Hey friends,
Thanks for stopping in to check out my thoughts on Elsewhere. Read on to find out if I recommend this title. Be sure to watch the coordinating video on my Book Tube channel!
Thanks for stopping in to check out my thoughts on Elsewhere. Read on to find out if I recommend this title. Be sure to watch the coordinating video on my Book Tube channel!
Get the audiobook here! Publisher: Square Fish | Listening Library
Release Date: May 15, 2007 (originally published 2005)
Format: ebook & Audio MP3
Pages: Paperback: 277 pages | Audio Length: Approx 7 hours
Narrator: Cassandra Morris
Source: Library Borrow | Audible
Genre: YA Fantasy, YA Fiction
Review Date: March 23, 2015
Rating: 3 bookmarks
Synopsis: 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.
| I found Elsewhere to be a fun and intriguing look into a imaginary place of where one goes to spend their afterlife. I decided to both listen to this on audio and to read it via ebook. This allowed me to complete the book even faster because there were times that I could only listen via audiobook (while working) and still read it at home. By biggest issue with Elsewhere is that it felt a tad too young for me. Liz had a tough go of things, and true - her situation wasn't fair, but she was the biggest brat ever. Life isn't fair. Liz acts exactly like how I would think an immature teenager would. I couldn't connect or relate to Liz at all. In the long run, she did mature, but it took a long time to get there. | |
On the plus side, the other characters in the book really helped the story along. If the secondary characters weren't as strong and present as they were, Elsewhere would have fallen short. I found that all the other characters added balance to Liz's bratty behavior. Even the other little girl that's Liz's age, who also died young, was more mature than she was.
We discussed this at the book club meeting for a short time and then we moved on to talk about personal stuff. Sadly, there wasn't enough content for us to really dig into it. In my opinion, this was because the book was written for a younger audience, so the plot and the characters are pretty black and white and weren't very multidimensional. Unfortunately there wasn't much for us to mull over and discuss. I think I expected more from a story about what happens after death.
I know it seems like I'm coming down on Elsewhere, but I did like it overall. It was entertaining enough and I was able to complete it in a timely manner. I would recommend this title for those that tend to enjoy younger feeling YA books or even middle grade. For those that tend to lean toward new adult and adult books, Elsewhere isn't for you. Sit this one out.
Happy Reading & Listening,
~Tamara
On a mobile device? Watch the coordinating video here!
We discussed this at the book club meeting for a short time and then we moved on to talk about personal stuff. Sadly, there wasn't enough content for us to really dig into it. In my opinion, this was because the book was written for a younger audience, so the plot and the characters are pretty black and white and weren't very multidimensional. Unfortunately there wasn't much for us to mull over and discuss. I think I expected more from a story about what happens after death.
I know it seems like I'm coming down on Elsewhere, but I did like it overall. It was entertaining enough and I was able to complete it in a timely manner. I would recommend this title for those that tend to enjoy younger feeling YA books or even middle grade. For those that tend to lean toward new adult and adult books, Elsewhere isn't for you. Sit this one out.
Happy Reading & Listening,
~Tamara
On a mobile device? Watch the coordinating video here!
Get the Kindle version here: 
