About this title: This young adult novel is a tender, funny, and thought-provoking story about first love and seeing death as the other half of life. Fifteen-year-old Liz Hall is dead, and her discovery that the afterlife, in a place called Elsewhere, is about getting younger instead of older is bitterly disappointing. She was really looking forward to turning 16, ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Square Fish
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780312367466ISBN:0312367465
Description: Good. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 288 p. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Square Fish
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780312367466ISBN:0312367465
Description: Very Good. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 288 p. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780374320911ISBN:0374320918
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. Dust Jacket has some edgewear present. A former library book with the usual identifiers in a protective glossy dust jacket covering. -, Hard Cover, Very Good / Very Good. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
ISBN-13:9780374320911ISBN:0374320918
Description: Good. Purchasing this DVD supports the North Central Regional Library. Thriftbooks and NCRL have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Library ID found on DVD and case. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
ISBN-13:9780374320911ISBN:0374320918
Description: Good. Purchasing this DVD supports the North Central Regional Library. Thriftbooks and NCRL have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Library ID found on DVD and case. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Fair. Purchasing this book supports the King County Library System Foundation. Thriftbooks and KCLSF have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780374320911ISBN:0374320918
Description: Good. Sewn binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 275 p. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780374320911ISBN:0374320918
Description: Good. Sewn binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 275 p. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780374320911ISBN:0374320918
Description: Good. Sewn binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 275 p. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Square Fish
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780312367466ISBN:0312367465
Description: Very Good. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 288 p. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Square Fish
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780312367466ISBN:0312367465
Description: Good. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 288 p. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
Description: Good. 0312367465 25270 PB; spine smooth, text clean, cover has light shelf wear-allow up to 21 business days for standard USPS media m ai l. wt1lbpf. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780374320911ISBN:0374320918
Description: New. Slight shelf wear. GoodwillnyBooks is committed to providing each customer with the highest standard of customer service. You may return new items within 30 days of delivery for a full refund. read more
Edition: First edition.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780374320911ISBN:0374320918
Description: Fine in fine dust jacket. As new book and dj. First edition, later printing. No markings, edgewear or creasing. Sewn binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 275 p. Audience: Children/juvenile; Young adult. read more
"Maybe if I were still thirteen I would think differently, but Elsewhere reads like a Hallmark movie of the week. It's sappy and hopelessly predictable. While Zevin's depiction of the afterlife is kind of creative, it's mostly confounding (turns out death is just as routine and dull as everyday life ... except that dogs talk). Her jokes either fall flat or induce a lengthy groan, but are never really amusing. And while Zevin can occasionally turn a phrase in an interesting way, for the most part her prose is awkward and downright clunky: "Although she tries to be very quiet, she loses her grip on the last drawer and it slams shut. This has the unfortunate effect of waking the sleeping girl again." Man, I hate when a drawer slams shut because I lost my grip on it! In the end, Elsewhere falls very flat."
"Awesome. I love creative renditions of the afterlife, and seeing into the writer's imagination. This was a very whimsical, fascinating take on death and life - I loved the image of the tree: that life and death are like the roots and branches of a tree - neither can see the other, but they are both alive and connected. I loved the message that life after death is still real life, and that things move on, you keep growing, working and building relationships. The characters were great, especially the dogs - I laughed out loud at the things that they said - so perfect! The main character was a very believable 15 year old girl, and the supporting characters had depth to the point that I felt I knew them. There were a few things I didn't understand - some of the water scenes were a little hard to visualize: the river inside the ocean, the well, and the contact through the pipes was a little too odd. What happens to truly bad people? (axe murderers, etc.) I didn't think the issue of the size of elsewhere was resolved - it seemed way too small, unorganized, and culture specific to be able to receive all the dead from around the world. And lastly,the idea of perpetual reincarnation drives me crazy! So aside from those things, and because it's a fictional, fun, "what if" scenario, I loved it."
"In a way, there is something about Zevin's view of the afterlife reminds me of the Florida vacations from my childhood: a leisurely drive through one sunny, pleasant day after another. If that was all there was to it, I probably wouldn't recommend this book so highly, but Zevin's story of a girl's growth after her own mortal life ends is anything but simple. The recently deceased arrive in Elsewhere (as the afterlife is known) with the understanding that they will be aging backwards to the point of their reappearance into the earthly realm as a new baby. For Lizzie, a teenager who was killed in a car accident, this means that instead of growing up, she will have to relive her childhood a second time at a point when she's scarcely left it behind to begin with. While everyone around her seems to be gaining all sorts of personal insight and acceptance, Lizzie plummets into an all-consuming state of mourning for the life she never got to live. The tale of how she gets from this lowest point to enlightenment on the way to her rebirth is beautiful and thought-provoking and a wonderful read. Dogs are in Elsewhere too, and while I wouldn't change a thing about the book, Zevin does risk a little bit of sentimentality when it comes to some of those scenes. The opening of the book, for example, told from the perspective of Lizzie's pug Lucy was almost too much, and dampened my enthusiasm a bit going in---but do read on, because this journey is definitely a trip worth taking. And though it deals so much with death and everything that entails, it's poignant without being at all depressing.
So far I've yet to read a book by Gabrielle Zevin that isn't absolutely fantastic. I'm looking forward to see what else is in store from her.
Recommended for fans of Markus Zusak, Sarah Dessen, Sharon Creech, Jay Asher"
"I really enjoyed the premise of the book. However, I didn't like that the writing style was in the present tense through-out the entire book. I thought the characters weren't developed enough and felt very flat to me. Each character had the same manner of speaking and same sense of humor, so they all were basically the same characters but with different names or genders and different backgrounds. But then again, I'm an adult reader and well aware that the book was intended for young-adults. In all, I did find it gripping enough to read all the way through (in one day no less) and I did find some interesting nuances about it. Unfortunately (and this is probably because of the age range that the book targeted), I found more annoyances than gems.
That said, for a children's book, this would be an excellent read. I could see how it could bring comfort to a child dealing with the loss of a loved one and I can also see how it would be entertaining to a child who is interested in the author's creation of the afterlife. Some of the sub plots and developments in the book itself outside of the characters would make for a very gripping read for years 4th grade - 9th grade (depending on the maturity level of the child; there is some mild cussing)."
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