... This book is one of my favorite books. Although it is not a very challenging read, it kept me reading throughout each chapter, until I had finished it in only a couple of hours! It expresses many themes such as death, afterlife, teenage problems, insecurity, relationships, and much more. But instead of using these themes in a cliche sort of story, Gabrielle Zevin looks on the issues in a new light, and goes places other authors would have never thought of going. ... For instance, when you read about death, it is normally sad and often tear-jerking. However, Gabrielle Zevin sheds new light on death, she makes you look at death as a peaceful thing, not sad. And even though this story is tear-jerking, they are rarely sad tears, mostly tears of joy, or relief. The author makes death seem like it's in between somewhere carefree and blissful, and somewhere dark and dismal. Gabrielle makes death a sort of indecisive time. A time where, whoever has just died is trying to figure out what happened to them and trying to come to terms with their death. This really struck me as different, it really captured my attention. I appreciated how, somehow, Gabrielle Zevin was able to make me think about death. Whether it was her fresh take on it, or her realistic characters, I ended up thinking a lot about what the afterlife may be like, as opposed to just accepting what the author has laid out for us. ... Another example of how Gabrielle Zevin takes an issue and makes it completely new is how she showed teenage issues. The main character in this story was a teenager when she died, so as you can imagine, many of her thoughts and words were something you might hear me or my friends say. Because she is a teenager for a majority of the book, she has many problems, as many teenagers do. Except instead of having issues like acne, or prom dates, or friendship, Gabrielle Zevin has made the main character have deeper issues, some that she may not have had to face until she was older. For example, instead of having to deal with friend and family quarrels, she had to cope with missing friends and family and really noticing how much she loved and appreciated them. Sometimes we use the phrase "you don't know what you have until it's gone", this type of thing is normally experienced later on in life, however, the main character in this book must deal with it in her teenage years. I really liked how the author connected the theme of death, and afterlife with teenage problems because it was relatable. I always find a book interesting when I can relate to it on some level and this book was most definitely relatable. I often have disputes with my family and friends, but after reading this book, I try my best to appreciate them no matter what because I understand how hard it can be to lose people you are close to. ... These are just a couple of the ways that Gabrielle Zevin took common issues and themes, and made them more interesting and relatable, and less cliched. If i were to rate this book, I would give it an overall 5 stars. It's relatable to most everyone on some level, it's interesting and thought provoking, and overall enjoyable. I recommend this book to anyone who liked to think about things, or anyone who liked emotionally involved books.
Ok so, I don't know where to start.First of all, dear Gabrielle Zevin, if you write a book about the afterlife and you don't even CARE or BELIEVE in the afterlife, WHY WOULD YOU EVEN INVENT A PLACE CALLED ELSEWEHERE AND ALL THE PEOPLE IN IT? When you write a book, it has to be fucking believable. And the fact that Zevin was just like "Oh ok, I like dogs, let's write a book about Elsewhere with lots of dogs and dead people in it" just really pisses me off.Now that I got this off my mind, let's get to the review part:I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. Seriously. Maybe I had really high expectations, maybe I expected more philosophical, deep thoughts, but that was just fucking hilarious. The main character, Liz, wasn't really nice, a strong personality or relatable, the whole description of Elsewhere was really superficial and the story lacked logic. Of course, when I read a book about the afterlife I don't expect it to be extremely logical, but you could just really feel that the author wanted to finish writing as quickly as possibly. It dragged along in some parts, sometimes it was fast-paced, the characters weren't at all profound or realistic. There are really much better, smarter books about the afterlife that don't get you pissed off to that level. So just don't... don't read this.Also, the interview with Gabrielle Zevin... what was that?"What did you want to be when you grew up?""It changed every day, based on who I was talking to at the time. (Phew, you must really have a great, individual personality then.) I never said WRITER though, because everyone was always telling me I should be one."I HATE TO BREAK THIS TO YOU BUT THEY WERE OBVIOUSLY JUST MAKING FUN OF YOU.Her writing is below mediocre. The whole book was a nice idea, but she failed. Failed terribly.Oh well now I gotta have a grilled cheese sandwich to calm me down. Sweet Jesus.
What do You think about Elsewhere (2007)?
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.
—Kim
calm and thoughtfulfunny, unpredictable, stand-out original*be happy now -- don't wait until you're grown-up, or done with college, or the kids move out*know who you are*think, think, think*look both ways before crossing the streeti can see why reader-teens rave about this one, because it asks awesome, deep questions about life in a thoroughly roundabout waythat's a snowglobe on the cover, not a crystal ball, by the way. i didn't pick this up for awhile because somehow i thought there were seances involved. ;) Elsewhere shares some concepts with The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, but is not very similar otherwise. it's almost like fantasy or mythology, but still reads like realistic fiction. PG for a teeny bit of language, and for you know, DEATH, being a major theme. also, there is one point when our heroine realizes that her new boyfriend (who is aging backwards), at some point in the past/future was married and had sex with his wife. the thought doesn't go any further than that, though. lovely, worthwhile, and fun. highly recommended for 12 and up.
—joy *the clean-reader extraordinaire*
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).
—Katherine
