Reviews

O Outro Lado by Gabrielle Zevin

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zoenovello's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

tannerk17's review against another edition

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5.0

This book is really good and is a twist on what happens when you die. It's about fifteen year old, Liz who dies and goes to a place called Elsewhere ---the place you go instead of heaven. Liz learns that in Elsewhere you age backwards until you're a baby, then you're reborn.

crystal_reading's review against another edition

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3.0

I thought this story of the afterlife had a unique take and so kept me interested the whole way through.

The book was in that funny narration where the main character "is about to do this" or "is noticing that sign." Present tense just feels awkward to me so sometimes it was a little jarring.

Otherwise, I found it a light, fluffy, and fun book especially compared to History of Love which I am also reading.

fluphin's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

3.0

nicolal's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

ks_reads_spice's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

⭐️💫/5

No spice

Synopsis: Elizabeth (Liz) dies after being hit by a car and suffered a traumatic head injury. She finds herself in Elsewhere, which is where everyone ages backwards before they are sent back to Earth as babies. She lives with her grandma, named Betty, and she meets a boy named Owen.

What I Liked: It was an easy read, and I can see why I liked it in middle school. I honestly cannot pinpoint a lot that I liked about this book. I liked some of the quotes in the book (9 to be exact).

What I Would Change: Basically the synopsis is the entire story. There was a lot of fluffiness in between. The story did not flow well at all. It felt very jumpy. There was nothing concrete that showed Owen and Liz loved each other other than when they said it lol. There was no build up or angst or anything. It was just “they spent a lot of weeks together and Owen loves her”. I think adding another 150-200 pages to the book to add more detail would’ve been great, but also making it first person POV with multiple POVs would’ve been better too. It felt very rushed, and I was not for it. I’m not saying we should’ve seen all 16 years, but Liz jumped from 16 to 9 with nothing in between, which I feel like I was robbed of that. 1.5 star because I finished it but it was not great.

❤️ Tropes: friends to lovers, paranormal romance

⚠️ Triggers: death, head trauma, grief, drowning, drug use (implies/off page)