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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
medium-paced
I didn’t love Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, so I was hesitant going in to Elsewhere. But I’m so glad I read it; this book was a win. It made me think about life, loss, purpose, and time, all through a warm, YA-friendly lens. It’s got heart, humor, and a solid afterlife concept.
Fifteen-year-old Liz dies in a hit-and-run accident while riding her bike and wakes up confused on the SS Nile with a roommate Thandi, many elderly shipmates, and even her pop star idol, Curtis, Eventually, she pieces together that she’s died and is sailing toward Elsewhere, the afterlife where there’s no sickness, you age backwards until you’re a baby again, and then return to Earth. It’s a huge concept, and Gabrielle Zevin makes it work.
I was so pulled in. Liz’s journey from confusion and grief to acceptance and love is quietly moving. She gets to know Betty, the grandmother she never met, obsesses over observing what’s happening in her old life, finds a career matchmaking dogs to new humans (animals and humans can converse, and dogs have 300 words for “love”), and builds a new life in elsewhere. I loved the cover of my copy, featuring a snow globe, which is pulled from Betty brings Liz to a souvenir store and insists on buying something for her and Liz selects a snow globe with SS Nile.
In elsewhere, there’s an Observation Deck, where you can drop coins into machines and view your loved ones still on Earth for a few minutes at a time. Liz becomes obsessed with it, especially watching her family and her best friend Zooey. It’s comforting… until it isn’t. There’s a sharpness in realizing life is moving on without you, and Liz’s fixation keeps her emotionally stuck. The detail that Zooey didn’t attend her funeral hit especially There are also touching scenes where she checks in on Amadou Bonamy, the man who accidentally killed Liz (they also meet in the Elsewhere).
There’s also the Well, a forbidden underwater portal through which the dead can attempt to contact the living. Liz makes multiple attempts to get through the well, and eventually her elsewhere love interest, Owen, succeeds in contacting her brother, Alvy. Later, Liz herself braves the well again after receiving an actual message in a bottle: an invitation to Zooey’s wedding including an apology that she couldn’t attend Liz’s funeral. That scene is bittersweet and beautiful.
Speaking of Owen, their relationship is sweet and subtle, and made more complex when Owen’s former fiancée dies and joins him in Elsewhere. With the love triangle in place, Liz tries to “early release” (be sent back to earth before her aging backwards time is up), but Owen stops her so she remains until the book ends as she becomes a 7-day-old infant, ready to be reborn.
The tone is simple — it is a YA book, and it reads like one — but the ideas and feelings are huge, warm, and impactful.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Heartwarming, easy read! Brought tears and joy at the same time!!
I’ve read this book like 50 times but just needed a lil comfort read. This will probably forever be my favorite book
This book has stuck with me for the eighteen years since I've read it.
I have no idea exactly when. All I know is that I was in middle school, and this book with a snowglobe on the front fascinated and intrigued me. I had no idea what it was about. I had no idea what it would do to me. But I was a voracious young reader so I read it.
And in the almost two decades since, I've thought about it probably once a week.
I don't know! I grew up Catholic! The first time I read this, I was still attending CCD classes every week. I was waiting to get confirmed. I went to mass every Sunday. I knew the scripture, I had capital B 'Belief' but no one was really interested in the specifics of what happened in the afterlife.
And Elsewhere... it sounded nice.
A chance to do things over. A chance to see someone again. A chance to find out what happened. A chance to change, even after death.
Sounded like a pretty sweet deal.
To this day, this is probably my favorite imagining of the afterlife. Second might be The Good Place, but I was never one for playing in that kind of sandbox, you know? In The Good Place, you just hang out forever until you decide you're done. And then... you're done. It's a lot of pressure. Not enough structure for me.
I love Elsewhere because you know what you're doing. The rules are basically the same on Earth but without the pressures of capitalism or the risk of death. And there's a time limit so everything can still feel meaningul and purposeful - it's not a party without end. And the end is really just a new beginning.
I read Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow like everyone else when it came out and looking into Gabrielle Zevin, I was surprised but pleased to note some of the other works she's written. Stories that I read a decade ago but haunt me in the weirdest ways. Her vampire short story. Elsewhere. Confessions of a Teenage Amnesiac. I've kind of been going through and rereading them, just to see if they hold up. To see if they'll still punch me at 29 the way that they did when I was 13. And they do. They really do.
I changed the rating on this. When I rated it the first time, it was like five years after I'd read it and I don't think I was old enough to really appreciate the complexity at the time. Now it's five stars. Should have been the whole time.
I have no idea exactly when. All I know is that I was in middle school, and this book with a snowglobe on the front fascinated and intrigued me. I had no idea what it was about. I had no idea what it would do to me. But I was a voracious young reader so I read it.
And in the almost two decades since, I've thought about it probably once a week.
I don't know! I grew up Catholic! The first time I read this, I was still attending CCD classes every week. I was waiting to get confirmed. I went to mass every Sunday. I knew the scripture, I had capital B 'Belief' but no one was really interested in the specifics of what happened in the afterlife.
And Elsewhere... it sounded nice.
A chance to do things over. A chance to see someone again. A chance to find out what happened. A chance to change, even after death.
Sounded like a pretty sweet deal.
To this day, this is probably my favorite imagining of the afterlife. Second might be The Good Place, but I was never one for playing in that kind of sandbox, you know? In The Good Place, you just hang out forever until you decide you're done. And then... you're done. It's a lot of pressure. Not enough structure for me.
I love Elsewhere because you know what you're doing. The rules are basically the same on Earth but without the pressures of capitalism or the risk of death. And there's a time limit so everything can still feel meaningul and purposeful - it's not a party without end. And the end is really just a new beginning.
I read Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow like everyone else when it came out and looking into Gabrielle Zevin, I was surprised but pleased to note some of the other works she's written. Stories that I read a decade ago but haunt me in the weirdest ways. Her vampire short story. Elsewhere. Confessions of a Teenage Amnesiac. I've kind of been going through and rereading them, just to see if they hold up. To see if they'll still punch me at 29 the way that they did when I was 13. And they do. They really do.
I changed the rating on this. When I rated it the first time, it was like five years after I'd read it and I don't think I was old enough to really appreciate the complexity at the time. Now it's five stars. Should have been the whole time.
there’s just so much to say but also so little? this book was too short for my liking, it should’ve been longer. i feel so bittersweet after reading this.
I read this in middle or high school but re-read it this week as a little break from work. It’s just as sweet now as I thought it was then - such a fresh and unique story, and makes you pause and appreciate things just a little more than usual. Definitely recommend for both young adults and older ones!