I was still hazy about the plot throughout the whole book, but it's SUCH a good story that I didn't mind kinda knowing the plot.
Liz is 15 and is a hit and run victim. She wakes up on the S.S. Nile (cute, huh?) and it takes her a bit but she finds out she's died and then ends up in Elsewhere. I think Elsewhere could be whatever your spiritual affiliation wants it to be. Limbo, Heaven, squatting at St. Pete's doorstep, a Quentin Tarantino filmfest....whatever...
Here's the kicker.. in Elsewhere you age backwards until you're a baby again and then you're returned to Earth. The ultimate in recycling, huh?
Now, don't you think that that is a total rip off? I mean, okay... you're just starting to feel out who you are and then you die and everything goes in reverse. So, you hardly have time to define yourself and by the time you're 21, you're really nine... WTF?
Gabrielle Zevin does a wonderful job with this plot, the characters you meet are well developed and the story made me start crying on public transportation. The last three chapters... racking sobs, I tell you... Even the second time around.
My one peeve is the clumsy use of present tense structure. It may be just me, let me rephrase that... it probably isn't clumsy, but it distracted me from the narrative and once I noticed that distraction it was hard to avoid.
Okay, I have to share this... this is when the eyes started to tear and the lips started to tremble:
"There will be other lives. There will be other lives for nervous boys with sweaty palms,for bittersweet fumblings in the backseats of cars, for caps and gowns in royal blue and crimson, for mothers clasping pretty pearl necklaces around daughters' unlined necks, for your full name read aloud in an auditorium, for brand-new suitcases transporting you to strange new people in strange new lands. And there will be other lives for unpaid debts, for one-night stands, for Prague and for Paris, for painful shoes with pointy toes, for indecisions and revisions."
And none of that stuff made me weepy or sentimental when it happened to me, but you bet I'll be thinking like this when my daughter hits that age.
So, if I forget that I read this, please don't remind me... I wouldn't mind another go around.
November 8, 2013
Fascinating, a well-imagined, well-written YA novel. A fifteen-year-old girl dies and finds herself in Elsewhere, where the deceased age backwards until they become babies and return to the Earth for their next lives. It's a quick read, but wow -- it made me appreciate my life, my family, and love. The potentially heavy subject matter is counterbalanced with some great humor. Highly recommended.
December 28, 2023
Liz finds herself in white pyjamas on a boat? The last thing she vaguely remembers was that she was meant to meet her friend, go shopping, have a meal maybe?
A truly wonderful young adult read taking a look at life after death in a style as ground-breaking as that used in the TV show 'The Good Place'. Elsewhere is a place after death, with its own reality, ways of doing things and concepts. Zevin writes for her audience, so without getting into any sort of detailed philosophical debate, she just writes the story of what a teenager, who was on the cusp of young womanhood before she was killed/died, would do, finding herself in the afterlife. A highly recommended read for children 12+. 8 out of 12, Four Stars
2019 read
A truly wonderful young adult read taking a look at life after death in a style as ground-breaking as that used in the TV show 'The Good Place'. Elsewhere is a place after death, with its own reality, ways of doing things and concepts. Zevin writes for her audience, so without getting into any sort of detailed philosophical debate, she just writes the story of what a teenager, who was on the cusp of young womanhood before she was killed/died, would do, finding herself in the afterlife. A highly recommended read for children 12+. 8 out of 12, Four Stars
2019 read
November 29, 2009
A rather disappointing book. Having read and liked Zevin's "Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac," I expected "Elsewhere" to be a book of the same high quality. No luck.
"Elsewhere" is not strictly a bad book. It raises an always interesting question - what happens when you die? In the book you move to Elsewhere where you age back (instead of getting older you get younger) while growing up mentally, until you become a baby and then you are sent back to earth to live another life. The book is about coming to terms with your death, about enjoying your life no matter what strange form it is in.
Yes, the book has plenty of great ideas, but they are wrapped up in a very dull and childish plot with a lot of teenage whining. Even the "romance" rings false - you basically have a 35-year old man (in a body of a 17-old boy) fall in love with a 15-year old girl. There are talking dogs and mermaids, and Elsewhere itself is a rather boring utopia-like place. Ultimately the story is just extremely juvenile. I think if you take out references of sexuality from "Elsewhere" it will make a great read for 10-year olds (to spark that conversation about afterlife), but as a young adult novel it falls short.
Reading challenge: #15.
"Elsewhere" is not strictly a bad book. It raises an always interesting question - what happens when you die? In the book you move to Elsewhere where you age back (instead of getting older you get younger) while growing up mentally, until you become a baby and then you are sent back to earth to live another life. The book is about coming to terms with your death, about enjoying your life no matter what strange form it is in.
Yes, the book has plenty of great ideas, but they are wrapped up in a very dull and childish plot with a lot of teenage whining. Even the "romance" rings false - you basically have a 35-year old man (in a body of a 17-old boy) fall in love with a 15-year old girl. There are talking dogs and mermaids, and Elsewhere itself is a rather boring utopia-like place. Ultimately the story is just extremely juvenile. I think if you take out references of sexuality from "Elsewhere" it will make a great read for 10-year olds (to spark that conversation about afterlife), but as a young adult novel it falls short.
Reading challenge: #15.
January 11, 2017
Firstly I have to admit I read this because I needed an author whose name started with z for a challenge. This demonstrates clearly how good challenges can be for getting us to read books we might never otherwise come across. I was very happy that I read this book which is aimed at a Young Adult audience but is totally readable by any age.
The story takes place in the afterlife, which is a place called Elsewhere. As a reader you need to suspend belief at this stage because the whole theory behind this place is totally lacking in logic, particularly the bits about babies and talking dogs. So put facts aside and just enjoy the fun. I liked the characters, the world building (just ignore the bits that obviously do not work) and the story. The author writes well and delivers some quite emotional moments.
Worth a read as long as you do not try to credit it with more depth than it actually has.
The story takes place in the afterlife, which is a place called Elsewhere. As a reader you need to suspend belief at this stage because the whole theory behind this place is totally lacking in logic, particularly the bits about babies and talking dogs. So put facts aside and just enjoy the fun. I liked the characters, the world building (just ignore the bits that obviously do not work) and the story. The author writes well and delivers some quite emotional moments.
Worth a read as long as you do not try to credit it with more depth than it actually has.
July 23, 2022
the book that started my lifelong love of Beautifully Written And Unique Young Adult Magical Realism.
the best super niche subgenre.
part of a series i'm doing in which i review books i read a long time ago
the best super niche subgenre.
part of a series i'm doing in which i review books i read a long time ago
December 29, 2014
Maybe if I were still thirteen I would think differently, but Elsewhere reads like a Hallmark movie of the week. It's sappy and hopelessly predictable. While Zevin's depiction of the afterlife is kind of creative, it's mostly confounding (turns out death is just as routine and dull as everyday life ... except that dogs talk). Her jokes either fall flat or induce a lengthy groan, but are never really amusing. And while Zevin can occasionally turn a phrase in an interesting way, for the most part her prose is awkward and downright clunky: "Although she tries to be very quiet, she loses her grip on the last drawer and it slams shut. This has the unfortunate effect of waking the sleeping girl again." Man, I hate when a drawer slams shut because I lost my grip on it! In the end, Elsewhere falls very flat.
November 3, 2024
I loved it from the first page till the end. The story idea itself was captivating; living life backwards.
Liz died at the young age of 16 and found herself in a place called “elsewhere”, where you don’t grow old but younger till you are born again as a baby. She was furious, that she didn’t get to fall in love, get her driver’s licence, and even grow boobs...one thing led to another and she found that living life backwards wasn’t so different. It is full of unknowns as much as growing older, she experienced love, devotion and even insecurities about the future.
I love how the story unfolded, it was very entertaining, I really enjoyed it.
Liz died at the young age of 16 and found herself in a place called “elsewhere”, where you don’t grow old but younger till you are born again as a baby. She was furious, that she didn’t get to fall in love, get her driver’s licence, and even grow boobs...one thing led to another and she found that living life backwards wasn’t so different. It is full of unknowns as much as growing older, she experienced love, devotion and even insecurities about the future.
I love how the story unfolded, it was very entertaining, I really enjoyed it.
March 27, 2008
The whole "relationship" (if you can even call it that) between Liz and Owen frustrated me. How could Owen's marriage have been so happy if after only two weeks of being reunited with his wife he didn't want her anymore? Argh!
The story moves quickly from one event to the next without setting anything up or wrapping anything up. It is hard to care about the characters or events this way.
The story moves quickly from one event to the next without setting anything up or wrapping anything up. It is hard to care about the characters or events this way.
October 5, 2022
4.0 - what a sweet & uplifting story, easy to read & enjoyable!
May 19, 2008
What is the story? Elsewhere is an idea spun into a book and then left floundering as the author seeks to fill pages. There is no story here - no cohesive plot that moves the thing forward. The main character, Lizzy, dies at fifteen and is transported to Elsewhere, a land where all people who die go. In Elsewhere you live just like on Earth, only you age backward. Cool concept and idea and there are so many avenues the author could have taken this! Instead she enumerates on her world a little and that is about it. Lizzy is not a likeable character and comes across as a whiny brat that is so self involved. And YET almost everyone still loves her and heck falls in love with her. Lizzy is the worst kind of Mary-sue, petulant and self-involved, the center of the world and all around amazing OMG wonderful gee I'll put up with her crap cause she's so awesome gal. Ugh. The writing was clunky and description lacking in luster. I can find nothing to recommend this book other than to say it was a cool idea to start with.
July 5, 2016
First read in March 2014
Reread in July 2016
Just as magical, if not more so, as the first time I read it. Probably a novel I will reread every few years or so.
Reread in July 2016
Just as magical, if not more so, as the first time I read it. Probably a novel I will reread every few years or so.
Read
July 6, 2022I'm bummed but not surprised that this re-read didn't live up to how much I remember loving this book back when I was in middle/high school. If I were to rate this now as if it were my first time reading it, I would probably rate it a 1 or a generous 2, but out of respect for younger Chelsea I'm gonna leave this one un-rated and just let that be that lol
CW: death of a loved one, gun violence, drug abuse, overdose, suicidal ideation, terminal illness, cancer
CW: death of a loved one, gun violence, drug abuse, overdose, suicidal ideation, terminal illness, cancer
May 4, 2008
Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com
Stories about the Afterlife have always appealed to me. There are thousands upon thousands of interpretations out there about what, exactly, happens to a person after they die. ELSEWHERE is a new spin on an old topic, but it manages to bring emotion, realism, and entertainment to something that is, in most circumstances, a very depressing situation. To me, ELSEWHERE is a combination of Mitch Albom's THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN and Alice Sebold's THE LOVELY BONES, two other wonderful books dealing with death and the Afterlife. ELSEWHERE goes beyond those two books, however, taking readers on a journey into a land so much like Earth, and yet so very, very different.
Fifteen-year old Elizabeth "Liz" "Lizzie" Marie Hall has found herself in ELSEWHERE after dying in a bicycle-meets-taxi accident. After taking a long ride on the SS Nile, Liz has finally realized that she's not in a dream after all, but really, truly dead. When she arrives on Elsewhere, she meets her maternal grandmother, Betty, for the very first time. A woman who died at fifty from breast cancer, Betty is now a woman in her thirties--one of the first surprises Liz is in for is the fact that, on Elsewhere, lives are lived backward from the age of a person's death. Needless to say, this thought depresses Liz. She'll never be sixteen, never have a Massachusetts driver's license, never go to the prom or graduate from high school or go to college or get married. The only thing she has to look forward to is growing younger, until she returns to being an infant and is sent back to Earth to be born again.
Liz spends her first month on Elsewhere spending all of her time--and her grandmother's eternims, the currency used there--to watch her family, friends, and classmates back on Earth. She's soon a regular at the OD's, or Observation Decks, watching life on Earth pass her by. She's upset that her best friend, Zooey, didn't attend her funeral. Her parents are inconsolable, her younger brother, Alvy, tells jokes to get through the day, and her dog, Lucy, refuses to accept that Liz isn't coming back.
It takes awhile, but Liz finally realizes that spending hours upon hours at the OD's is not helping her adjust to life on Elsewhere. She finds a new friend in Owen, one of the detectives in charge of keeping the inhabitants of Elsewhere away from the Well, where contact with people on Earth is possible, but illegal. She once again befriends Thandi, a young girl killed on Earth by a stray bullet, who was her bunkmate on the SS Nile. She gets closer to grandmother Betty, finally takes a job in the Division of Domestic Animals helping recently departed pets find new owners, and seems to be finding a place on Elsewhere.
I really loved this story. One of the most delightful things in ELSEWHERE is the animals, especially the dogs. Liz, a natural at the language of Canine, is able to interpret for her four-legged friends, and finally understand everything they have to say. I can't truly imagine aging backwards, but Gabrielle Zevin has managed to make a truly believable story that is realistic, entertaining, and emotional, all at the same time. This is definitely a recommended read, and in all honesty, I would love to visit the land of Elsewhere again in the future.
Stories about the Afterlife have always appealed to me. There are thousands upon thousands of interpretations out there about what, exactly, happens to a person after they die. ELSEWHERE is a new spin on an old topic, but it manages to bring emotion, realism, and entertainment to something that is, in most circumstances, a very depressing situation. To me, ELSEWHERE is a combination of Mitch Albom's THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN and Alice Sebold's THE LOVELY BONES, two other wonderful books dealing with death and the Afterlife. ELSEWHERE goes beyond those two books, however, taking readers on a journey into a land so much like Earth, and yet so very, very different.
Fifteen-year old Elizabeth "Liz" "Lizzie" Marie Hall has found herself in ELSEWHERE after dying in a bicycle-meets-taxi accident. After taking a long ride on the SS Nile, Liz has finally realized that she's not in a dream after all, but really, truly dead. When she arrives on Elsewhere, she meets her maternal grandmother, Betty, for the very first time. A woman who died at fifty from breast cancer, Betty is now a woman in her thirties--one of the first surprises Liz is in for is the fact that, on Elsewhere, lives are lived backward from the age of a person's death. Needless to say, this thought depresses Liz. She'll never be sixteen, never have a Massachusetts driver's license, never go to the prom or graduate from high school or go to college or get married. The only thing she has to look forward to is growing younger, until she returns to being an infant and is sent back to Earth to be born again.
Liz spends her first month on Elsewhere spending all of her time--and her grandmother's eternims, the currency used there--to watch her family, friends, and classmates back on Earth. She's soon a regular at the OD's, or Observation Decks, watching life on Earth pass her by. She's upset that her best friend, Zooey, didn't attend her funeral. Her parents are inconsolable, her younger brother, Alvy, tells jokes to get through the day, and her dog, Lucy, refuses to accept that Liz isn't coming back.
It takes awhile, but Liz finally realizes that spending hours upon hours at the OD's is not helping her adjust to life on Elsewhere. She finds a new friend in Owen, one of the detectives in charge of keeping the inhabitants of Elsewhere away from the Well, where contact with people on Earth is possible, but illegal. She once again befriends Thandi, a young girl killed on Earth by a stray bullet, who was her bunkmate on the SS Nile. She gets closer to grandmother Betty, finally takes a job in the Division of Domestic Animals helping recently departed pets find new owners, and seems to be finding a place on Elsewhere.
I really loved this story. One of the most delightful things in ELSEWHERE is the animals, especially the dogs. Liz, a natural at the language of Canine, is able to interpret for her four-legged friends, and finally understand everything they have to say. I can't truly imagine aging backwards, but Gabrielle Zevin has managed to make a truly believable story that is realistic, entertaining, and emotional, all at the same time. This is definitely a recommended read, and in all honesty, I would love to visit the land of Elsewhere again in the future.
November 28, 2023
I am really into Gabrielle’s writing. I dig it.
I am also in a place in my life when I have been thinking quite a bit about death and what comes after. I have also been thinking about what constitutes a life well lived.
This book has a warm, loving, and very unique tale on all of these subjects. Yes, the message is soft-ish and not terribly complicated ~ but sometimes you want warm milk and honey. I definitely think this is worth a read.
I am also in a place in my life when I have been thinking quite a bit about death and what comes after. I have also been thinking about what constitutes a life well lived.
This book has a warm, loving, and very unique tale on all of these subjects. Yes, the message is soft-ish and not terribly complicated ~ but sometimes you want warm milk and honey. I definitely think this is worth a read.
April 24, 2021
This one broke my heart, it was so sad, but so beautifully written!
December 26, 2019
Elsewhere was a wonderful surprise, not so much because it’s written by Gabrielle Zevin (author of one of my favourites for 2019, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry) but more so because this book fits into the Young Adult genre.
The story involves a teenager called Liz who is unfortunately the victim of a hit and run accident, after her death she finds herself in an alternative ‘world’ called Elsewhere. Here, the dead “live” in a world where they go backwards (they get younger) in age and are eventually returned to Earth as a baby.
Weird right? But ignoring the fact this model of reincarnation doesn’t explain the rapid increase in World population growth - I seriously needed to park this issue – Zevin described an interesting and often funny world. She also made me think about life and death, looking back, forward and that important skill of ‘enjoying the moment’.
It’s also a love story, not soppy in any way, but all the same it follows the normal, predictable path of most love stories. However, this didn’t detract from my enjoyment at all. The fact it is a Young Adult Fiction book gave this story a degree of lightness. Even though the themes are quite serious and heavy it was an effortless read – but I did spend some considerable time thinking about the themes in this book after each sitting. I think I’ll do that for some days to come.
As with A.J. Fikry, Zevin’s characters are believable and relatable, I wanted them to do well. I also loved the fact dogs played such a key role in this book. Not sure if the author is a dog-lover, but I’ll take a dog story any day, I just wish I could speak Canine.
Overall, a pleasant story, well written and totally enjoyable.
3.5 wholesome stars
The story involves a teenager called Liz who is unfortunately the victim of a hit and run accident, after her death she finds herself in an alternative ‘world’ called Elsewhere. Here, the dead “live” in a world where they go backwards (they get younger) in age and are eventually returned to Earth as a baby.
Weird right? But ignoring the fact this model of reincarnation doesn’t explain the rapid increase in World population growth - I seriously needed to park this issue – Zevin described an interesting and often funny world. She also made me think about life and death, looking back, forward and that important skill of ‘enjoying the moment’.
It’s also a love story, not soppy in any way, but all the same it follows the normal, predictable path of most love stories. However, this didn’t detract from my enjoyment at all. The fact it is a Young Adult Fiction book gave this story a degree of lightness. Even though the themes are quite serious and heavy it was an effortless read – but I did spend some considerable time thinking about the themes in this book after each sitting. I think I’ll do that for some days to come.
As with A.J. Fikry, Zevin’s characters are believable and relatable, I wanted them to do well. I also loved the fact dogs played such a key role in this book. Not sure if the author is a dog-lover, but I’ll take a dog story any day, I just wish I could speak Canine.
Overall, a pleasant story, well written and totally enjoyable.
3.5 wholesome stars
January 24, 2009
This book was God awful. I suppose it is meant to be a "Lovely Bones" of sorts for the teenage set, but either Ms. Zevin is a teenager herself who never took a writing class OR she never met an actual teenager in the flesh. The characters are one-dimensional stereotypes (15 year-old main character Liz is an angst-ridden, moody, whiner who has a habit of saying "Um" and "I guess"), the dialogue is bland at best and completely unrealistic (NO ONE TALKS LIKE THIS!) and although the book is sprinkled here and there with a few interesting ideas about the possibilities of the afterlife (aging backwards until you are a baby ready to reborn, for example, and hanging out with your favorite rockstar) most are so farfetched, ridiculous, and just plain dumb. If Zevin would have cut out the crazy concepts in favor of details that managed to evoke the senses and took the time to show rather than tell the story to her readers, then maybe, MAYBE, it might have one worth reading, and perhaps even quite a lovely story. But, as it is--if this is what I have to look forward to after death, I need to find the Fountain of Youth and quickly!
December 27, 2023
•5/5• Elsewhere ❔🧩🎨
Elsewhere, gifted to me and eloquently annotated by one of my best friends, Aa, was a beautiful book which made me feel incredibly deeply and left a bittersweet melancholy singing through my soul. It made me feel immeasurably comforted, as if hugged by a fuzzy blanket, that there could be an elsewhere, a something more and something magical in the afterlife. It made me consider the inner workings of the universe and “the why” behind it all. It made me consider life’s fragile transience and take a deep breath to honor the now. Everything becomes gentler and more ethereal through the lens of the fictive Elsewhere, where life moves backwards, people getting younger then being reborn.
Liz dies at 15-years-young in a freak accident and desperately claws for her old life on Earth, which now seems faraway, otherworldly, and distant. However, little by little she learns to lean in and embrace her new world with a rush of tenderness and warmly kept appreciation. Her surroundings and the people in her new world gradually feel less foreign and over time she begins to acclimate. She soul-searches and discovers herself at each new turn.
I loved how carefully, lovingly crafted this story was as it went unexpectedly profound places that filled me with hurt, grief, love, and hope. It was bittersweet through and through as I went through a rollercoaster of emotions that left me reeling. I let myself go and be immersed in another place apart from any I know and it was a thing of such beauty and calamity that I will never forget the ways in which it moved me. Something special and such a treasure.
Elsewhere, gifted to me and eloquently annotated by one of my best friends, Aa, was a beautiful book which made me feel incredibly deeply and left a bittersweet melancholy singing through my soul. It made me feel immeasurably comforted, as if hugged by a fuzzy blanket, that there could be an elsewhere, a something more and something magical in the afterlife. It made me consider the inner workings of the universe and “the why” behind it all. It made me consider life’s fragile transience and take a deep breath to honor the now. Everything becomes gentler and more ethereal through the lens of the fictive Elsewhere, where life moves backwards, people getting younger then being reborn.
Liz dies at 15-years-young in a freak accident and desperately claws for her old life on Earth, which now seems faraway, otherworldly, and distant. However, little by little she learns to lean in and embrace her new world with a rush of tenderness and warmly kept appreciation. Her surroundings and the people in her new world gradually feel less foreign and over time she begins to acclimate. She soul-searches and discovers herself at each new turn.
I loved how carefully, lovingly crafted this story was as it went unexpectedly profound places that filled me with hurt, grief, love, and hope. It was bittersweet through and through as I went through a rollercoaster of emotions that left me reeling. I let myself go and be immersed in another place apart from any I know and it was a thing of such beauty and calamity that I will never forget the ways in which it moved me. Something special and such a treasure.
November 6, 2008
ISBN: 0374320918
Elsewhere by Gabriel Zevin
Do you want to see the latest Picasso paintings? Well you just spring by his gallery and see his new paintings. Maybe you can say hey to Marilyn Monroe at her psychiatric center. Well if you want to do all that you’d take a cruise there. But of course there’s a catch to it all, and Liz Hall knows all about that because under her circumstances she can do all of that because she’s a fifteen-year-old girl and she’s dead.
The curious adventurous Liz Hall is just fifteen-years-old girl! She doesn’t even have her official drivers license. She’s now in a place called Elsewhere which is the afterlife. She was hit by a taxicab on her way to the mall to pick up a prom dress that she’s not even going to for her friend Zoey. How messed up is that? Liz hall is wanting and yearning to just go home and pretend that it’s jut a dream; that nothing actually happened, but instead of getting her drivers license at sixteen she’s going to get it at a younger age of fifteen, because in Elsewhere time goes backwards. Instead of getting older you’re actually going to get younger until you’re a baby and get shipped back to earth.
Speechless and overwhelmed the book jumped out, with it’s interesting cover and title. I recommend this riveting spectacular novel Elsewhere because of it’s realisticness and fast pace read. Gabrelle Zevin leaves you hanging wanting you to read more and more until you finish the book satisfied. I loved Elsewhere it kept me guessing, I could relate to Liz Hall so much, except for the whole death part, of course.
Elsewhere by Gabriel Zevin
Do you want to see the latest Picasso paintings? Well you just spring by his gallery and see his new paintings. Maybe you can say hey to Marilyn Monroe at her psychiatric center. Well if you want to do all that you’d take a cruise there. But of course there’s a catch to it all, and Liz Hall knows all about that because under her circumstances she can do all of that because she’s a fifteen-year-old girl and she’s dead.
The curious adventurous Liz Hall is just fifteen-years-old girl! She doesn’t even have her official drivers license. She’s now in a place called Elsewhere which is the afterlife. She was hit by a taxicab on her way to the mall to pick up a prom dress that she’s not even going to for her friend Zoey. How messed up is that? Liz hall is wanting and yearning to just go home and pretend that it’s jut a dream; that nothing actually happened, but instead of getting her drivers license at sixteen she’s going to get it at a younger age of fifteen, because in Elsewhere time goes backwards. Instead of getting older you’re actually going to get younger until you’re a baby and get shipped back to earth.
Speechless and overwhelmed the book jumped out, with it’s interesting cover and title. I recommend this riveting spectacular novel Elsewhere because of it’s realisticness and fast pace read. Gabrelle Zevin leaves you hanging wanting you to read more and more until you finish the book satisfied. I loved Elsewhere it kept me guessing, I could relate to Liz Hall so much, except for the whole death part, of course.
November 16, 2023
This was super cute and I really liked the theory of life after death plus the opening being the viewpoint of a pet was very clever.
I thought it was going to be more of a kids book but it really was an all ages topic. The kid sounding voice in the audiobook was a bit misleading and disturbed me at first but I got used to it.
Overall it was a good lesson that we focus too much in life about what we don't like, or negative feelings, instead of enjoying what we have.
The one thing they didn't touch on that would have been really interesting is how suicide plays into Elsewhere and stories from people in that situation however I can see that being too taboo or deep for a book kids would be reading. Perhaps someday we can get a more adult geared sequel that would dive into even tougher topics.
I thought it was going to be more of a kids book but it really was an all ages topic. The kid sounding voice in the audiobook was a bit misleading and disturbed me at first but I got used to it.
Overall it was a good lesson that we focus too much in life about what we don't like, or negative feelings, instead of enjoying what we have.
The one thing they didn't touch on that would have been really interesting is how suicide plays into Elsewhere and stories from people in that situation however I can see that being too taboo or deep for a book kids would be reading. Perhaps someday we can get a more adult geared sequel that would dive into even tougher topics.
February 23, 2018
1000/5 STARS
I always get so surprised when I see the low ratings of Elsewhere on Goodreads, because this one of my favorite books of ALL TIME. The synopsis on both Goodreads AND the back of the book itself just doesn't do it justice.
I would very much recommend this to anyone, and suggest you give it a chance!!!!
What I liked: I've read it more times than I can count, and each time I get something new. It's so moving and bittersweet and wonderful - I sob through the whole book each time I reread. Literally sob, even when it's not sad. I CAN'T HELP IT. The story is so unique, and the characters are wonderfully real even in the midst of such an unusual place/situation. The story is beautifully told and TRULY makes you think. Each time I finish this book I think about it for the next couple of days, at least.
Not so much: Nothing. There's nothing. It's wonderful.
RECAP: A GORGEOUS, BITTERSWEET, MOVING, ULTIMATELY HOPEFUL STORY ABOUT GRIEF, LOVE, AND MOVING ON. IT'S ABOUT DEATH AND LIFE - AND HOW THOSE THINGS ARE SOMETIMES NOT VERY DIFFERENT AT ALL.
I always get so surprised when I see the low ratings of Elsewhere on Goodreads, because this one of my favorite books of ALL TIME. The synopsis on both Goodreads AND the back of the book itself just doesn't do it justice.
I would very much recommend this to anyone, and suggest you give it a chance!!!!
What I liked: I've read it more times than I can count, and each time I get something new. It's so moving and bittersweet and wonderful - I sob through the whole book each time I reread. Literally sob, even when it's not sad. I CAN'T HELP IT. The story is so unique, and the characters are wonderfully real even in the midst of such an unusual place/situation. The story is beautifully told and TRULY makes you think. Each time I finish this book I think about it for the next couple of days, at least.
Not so much: Nothing. There's nothing. It's wonderful.
RECAP: A GORGEOUS, BITTERSWEET, MOVING, ULTIMATELY HOPEFUL STORY ABOUT GRIEF, LOVE, AND MOVING ON. IT'S ABOUT DEATH AND LIFE - AND HOW THOSE THINGS ARE SOMETIMES NOT VERY DIFFERENT AT ALL.
September 4, 2019
*A Reading Roulette selection with the group A Million More Pages*
Although I enjoyed the characters and their relationships, the story was a silly and often a ridiculous idea of the afterlife. It almost seemed like it was mocking life after death. I seriously doubt dead people eat, sleep, or have dog allergies. Aging backwards was interesting though.
Although I enjoyed the characters and their relationships, the story was a silly and often a ridiculous idea of the afterlife. It almost seemed like it was mocking life after death. I seriously doubt dead people eat, sleep, or have dog allergies. Aging backwards was interesting though.
September 24, 2020
Eh, this was just OK for me. I've read 5 other books of hers that I really loved, but this one was unremarkable. 2 stars
October 8, 2018
It’s hard for me to write a review about Elsewhere without any spoil or philosophy of life. So, please bear with me.
Liz is only 15 when she dies (she's a hit and run victim). She wakes up on the S.S. Nile on the way to Elsewhere which is the place everyone goes after their death. Forget about white light, tunnel. Everyone in Elsewhere ages backward and becomes a baby, and then they are sent back to Earth. For Liz, it's the worst because she will never go to college, get married, get big boob, live on her own, fall in love, get driver’s license, or anything. You see the picture.
The concept and the world which Gabrielle Zevin's created is pretty unique and somewhat beautiful; it's what I like the most. Needless to say, Elsewhere focus on life (after death) and grief. The living (her family and friends) grieve her death while Liz grieves the life that has been taken from her. She has to learn to leave again in this new place and to appreciate her new life. However, I’m not a fan of the romance or do I just say love interest. It doesn’t work with me … a 28-year-old man (if I remember it correctly) fall in love with a 15-year-old girl.
The characters are well okay. Even though I know that Liz is going through the five stages of grief ... I can't help but get annoyed by her. Let just say, most of the characters are childlike with the great wisdom. I think the purpose of that is to make the story more relatable to kids.
Elsewhere has a way of teaching you without actually teaching. I wished I had found this book and read it at the right age though.
PS. John Lennon is a gardener in Elsewhere.
“A life is a good story, Liz realizes, even a crazy, backward life like hers.”
Liz is only 15 when she dies (she's a hit and run victim). She wakes up on the S.S. Nile on the way to Elsewhere which is the place everyone goes after their death. Forget about white light, tunnel. Everyone in Elsewhere ages backward and becomes a baby, and then they are sent back to Earth. For Liz, it's the worst because she will never go to college, get married, get big boob, live on her own, fall in love, get driver’s license, or anything. You see the picture.
"Dead is little more than a state of mind. Many people on Earth spend their whole lives dead."
The concept and the world which Gabrielle Zevin's created is pretty unique and somewhat beautiful; it's what I like the most. Needless to say, Elsewhere focus on life (after death) and grief. The living (her family and friends) grieve her death while Liz grieves the life that has been taken from her. She has to learn to leave again in this new place and to appreciate her new life. However, I’m not a fan of the romance or do I just say love interest. It doesn’t work with me … a 28-year-old man (if I remember it correctly) fall in love with a 15-year-old girl.
“People, you'll find, aren't usually all good or all bad. Sometimes they're a little bit good and a whole lot bad. And sometimes, they're mostly good with a dash of bad. And most of us, well, we fall in the middle somewhere.”
The characters are well okay. Even though I know that Liz is going through the five stages of grief ... I can't help but get annoyed by her. Let just say, most of the characters are childlike with the great wisdom. I think the purpose of that is to make the story more relatable to kids.
"A life isn't measured in hours and minutes. It's the quality, not the length.”
Elsewhere has a way of teaching you without actually teaching. I wished I had found this book and read it at the right age though.
PS. John Lennon is a gardener in Elsewhere.
July 22, 2008
What is there to say about Elsewhere? Give me a second and I'll come up with it. Oh, it has a promising premise. It is at times heartbreaking and funny. Mostly it is disappointing. I'd heard good things about this book from another blog I read constantly, it was a YA book, and I couldn't wait to read it. The prologue is amazing, a funny, little dog running around trying to deal with her owners death. Hilarious and strangely touching. And then it switches to Lizzy, the main character of the book, a 15-year-old girl who has recently died after a bicycle accident. In Elsewhere, a form of Heaven, where the dead age backwards and everything is perfect. Of course, dying at 15 Lizzy missed everything, like turning 16. She doesn't want to age backwards. This is an interesting concept and at times very insightful. Unfortunately, Lizzy whines a lot about never getting to grow up and the novel is more annoying than introspective. It also delves into a snorefest of a love story. *YAWN* Seriously, if I heard another character complaining about not finding their true love, I may have just fallen asleep mid-word. There is a lot to like about this book though. Mainly the supporting characters, especially the animals and Lizzy's grandmother, Betty.
October 22, 2016
Story of an alternate afterlife as experience from the point of view of a 16 year old girl. Although certain aspects of the story I could poke holes in for inconsistencies overall it was very good. It elicited emotion from me, in this case sadness, and if a book can do that the author is doing his/her job. As a parent it's probably different than a teen reading it.
July 10, 2019
A re-read for me, just as good as the countless times before. Will always be on of my faves.
February 15, 2009
Awesome. I love creative renditions of the afterlife, and seeing into the writer's imagination. This was a very whimsical, fascinating take on death and life - I loved the image of the tree: that life and death are like the roots and branches of a tree - neither can see the other, but they are both alive and connected. I loved the message that life after death is still real life, and that things move on, you keep growing, working and building relationships. The characters were great, especially the dogs - I laughed out loud at the things that they said - so perfect! The main character was a very believable 15 year old girl, and the supporting characters had depth to the point that I felt I knew them. There were a few things I didn't understand - some of the water scenes were a little hard to visualize: the river inside the ocean, the well, and the contact through the pipes was a little too odd. What happens to truly bad people? (axe murderers, etc.) I didn't think the issue of the size of elsewhere was resolved - it seemed way too small, unorganized, and culture specific to be able to receive all the dead from around the world. And lastly,the idea of perpetual reincarnation drives me crazy! So aside from those things, and because it's a fictional, fun, "what if" scenario, I loved it.
September 9, 2008
I really enjoyed the premise of the book. However, I didn't like that the writing style was in the present tense through-out the entire book. I thought the characters weren't developed enough and felt very flat to me. Each character had the same manner of speaking and same sense of humor, so they all were basically the same characters but with different names or genders and different backgrounds. But then again, I'm an adult reader and well aware that the book was intended for young-adults. In all, I did find it gripping enough to read all the way through (in one day no less) and I did find some interesting nuances about it. Unfortunately (and this is probably because of the age range that the book targeted), I found more annoyances than gems.
That said, for a children's book, this would be an excellent read. I could see how it could bring comfort to a child dealing with the loss of a loved one and I can also see how it would be entertaining to a child who is interested in the author's creation of the afterlife. Some of the sub plots and developments in the book itself outside of the characters would make for a very gripping read for years 4th grade - 9th grade (depending on the maturity level of the child; there is some mild cussing).
That said, for a children's book, this would be an excellent read. I could see how it could bring comfort to a child dealing with the loss of a loved one and I can also see how it would be entertaining to a child who is interested in the author's creation of the afterlife. Some of the sub plots and developments in the book itself outside of the characters would make for a very gripping read for years 4th grade - 9th grade (depending on the maturity level of the child; there is some mild cussing).
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