Second Chances

From StarMag, September 2005

Byline: Review by DAPHNE LEE

ELSEWHERE

By Gabrielle Zevin

Publisher: Bloomsbury, 273 pages

(ISBN:0747580340)

WHAT would you think if you woke one morning and found yourself sleeping in a bunk on a ship, wearing strange pyjamas, and sporting a shaven and stitched head? And what if you had a cabin mate with a bullet hole in her skull?

When this happens to Liz, she assumes she's dreaming. But she's not. The vessel she's on isn't sailing on the River of Dreams. It's taking her to the afterlife, or Elsewhere, as it's officially called.

In Gabrielle Zevin's young adult novel about life, death and second chances, the afterlife is a place very similar to Earth. In fact, it's very like an American town. The question of whether different people have different Elsewheres, based on what they were used to on Earth, is not addressed. Would I, for example, if I died, find myself on a Star Aquarius cruise ship headed for an Elsewhere that mirrors the Klang Valley?

Well, as John Lennon does make a brief appearance in the book (actually, it's not even a walk-on part; one of the characters just mentions meeting him), I guess in Zevin's fiction, we're all headed for Smallville, USA, once we pop our corks. I guess it could be worse. A lot worse.

In Elsewhere, you age in reverse, until you are seven days old, whereupon you are returned to Earth and reborn as a new person. In Elsewhere you may seek employment and, if so, you're encouraged to do only what you really love. In Elsewhere, you may learn to speak canine (and other animal languages), or find out that you knew how to all along. In Elsewhere, you may meet friends and relations who have passed on. You may even meet family members who died before you were born. And in Elsewhere, you can view those you've left behind on Earth, through powerful telescopes at the Observation Deck (OD).

Fifteen-year-old Liz, the victim of a hit-and-run, takes a while to accept her death and is, briefly, an OD junkie. She even tries to contact her family – a big no-no in Elsewhere. However, this event marks a turning point in her afterlife. She is arrested for the misdemeanour by Owen Welles, a detective with the Elsewhere Bureau of Supernatural Crime and Contact.

Owen has been in Elsewhere for nine years. He died at 26, leaving behind his wife Emily. Now, having aged backwards to 17, he still misses her. He is lonely and a loner, until he meets Liz. They fall in love. And then Emily dies and is reunited with Owen in Elsewhere. In this way, "life" there can be as confusing and painful as on Earth.

Reading this book made me cry, but it was, mostly, a good, satisfying sort of cry. Of course, I have some questions about the world described by Zevin – like, are mass murderers and other psychopaths running around in Elsewhere? (Jack the Ripper and Hitler, for instance.) Like, what happens if you were to die in vitro or at birth? And why does no one worry about being reborn into abject poverty or to abusive parents?

I guess if Zevin got into all that, this would be rather different book. As it is, Elsewhere is uplifting, comforting and hopeful without being preachy and sentimental. The author is perceptive and very funny – a good storyteller who seems to really know and care for her characters, and believe in the world she has created.

I'm not sure I want to be reborn, but I love the idea of death offering me another stab at life. I think Elsewhere will appeal to anyone who's ever asked for a second chance.