Elsewhere

kittycat87 - In the book Elsewhere, Elizabeth Hall has found herself in Elsewhere after dying in a car accident. After taking a long ride on the SS Nile, Liz has finally realized that she's not in a dream after all, but dead. When she arrives on Elsewhere, she meets her grandmother, Betty, for the very first time. And learns in Elsewhere, lives are lived backward from the age of a person's death. Liz would never be sixteen, never have a driver's license, never 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 becomes an infant and is sent back to Earth to be born again. Liz spends her first month on Elsewhere at the Observation Decks where she can watch her family, and friends back on Earth. In the end Liz gets closer to grandmother Betty, takes a job in the animal shelter helping pets find new owners, until she is sent back to earth. I really liked the book. I liked the book because it was really interesting. I also really liked it because it was a cool idea, how it took place after the main character dies.

August 29, 2005
Even readers who have strong views on what happens after death may find themselves intrigued by the fascinating world of "Elsewhere," the place 15-year-old Liz ends up after she is killed in a bicycle accident. A surreal atmosphere permeates chapter one as Liz awakens on a ship (mostly occupied by elderly people), unaware of its destination. Her situation gradually comes into focus after she arrives at the island of Elsewhere and is greeted by her grandmother, who died before Liz was born. Liz learns that the aging process works differently in this land of the dead: instead of getting older, humans (and animals) grow younger. When they reach infancy, they are sent down the River to be reborn on Earth. In other ways, Elsewhere resembles the world Liz left behind; residents work at jobs (although here, everyone has a chance to pursue an "avocation... something a person does to make his or her soul complete"), celebrate holidays and form friendships. Liz also falls in love for the first time, while her grandmother (who has progressed back to her thirties) becomes engaged to a famous rock star; and readers will likely be intrigued by the "strictly forbidden" Well. Prudently skirting the issue of God's role in Elsewhere (when she asks about God, Liz is told simply "God's there in the same way He, She, or It was before to you. Nothing has changed"), Margarettown
author Zevin, in her first novel for young people, bends the laws of physics and biology to create an intricately imagined world. Ages 12-up.