Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

Reviewed by Angie

Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES



Ratings Explanation

Language: At least one instance of nearly every swear word. Several instances of the more mild ones. About a dozen uses of Deity in one form or another. The f-word is referenced but never spelled out.

Violence: Liz is hit by a taxi. No details given other than she remembers flying through the air. A girl shows Liz a red gun-shot wound in the back of her neck.

Sexual Content: Talk of getting “big boobs” and that one girl’s “breasts look like tepees.” Sexual Education is mentioned as a class at Liz’s school. After Liz dies, she is able to watch her family back on earth. She watches her parents have sex. No details are given but she describes it as “both disgusting and fascinating.” While watching, she realizes that since she is dead, she won’t ever have sex. She watches her best friend lose her virginity. She thinks about Owen having sex with his wife before he died. She talks about “fumblings in the backseats of cars.” Owen and Liz kiss. When Liz tries to get back to Earth, she has to remove her clothes and a nurse swaddles her. Owen finds her naked in the river.

Adult Themes: The book is about death and the afterlife. The question is asked about God and how He fits into the situation. One of the characters was heavily into drugs during his life and it’s described rather vividly what his arms look like from the needles. Liz’s mom smokes cigarettes. One character is pregnant and loses the baby.

Synopsis

At first, Liz rejects the idea that she has died and is now living in the afterlife, which is called Elsewhere, where she will begin to grow younger until she is ready to be born again onto the Earth. She soon begins to realize that death is not the end, but rather another change and that she really can continue “living life” to the fullest.

I didn’t love Elsewhere, although I did find some aspects of it interesting. Zevin’s idea of the afterlife was both new and different than I’ve ever read before, but also slightly awkward and unsatisfying. I did like the change of attitude Liz experienced when faced with a difficult situation. I feel the character grew in ways that we can learn from.

While the writing was very simple and could be understood by a younger set (one critic recommended as young as 7th grade), I would recommend it for older high school students or young adults based on the language and the sexual references.