Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

            The book Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin is an interesting novel about what happens after death.  The main character in the book is Lizzie Hall.  She dies in a car accident and is sent to Elsewhere, a land where people go after death to age backwards from the point of where they died.  Lizzie is 15 when she dies and she stays in Elsewehere for another 15 years, but ages backwards until she is 7 days old.  When she is 7 days old she is sent down a river to go back to Earth and start a new life as a baby.  In the book Lizzie falls in love with a man who is now 17 named Owen Welles.  Owen died when he was in his 50s and is now 17.  Lizzie and his relationship become complicated when Owen’s wife finally dies and is sent to Elsewhere.  He thinks he is still in love with her but then he realizes he is now in love with Lizzie.  His wife understands this and they decide to stay friends.  This is when Lizzie realizes that she and Owen really are meant to be.  Now I’m going to talk a little more about Elsewhere.

            Elsewhere is basically another Earth, except you see 6 year olds driving SUVs and former rock band stars become fishermen.  Because everyone eventually dies, Elsewhere has all of the same technology as Earth.  They have buildings made by renowned architects and art created by artists who have long since died.  Elsewhere has some differences from Earth.  In Elsewhere people never die.  When you get hurt or sick you go to the healing center but that eventually goes away because you are aging backwards and once you get to a certain point sickness or injury never happened.  Another difference is that people can speak to dogs.  Another thing you can do in Elsewhere is seeing your loved ones on Earth through the Observation Decks.  You can see what your loved ones are doing but you can’t communicate with them.  Communication with Earth is forbidden in Elsewhere.   This is a quick description of Elsewhere.

            Lizzie at first does not like Elsewhere and all she wants to do is go home and see her family and friends again. But over time, she realizes that Elsewhere is where she is meant to be and she embraces that when she starts seeing Owen.  Owen gives her another chance to live and become a new person.  Overall from Lizzie we all can learn that even when something dramatically changes in our life, we can learn to embrace these changes and the joys that they bring.  I highly recommend this book.