Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

****Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin****

Originality- 20/20
Characters- 18/20
Remembrance- 9/10
Quote-ability- 9/10
Entertainment- 19/20
Ending- 10/10
Recommend to read- 10/10
TOTAL- 95/100
Grade- A

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?

Elsewhere would have to be one of my all time favorite books. I've read Elsewhere sometime last year from the library. I loved it so much that I had to go and buy it. Note that this is the first book I've done this to except those of Sarah Dessen. Also, this means that I re-read Elsewhere, which I barely have time to do. Elsewhere=Amazing. Remember that.

I just really loved the whole idea of the story. Zevin is so creative! The story was just so intriguing and original. Of course I've read books that were unbelievably one of a kind, Elsewhere was just so much better. Why? Because most other books with such an original storyline are horror or complete fantasy. It wasn't too far-fetched like dragons, and superheroes.

Another thing, don't you just love books that make you actually THINK? I mean, I love fluff as much as the next reader, but Elsewhere got me thinking and imagining. The idea that when we die, we grow young again is amazing. I've never read anything close to this before.

Now, I'll admit that Liz was kind of annoying. Especially at the beginning. It's hard to just read about someone denying everything that is happening and being in a pissy mood all the time, saying mean things to her grandma. Yeah yeah, she just died, but she continues to act like a crazy person for months. Girl needed to relax. Back to the good things though, the ending was sensational. The whole book was beautifully written. Overall I think that Elsewhere is a thought provoking book that everyone should read.

-Amanda