13 April 2015

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

"Why do two people ever fall in love? It's a mystery."
Gabrielle Zevin, Elsewhere


This book speaks all kinds of first for me. First book by Gabrielle Zevin, first book to be reviewed, first book about afterlife. So, Elsewhere tells a story about a girl named Liz who gets hit and when she's awake, she finds herself in Elsewhere, a place for the dead. 

All in all, it's an interesting book for me. I enjoyed the story when I first read it. That's because I've read this book twice, ha!  Since this is my first book about afterlife (back then I have no idea that there are lots of novels about afterlife), I find it very original. The storyline is also okay for me. There are interesting parts here and there. My favourite part is of course the one I quoted above. It's from the chapter 'A Mystery'. In this chapter, Liz learns how to park a car from Owen. Owen is her friend (sort of like a crush or infatuation, if I may) who has been long dead but since in Elsewhere people age backward, Liz and Owen are pretty much of the same age.

The characters are also fine. You get Liz, the typical average girl next door. Then, her family in real world and her friends in Elsewhere. All the characters possess the real character. Nothing extraordinary or fancy. By that I mean the characters are not being exaggerated. You know how in some drama they show a high school student with all these impossible life? Yea, that's what I mean by 'exaggerated'. So the characters in this book is real to life, which is a good thing!

I think that's all I have to say about this book. In conclusion, it's not a phenomenal book but it's not that bad either. It's just a nice read during those rainy days when you're all curled up in bed.
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That's it, my first review and post. Let me know what you think, whether my review is too vague or if I need to use more adjectives. I'll see you in the next post!