Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

I love this book.

I've always been a fan of the Young Adult genre but that stems mostly from being born in the late 70's and growing up with Sweet Valley Twins, Christopher Pike and R.L. Stine.  With that being said, kids now-a-days have Twilight, The Hunger Games and Harry Potter.  Now you know why I'm still reading Young Adult books...

When Borders was still open, their Young Adult section was by far one of the largest in the big chain bookstores.  Everything about their product placement was visually appealing which is one of the main reasons I loved to shop there.  Bonus points to them for making the Young Adult section blend in with the rest of the store so I didn't have to hide my face to not feel like a old creepy person.  Nothing says "Creeper" than a 30 something girl wandering around a bunch of teenagers. 

Well, on one of my many thousands of trips through Borders I stumbled upon this book.  Being the judge of books based upon their covers, this one caught my eye.  So I bought it...and proceeded to read it in one sitting.

The story is about a young girl, Liz, who dies and experiences the afterlife which isn't quite Heaven but is Elsewhere.  I don't want to explain anymore because the author does such a great job laying it all out for you in the course of the story.  To go into any more detail would steal that experience away from you.

There are two types of books that I read.  The ones where at the end I think, "I could have written that wayyyyyy better" and the ones where I think, "Where in the hell did they come up with such an amazing plot?"  This was the latter.  This is my go to "happy" book when I've just wasted any amount of time reading some crappy book that makes me wonder why I continue to read books.  I've bought so many copies of this book because I keep loaning them to people to share the experience with them...needless to say, I've never gotten one copy back. 

Reading this book reminds me of a line in a movie, Garden State.  When Sam first meets Large she's listening to a CD and says, "You gotta hear this one song.  It'll change your life, I swear."

Read this book.  It'll change your life.  I swear...and please feel free to leave comments.  I'd really love to hear someone else's thoughts on this book!

Check out the author's webiste for more!  http://www.gabriellezevin.com/