BookChick Recommends Elsewhere
“The Lovely Bones” popularized undead narrators and not of the blood-sucking variety. Now we’re seeing more books in which the main character has passed on to another world. “Elsewhere,” by Gabrielle Zevin, imagines that world with precise accuracy, down to the roads, the clothes, the jobs, the dogs, even the scuba gear that inhabits the afterworld. But Elsewhere isn’t a novel about the afterlife or ghosts; it’s about understanding how to live your life a new way when everything changes. Because everything does change when 15-year-old Lizzie is struck by a cab while riding her bike. She dies and takes a boat to Elswhere, where she meets the grandmother she never knew (her grandmother died before she was born), develops new friendships and discovers love, all while learning to let go of the living. But Elsewhere has its own set of quirks – you age backwards, getting younger by the day until you eventually become a baby and are sent back to earth to live again as someone else. This novel is a must-read because it’s a testament to the power of imagination. Elsewhere is a place so wholly realized, you might actually find yourself wondering if it really is where we go when we die.
