A review by ks_reads_spice
Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
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)