A review by livrad
Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
3.0
2.75
Elsewhere is the story of Liz, who dies too young and crosses over to Elsewhere, an afterlife where you age in reverse before returning to Earth again as a baby.
I originally found this book from a published review and mistakenly thought it was a book with a teen/adolescent protagonist but written for an adult audience (think: Prep, The Lovely Bones, The Graveyard Book). Once I started listening to it, it didn’t even sound like a YA book, but more of a middle grades. This is exacerbated by a narrator who sounds like she’s 9 and uses very young vocal affectations. The writing of Liz is also emotionally shallow and not with the intellectual depth of a fifteen-year-old. (Once I realized how juvenile this book was, I listened to it with my children, ages 13, 11, and 6, and they all agreed Liz was remarkably young.) Then, there were mentions of more adult content that felt totally jarring (losing one’s virginity, one night stands, etc.) The concept of Elsewhere seems very interesting, but the book didn’t capitalize on that enough and was scant on world building. Still, it was an entertaining enough family listen.
Elsewhere is the story of Liz, who dies too young and crosses over to Elsewhere, an afterlife where you age in reverse before returning to Earth again as a baby.
I originally found this book from a published review and mistakenly thought it was a book with a teen/adolescent protagonist but written for an adult audience (think: Prep, The Lovely Bones, The Graveyard Book). Once I started listening to it, it didn’t even sound like a YA book, but more of a middle grades. This is exacerbated by a narrator who sounds like she’s 9 and uses very young vocal affectations. The writing of Liz is also emotionally shallow and not with the intellectual depth of a fifteen-year-old. (Once I realized how juvenile this book was, I listened to it with my children, ages 13, 11, and 6, and they all agreed Liz was remarkably young.) Then, there were mentions of more adult content that felt totally jarring (losing one’s virginity, one night stands, etc.) The concept of Elsewhere seems very interesting, but the book didn’t capitalize on that enough and was scant on world building. Still, it was an entertaining enough family listen.