A review by jilly_bean_reads
Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

1.0

Multiple people recommended this book to me when they found out I was becoming a librarian and that I wanted to work with young adults. In fact, I even had one professor tell me that this book was "necessary" to read if I wanted to work with the young adult age group. Well, it took me over a year to finish this but I finally did. (I somehow managed to finish my degree before finishing this book!) Upon finally finishing, all I can say is that I don't get it. I don't get why this was recommended to me and I don't get why so many people have loved it. I picked this book up and put it down more times than I can count. I finished out of sheer stubbornness on my part. The premise was interesting enough but I found Liz (the main character) to be incredibly whiny (yes, I know she is dead but come on!) and it was difficult for me to root for any kind of happy ending for her. Speaking of ending, I also thought the book could have ended many different times but it just seemed to keep going! After trying to read it for so long, I finished with the book on CD, thinking this might help matters. I was wrong. The voice actress had a habit of laughing with the characters, as if signaling to the listener that they should laugh too...I usually didn't.

I won't say I hated this book. It had a few bright moments. If I had the option, I would probably give this 1 1/2 stars as I didn't want to light the book on fire or throw it or anything. However, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. As a lover of YA lit, I definitely wouldn't call this a "necessary" read.