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biscuitcrux 's review for:
Elsewhere
by Gabrielle Zevin
15-year old Liz is hit by a taxicab one day and finds herself on the way to Elsewhere, an afterlife where people age backwards until it's time to be born again. It's a lot like earth, except you get to talk to animals, be pals with your favorite rock star, and choose whatever job you like to do. But Liz is a wayward child, and she would rather grow up instead of get younger. So she spends her time on wayward teenage stuff. Then everybody falls in love and marries each other.
I was pretty disappointed in this. The concept was great, and the story could have been quite beautiful. But it just didn't get there. It wasn't very well written. The writing would have matched with a book for the 12-and under set, but it didn't seem to be aimed at that audience.
There were lots of little things that bugged me. Dogs don't use human body language to communicate. Newborn babies don't laugh. Most people wouldn't choose wading through bureaucratic red tape as a job they'd enjoy. This afterlife seemed to have lots of bureaucracy and paperwork, but everyone got to choose a job they loved, and there seemed to be no one doing the crap jobs, and no one calling the shots. Maybe I ask too much from teen literature, but this was no [b:If I Stay|4374400|If I Stay|Gayle Forman|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1221604709s/4374400.jpg|4422413] or [b:The Afterlife|54387|The Afterlife|Gary Soto|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170438269s/54387.jpg|524065].
I was pretty disappointed in this. The concept was great, and the story could have been quite beautiful. But it just didn't get there. It wasn't very well written. The writing would have matched with a book for the 12-and under set, but it didn't seem to be aimed at that audience.
There were lots of little things that bugged me. Dogs don't use human body language to communicate. Newborn babies don't laugh. Most people wouldn't choose wading through bureaucratic red tape as a job they'd enjoy. This afterlife seemed to have lots of bureaucracy and paperwork, but everyone got to choose a job they loved, and there seemed to be no one doing the crap jobs, and no one calling the shots. Maybe I ask too much from teen literature, but this was no [b:If I Stay|4374400|If I Stay|Gayle Forman|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1221604709s/4374400.jpg|4422413] or [b:The Afterlife|54387|The Afterlife|Gary Soto|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170438269s/54387.jpg|524065].