Allreaders.com

Elsewhere Book Summary and Study Guide

Detailed plot synopsis reviews of Elsewhere


Fifteen-year old Elizabeth "Liz" "Lizzie" Marie Hall has found herself in ELSEWHERE after dying in a bicycle-meets-taxi accident. After taking a long ride on the SS Nile, Liz has finally realized that she's not in a dream after all, but really, truly dead. When she arrives on Elsewhere, she meets her maternal grandmother, Betty, for the very first time. A woman who died at fifty from breast cancer, Betty is now a woman in her thirties--one of the first surprises Liz is in for is the fact that, on Elsewhere, lives are lived backward from the age of a person's death. Needless to say, this thought depresses Liz. She'll never be sixteen, never have a Massachusetts driver's license, never go to the prom or graduate from high school or go to college or get married. The only thing
Click here to see the rest of this review...

she has to look forward to is growing younger, until she returns to being an infant and is sent back to Earth to be born again.

Liz spends her first month on Elsewhere spending all of her time to
watch her family, friends, and classmates back on Earth. She's soon a regular at the OD's, or Observation Decks, watching life
on Earth pass her by. She's upset that her best friend, Zooey, didn't attend her funeral. Her parents are inconsolable, her younger brother, Alvy, tells jokes to get through the day, and her dog, Lucy, refuses to accept that Liz isn't coming back.

It takes awhile, but Liz finally realizes that spending hours upon hours at the OD's is not helping her adjust to life on Elsewhere. She finds a new friend in Owen, one of the detectives in charge of keeping the inhabitants of Elsewhere away from the Well, where contact with people on Earth is possible, but illegal. She once again befriends Thandi, a young girl killed on Earth by a stray bullet, who was her bunkmate on the SS Nile. She gets closer to grandmother Betty, finally takes a job in the Division of Domestic Animals helping recently departed pets find new owners, and seems to be finding a place on Elsewhere.

The review of this Book prepared by Jennifer Wardrip



Chapter Analysis of Elsewhere

Click on a plot link to find similar books!

Plot & Themes

Tone of book?    -   very sensitive (sigh) Time/era of story    -   2000+ (Present Day) Is this an adult or child's book?    -   Adult or Young Adult Book Religion theme?    -   Yes Religion theme:    -   musings from the afterlife

Main Character

Gender    -   Female Profession/status:    -   student Age:    -   a teen

Setting

How much descriptions of surroundings?    -   10 () United States    -   Yes

Writing Style

Amount of dialog    -   significantly more descript than dialog

Books with storylines, themes & endings like Elsewhere

Gabrielle Zevin Books Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).
2 Ways to Search!
Or



Our Chief Librarian