What did you enjoy about this book?
Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
LBD
Library Book Discussion
LBD (Library Book Discussion) is an online book discussion for teens. Teens across America are encouraged to discuss the book of month.
Don't forget to let us know where you're located!
Comments are monitored for appropriateness.
Participating Libraries
Dover Town Library
Dover, MA
Grinnell Library
Wappingers Falls, NY
Homer Township Public Library
Homer Glen, IL
Placer County Library
Auburn, CA
Shrewsbury Public Library
Shrewsbury, MA
Warren-Trumbull County Public Library
Warren, OH
Previous Books
Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
Leaving Protection by Will Hobbs
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Previous Posts
Elizabeth Anastasi
Sushila Mertens
Alexandra Tyle
Stephanie Worek
5 Comments:
Hi from California,
I loved the dreamlike quality of Elsewhere. Since I don't know what death is really like, I enjoyed Zevin's fantasy world. It also made me think about an alternate vocation.
I just think this is a really readable book... it catches your interest in the beginning, and holds it all through the book. The characters are all very memorable and easy to like.
I was bothered by the message that there is no real God (He/She/It is whatever YOU think He/She/It is, which means there is no Creator or God whose existence could exclude people's ideas of other gods!) To accept such a reasoning surely cannot be good if you are basing your beliefs on it! It sounds good in the context of multiculturalism, but what it really means is that all religions are false! Why? Because none support such an afterlife. Therefore, the writer introduces young readers to what is essentially a very illogical new religion, most closely alligned with Hinduism (reincarnation). Perhaps the writer IS a Hindu, I do not know, but at least the reader should understand such things. Also, there is a sad couple of statements about the expectation that young people must get into back seats of cars together, etc.
i enjoyed the state of Liz's feelings from confusion to melancholy, and slowly but surely to content.
i also loved how the book itself goes along with the aging backwards, because the plot goes in both directions. Like the captain on the S.S. Nile first said, the life here is backwards but forwards. you age down until you are a baby, but your thoughts keep developing (until you start to forget). The prologue was "In The End" and the epilogue was "In The Beginning". The story reaches its climax when all of the characters are sophisticated people then all of the sudden liz and owen are happy little children, and everything is innocent and happy. it made me think that life really is in the quality and not the time. liz's first few years trying to go back were probably the most painful in her life and afterlife. but her last moments of memory on the River were probably the most peaceful and happy ones she ever had.
I really liked how somtimes Owen and Liz talked in code and how Emily and Owen used morris code to tell each other things. I wish that I knew how to do that so no one else would know what I was saying but I would and the person that I was talking to would.
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