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Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin, Alison McGhee
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(Paperback - Reprint)
Reader Rating: (161 ratings)
- Publisher: Square Fish
- Pub. Date: May 2007
- ISBN-13: 9780312367466
- Sales Rank: 3,432
- Age Range: Young Adult
- 304pp
- Edition Description: Reprint
- Other Formats:
- Hardcover
- Compact Disc - Unabridged, 6CDs, 6hrs
Synopsis
Welcome to Elsewhere. It is usually warm with a breeze, the sun and the stars shine brightly, and the beaches are marvelous. It’s quiet and peaceful here. And you can’t get sick or any older. Curious to see new paintings by Picasso? Swing by one of Elsewhere’s museums. Need to talk to someone about your problems? Stop by Marilyn Monroe’s psychiatric practice.
Elsewhere.
It’s where fifteen-year-old Liz Hall ends up, after she has died. It is a place so like Earth, yet completely different from it. Here Liz will age backward from the day of her death until she becomes a baby again and returns to Earth.
But Liz wants to turn sixteen, not fourteen (again). She wants to get her driver’s license. She wants to graduate from high school and go to college. She wants to fall in love. And now that she’s dead, Liz is being forced to live a life she doesn’t want with a grandmother she has only just met. And it is not going well.
How can Liz let go of the only life she has ever known and embrace a new one? Is it possible that a life lived in reverse is no different from a life lived forward?
Publishers Weekly
Even readers who have strong views on what happens after death may find themselves intrigued by the fascinating world of "Elsewhere," the place 15-year-old Liz ends up after she is killed in a bicycle accident. A surreal atmosphere permeates chapter one as Liz awakens on a ship (mostly occupied by elderly people), unaware of its destination. Her situation gradually comes into focus after she arrives at the island of Elsewhere and is greeted by her grandmother, who died before Liz was born. Liz learns that the aging process works differently in this land of the dead: instead of getting older, humans (and animals) grow younger. When they reach infancy, they are sent down the River to be reborn on Earth. In other ways, Elsewhere resembles the world Liz left behind; residents work at jobs (although here, everyone has a chance to pursue an "avocation... something a person does to make his or her soul complete"), celebrate holidays and form friendships. Liz also falls in love for the first time, while her grandmother (who has progressed back to her thirties) becomes engaged to a famous rock star; and readers will likely be intrigued by the "strictly forbidden" Well. Prudently skirting the issue of God's role in Elsewhere (when she asks about God, Liz is told simply "God's there in the same way He, She, or It was before to you. Nothing has changed"), Margarettown author Zevin, in her first novel for young people, bends the laws of physics and biology to create an intricately imagined world. Ages 12-up. (Sept.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
More Reviews and RecommendationsBiography
Guided by a love of writing that actually began as a love of typing -- discovered while playing on her grandmother's IBM electric typewriter at three years old -- Gabrielle Zevin writes novels that are intended for young adults but appeal to the youthful spirit in all of us. In our interview, she reflects, "Books are incredibly powerful when we are young -- the books I read as a child have stayed with me my entire life."
More About the AuthorCustomer Reviews
- Reader Rating:
- Ratings: 161Reviews: 161
Elsewhereby Anonymous
Reader Rating:
September 01, 2008: This book was, by far, the most enteresting book i have ever read. I am a christian, so I dont believe that everything in this book could happen, but it sure makes you wonder what really does happen once you are deceased. I hope that everyone can enjoy this book as much as I did! Also even though you might not believe everything that is written in this book you can still enjoy the thought and energy put into it!
Elsewhereby Anonymous
Reader Rating:
July 10, 2008: I've read this book a few times and each time it gets better. If you like a romantic drama novel, you should definately get this.:]
Fact File
Name:
Gabrielle Zevin
Current Home:
New York, New York
Date of Birth:
October 24, 1977
Place of Birth:
Poughkeepsie, New York
Education:
A.B. in English and American Literature, Harvard College, 2000
Biography
Gabrielle Zevin, in her own words:
"Before I liked to write, I liked to type. I remember visiting my grandmother Adele in Ponce Inlet, Florida, when I was three years old, and she had an IBM electric typewriter. I thought that this electric typewriter was about the most fascinating toy in the world -- I liked the little bell and the sounds and the feel of the keys and especially the erase key. Grandma Adele would set me up with plenty of paper and I'd be entertained for hours. I would type pages and pages, mainly nonsense, but sometimes my name or lists of words I knew. I can't remember when the nonsense changed into something more organized and storylike, it just did. (Will the monkey eventually type Shakespeare? Not yet.) The first stories I wrote were autobiographies, because, at that age, I found myself a most intriguing subject. Still, the autobiographies were largely fictionalized. I'd sometimes leave space for illustrations and sew the pages together when I was done. And for many years, this was the extent of my fiction career.
"When I was around eight, I learned how to touch-type at school, and I received a computer as a present. I started writing plays, and for many years I thought I would be a playwright. Over the years, I had studiously managed to write everything but novels -- I had been a copious pen pal, a first-class transcriptionist, a professional screenwriter (still am, actually), a teen music reviewer, a mediocre research-paper writer, and, of course, a writer of plays. So, although I was not writing novels, I was always writing something. Actually, I hadn't ever felt any particular calling to be a novelist, and I clearly remember telling a friend of mine about six months before I started work on Elsewhere that I would NEVER write a novel. And then I thought of the idea for Elsewhere, which did not seem to want to be a play or a screenplay. It kept sounding awfully novelish in my head, and though I was a little scared, I just sat in front of my computer and started to type. So it was fortunate that I liked typing, because I would be typing Liz's story for many a moon. Although I still write screenplays, I've written two other novels since writing Elsewhere. And I'm happy to report that I still like the sound of the keys."
Gabrielle Zevin has had several screenplays optioned by film studios. Gabrielle is a 2000 graduate of Harvard with a degree in English and American literature. She was born in New York and lives there still with one pug dog, Mrs. DeWinter, and her partner of ten years, director Hans Canosa.
Author biography courtesy of Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
Good to Know
Some interesting outtakes from our interview with Zevin:
"I don't believe in writer's block."
"I own a pug dog, like the one in Elsewhere."
"My first novel, Elsewhere, was actually published three months after my second novel, Margarettown."
"For me, writing about the afterlife was really a way to discuss the important things about this life."
"I wish that the adults who are 'in power' cared more about what their children read. Books are incredibly powerful when we are young -- the books I read as a child have stayed with me my entire life -- and yet, the people who write about books, for the most part, completely ignore children's literature."
"One of my favorite book quotes is from The Unbearable Lightness of Being: 'We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come.' "
Feature Interview
In the fall of 2005, Gabrielle Zevin took some time out to tell us about some of her favorite books, authors, and interests: What was the book that most influenced your life or your career as a writer?
Quite honestly, there isn't a single book that influenced me more than any other -- and I feel like a liar whenever I'm asked this sort of thing because my answer always changes.
The first novel I can remember reading was Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder -- my dad bought it for me at the mall when I was five, and I remember feeling really proud that he thought I was mature enough to read a book with chapters. I can't say much about that particular reading experience, but I must have liked it enough to keep reading more books with chapters.
My mother's favorite book is All This and Heaven, Too by Rachel Field. I mention this because she and my father both are such avid readers -- I doubt I would be a writer if not for their reverence and love of books.
Maybe the book that influenced me the most was a gift -- it came from my partner of ten years, Hans, the first holiday season I knew him. It was a beautiful hardcover version of the Stories of Vladimir Nabokov, and Hans and I had both gotten each other the exact same book. Somehow the act of choosing the same book let me know that we were on the same page (so to speak). Eight years later, it was Hans, more than anyone else, who pushed me to write and finish my first novel -- that's why Elsewhere is dedicated to him. The funniest thing is that although Nabokov is one of my absolute favorite writers, I still haven't read the Stories of Vladimir Nabokov ten years later. I'm looking forward to it someday.
What are your favorite books, and what makes them special to you?
Since the answer changes on a fairly regular basis, I thought I'd mention my favorite books at different periods in my life:
Now, some of the books I go back to over and over again (usually because I want to figure out something about my own writing) are:
The books I treasure the most are the ones that are also my best teachers.
What are some of your favorite films, and what makes them unforgettable to you?
Favorites are hard for me, so here are a few off the type of my head:
I also like that cartoon The Point with Ringo Starr as the narrator. But really, I watch all sorts of things. I don't censor myself in what I watch, read or listen to. For me, a great movie is one that moves me in some way. That's really my only requirement.
Oh, and my partner, Hans, just directed a movie from a script I wrote. It's called Conversations with Other Women and it stars Helena Bonham Carter and Aaron Eckhart. I think it's brilliantly directed and acted, but of course, I'm prejudiced. The script's not too bad either.
What types of music do you like? Is there any particular kind you like to listen to when you're writing?
You know, when I first started writing, I used to listen to music all the time, because it would make time pass more quickly. And then I started to wonder if the music wasn't affecting my writing in ways that I didn't necessarily intend. Consequently, for both of my books, I made the conscious choice not to listen to anything while I was writing the first draft, which was sort of difficult at least in the beginning.
I like all kinds of music; my first job as a writer was as a teen music critic for a local newspaper. At that time, my favorite bands were Guns N' Roses and Nirvana. My favorite lyricist of all time is Bob Dylan -- one of his songs is excerpted in my other novel, Margarettown. He's up there with Rilke or T. S. Eliot or e. e. cummings for me. I also love Johnny Cash, Aimee Mann, Elvis Costello, Nick Drake, Rilo Kiley, Lou Reed, Tom Waits, and David Bowie. If I'm in the mood to weep, the second movement of Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto does that for me. Same with the second movement of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto.
If you had a book club, what would it be reading?
An Equal Music by Vikram Seth (so romantic and smart) or The Character of Rain by Amelie Nothomb, or maybe My Little Blue Dress by Bruno Maddox, or The Wife by Meg Wolitzer. I think a great book club selection is a quick read, and something I'm dying to discuss out loud, and ideally, a book that can be interpreted in many ways. Oh, and also fun! All of the aforementioned titles are.
But, of course, it really depends on who's in the book club. For book clubs with teens or kids, maybe Stephen King's The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon or a book I just read called Conversations with the Fat Girl.
What are your favorite kinds of books to give -- and get -- as gifts?
I love to give pop-up and picture and photography books as gifts. Poetry, too. I like to give people lovely books that they probably wouldn't buy themselves. I'm the least picky reader ever -- I read whatever is put in front of me (for at least the first 50 pages or so) -- so I don't care very much what people get me. I love to see what my friends think I would like to read. Actually, I sort of feel this way about all gifts, not just books.
Do you have any special writing rituals? For example, what do you have on your desk when you're writing?
I don't have a desk. I work on a sofa with an insistent pug dog wedged between my lap and my laptop. The reason I work on a sofa as supposed to a desk is because it's sort of a way of tricking myself into not really thinking I'm working. I also turn off the ringer on my phone and do a lot of usually unnecessary housework before I begin. I tend to work really late at night or really early in the morning, which, come to think of it, tends to be the same times varied only by the perspective of when I chose to sleep the night (or day) before. I'm a big believer in naps, also.
What are you working on now?
I tend to work on two writing projects concurrently -- that way when I get disgusted with one, I can turn to the other. At the moment, I guess you could say I'm writing two books.
Many writers are hardly "overnight success" stories. How long did it take for you to get where you are today? Any rejection-slip horror stories or inspirational anecdotes?
I sort of believe that it takes every writer her whole life to get where she is. You know, I was always writing, always reading. And although I don't write particularly autobiographical novels, everything, my whole life and all my mistakes, is in my work. In some form or other.
I'd been working at screenwriting and playwriting for about five years when I somewhat abruptly decided to shift gears and try my hand at writing a novel. I had enough money to work for about a month, so that's how long I gave myself to complete Elsewhere. Ha! Four months later, I had finished the book. Six months later, I had sold it.
About three months before I started writing Elsewhere, I distinctly remember having a conversation with an old friend. He wanted to know when I was going to write a novel. And I said, never, which I completely believed at the time. Sometimes, the most interesting things to do are those things you'd never thought you'd do.
If you could choose one new writer to be "discovered," who would it be?
Rebecca Schuman is a modern-day Dorothy Parker. She writes a blog and a column for the paper the L. (www.pankisseskafka.typepad.com).
What tips or advice do you have for writers still looking to be discovered?
Everyone gives writers lots of advice, but the only honest advice is to do whatever works. The process is different for everyone. Write a lot. Read even more. But really, anything goes. And don't ever Google yourself.
From Barnes & Noble
In many ways, Elsewhere is out of this world. Within this pleasant, inviting place, so much like Earth, no one gets sick or grows old. In fact, everyone is growing younger. For 15-year-old Liz Hall, who arrives in Elsewhere after her demise, aging backward is not a happy prospect. Like any living teenager, she wants to turn 16, not 14; yearns to fall in love, not reenter infancy. Gabrielle Zevin's first teen novel about being dead offers keen insights about living.
From the Publisher
Welcome to Elsewhere. It is usually warm with a breeze, the sun and the stars shine brightly, and the beaches are marvelous. It’s quiet and peaceful here. And you can’t get sick or any older. Curious to see new paintings by Picasso? Swing by one of Elsewhere’s museums. Need to talk to someone about your problems? Stop by Marilyn Monroe’s psychiatric practice.
Elsewhere.
It’s where fifteen-year-old Liz Hall ends up, after she has died. It is a place so like Earth, yet completely different from it. Here Liz will age backward from the day of her death until she becomes a baby again and returns to Earth.
But Liz wants to turn sixteen, not fourteen (again). She wants to get her driver’s license. She wants to graduate from high school and go to college. She wants to fall in love. And now that she’s dead, Liz is being forced to live a life she doesn’t want with a grandmother she has only just met. And it is not going well.
How can Liz let go of the only life she has ever known and embrace a new one? Is it possible that a life lived in reverse is no different from a life lived forward?
Publishers Weekly
Even readers who have strong views on what happens after death may find themselves intrigued by the fascinating world of "Elsewhere," the place 15-year-old Liz ends up after she is killed in a bicycle accident. A surreal atmosphere permeates chapter one as Liz awakens on a ship (mostly occupied by elderly people), unaware of its destination. Her situation gradually comes into focus after she arrives at the island of Elsewhere and is greeted by her grandmother, who died before Liz was born. Liz learns that the aging process works differently in this land of the dead: instead of getting older, humans (and animals) grow younger. When they reach infancy, they are sent down the River to be reborn on Earth. In other ways, Elsewhere resembles the world Liz left behind; residents work at jobs (although here, everyone has a chance to pursue an "avocation... something a person does to make his or her soul complete"), celebrate holidays and form friendships. Liz also falls in love for the first time, while her grandmother (who has progressed back to her thirties) becomes engaged to a famous rock star; and readers will likely be intrigued by the "strictly forbidden" Well. Prudently skirting the issue of God's role in Elsewhere (when she asks about God, Liz is told simply "God's there in the same way He, She, or It was before to you. Nothing has changed"), Margarettown author Zevin, in her first novel for young people, bends the laws of physics and biology to create an intricately imagined world. Ages 12-up. (Sept.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Janis Flint-Ferguson - KLIATT
Lizzie is dead. The 15-year-old was killed in a car accident on her way to the mall to meet a friend. This novel is the story of her "life" in the hereafter—in Elsewhere. Loosely reminiscent of the Greek myths, the people experience time backward, growing younger until they are infants who then once again return to Earth. Lizzie is a typical teen and she cannot believe that she is dead. The "life" she finds in Elsewhere seems to be a sick joke. What difference does it make where you live or what you do when you are dead? Lizzie lives with her grandmother, a woman she never knew on Earth, and she spends her days on the Observation Deck where she can see her best friend and family as they continue to live without her. She even tries to make use of an "escape clause," which would allow her to return to Earth after one year. Her adjustment counselor finds her a job and soon she is helping the dogs who come to Elsewhere. She meets Owen, a young man who pines for the wife he left behind. Together they come to terms with their existence in Elsewhere. Lizzie is able to experience some of what she left behind on Earth with a growing realization that love transcends death and that regardless of the situation, you can make the most of the circumstances in which you find yourself. KLIATT Codes: J—Recommended for junior high school students. 2005, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 288p., Ages 12 to 15.
School Library Journal
Gr 7-10-This coming-of-age novel by Gabrielle Zavin (Farrar, 2005) has a unique twist. Although Liz is maturing, coping with disappointments, and controlling her anger, she is getting younger. Having been killed by a hit and run driver, she now lives in Elsewhere with the grandmother who died before she was born. After death, the residents get younger until they become babies and are reborn onto Earth again. Initially mad at the driver and sad that she will not have a boyfriend and attend the prom, Liz misses her family and is sullen and depressed. Gradually, she begins to realize that life is not so bad in the hereafter. Although written in the second person, the text and the narration by Cassandra Morris draws listeners into this new world, giving them a sense of immediacy. Morris's youthful, gentle, slightly nasal voice clearly brings out Lizzie's life and frustrations, and her tone becomes harsh to show anger. For the most part, she reads quickly, almost sprightly, but at dramatic moments she slows to heighten suspense. There is no significant voice changes to differentiate between male and female characters. An excellent choice to motivate reluctant readers or just for enjoyment.-Claudia Moore, W.T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
An unusual premise and a thoughtful treatment make Zevin's first effort at writing for young adults a success. Liz Hall is 15. She's looking forward to getting her license, enjoying helping her best friend plan for the prom and anticipating a long, full life. Her sudden death in a hit-and-run accident puts an end to her life on earth-and that's when the story begins. Zevin's creation of a believable, intriguing afterlife and her depiction of Liz's struggle to adjust to her new situation will captivate teens ready for a thought-provoking read. Love, jealousy, grief, commitment, frustration and friendship all exist "Elsewhere," making death not that different from life after all. Personal choices still make a difference and characters continue to learn and grow, despite the fact that they age backwards from the moment of their deaths. Zevin's smooth, omniscient third-person narration and matter-of-fact presentation of her imagined world carries readers along, while her deft, understated character development allows them to get to know her characters slowly and naturally. Hopeful and engaging. (Fiction. 12+)
Loading...Product Details
- ISBN:
0312367465
- ISBN-13: 9780312367466
- Format: Paperback, 304pp
- Publisher: Square Fish
- Pub. Date: May 2007
- Edition Description: Reprint
- Sales Rank: 3,432
- Age Range: Young Adult
Reading Group Guide
Discussion Questions from the Publisher1. Much of Liz's initial anger at finding herself in Elsewhere is that her future plans are canceled and she will age in reverse. What future events are you most looking forward to? How would you feel about aging in reverse?
2. Water is a powerful image and symbol that runs throughout the book. Why does the author elect to use water as such an essential symbol? Discuss some of the other symbols, such as Liz's stitches, the watch her father gave her, and the snow globe.
3. There are many characters who are part of the story of Elsewhere, all of them are critical to it. No characters, not even the canine ones, are minor to the story. Explore how the characters move the novel forward. How does each of them help Liz adjust to life on Elsewhere and come to understand that life on Elsewhere is something to be cherished?
4. If you were in Liz's shoes, would you spend all you time on the Observation Deck or do you think you'd acclimate? Would you mourn the loss of your life on Earth? Would you view being on Elsewhere as a liberating change and fresh start?
5. Notice the allusions made to classic and contemporary literature throughout the novel. Liz recalls a line about antique lands. Aldous Ghent prompts Liz to read Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Liz reads Charlotte's Web as she grows younger. Finally, Owen reads Tuck Everlasting to Liz when she is no longer able to read on her own. How does each address some facet of Liz's life (on Earth and Elsewhere) and experiences?
6. How does the author use humor in the novel? What examples of wordplay are evident? Is the humor intended to defuse the emotion of a serious situation or scene? Is it a way to show how Liz is becoming acclimated to life on Elsewhere?
7. Liz and all the other arrivals in Elsewhere are encouraged to find an avocation to pursue during their time there. Ghent explains to Liz that an avocation is something that makes one's soul complete (page 74). Some of the residents of Elsewhere work in avocations similar to the jobs they did on Earth; others have new ones. Marilyn Monroe becomes a psychiatrist. Curtis Jest decides to be a fisherman and comments that John Lennon is a gardener. How do the avocations of Monroe, Lennon, Owen, Betty, Curtis, and other characters reflect what they really want out of their new lives? What would you chose as an avocation?
8. This novel is divided into three separate parts and also employs a prologue and an epilogue. What purpose do the three parts serve? What important events occur in each of the three parts? Why did the author chose Liz's dog, Lucy, to narrate the prologue? How does the epilogue bring the novel not to a close but to a resolution?
Read an Excerpt
Excerpt from Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin (Farrar Straus Giroux / September 2005)Welcome to Elsewhere
"We're here!" Thandi is looking out the upper porthole when Liz enters the cabin. She jumps down from the top bunk and throws her solid arms around Liz, spinning her around the cabin until both girls are out of breath.
Liz sits down and gasps for air. "How can you be so happy when we're...?" Her voice trails off.
"Dead?" Thandi smiles a little. "So you finally figured it out."
"I just got back from my funeral, but I think I sort of knew before."
Thandi nods solemnly. "It takes as long as it takes," she says. "My funeral was awful, thanks for asking. They had me made up like a clown. I can't even talk about what they did to my hair." Thandi lifts up her braids. In the mirror, she examines the hole in the back of her head. "It's definitely getting smaller," she decides before lowering her braids.
"Aren't you at all sad?" Liz asks.
"No point in being sad that I can see. I can't change anything. And I'm tired of being in this little room, Liz, no offense."
An announcement comes over the ship's PA system: "This is your captain speaking. I hope you've enjoyed your passage. On behalf of the crew of the SS Nile, welcome to Elsewhere. The local temperature is 67 degrees with partly sunny skies and a westerly breeze. The local time is 3:48 p.m. All passagers must now disembark. This is the last and only stop."
"Don't you wonder what it's like out there?" Liz asks.
"The captain just said. It's warm with a breeze."
"No, not the weather. I meant, everything else."
"Not really. It is what it is, and all the wondering in the world isn't gonna change it." Thandi holds out her hand to help Liz off the bed. "You coming?"
Liz shakes her head. "The ship's probably super crowded. I think I'll wait here a bit, just until the halls clear out."
Thandi sits next to Liz on the bed. "I'm in no particular rush."
"No, you go on ahead," says Liz. "I want to be by myself."
Thandi looks into Liz's eyes. "Don't you stay in here forever."
"I won't. I promise."
Thandi nods. She is almost out the door when Liz calls out to her, "Why do you think they put us together anyway?"
"Beats me." Thandi shrugs. "We were probably the only two sixteen-year-old girls who died of acute head traumas that day."
"I'm fifteen," Liz reminds her.
"Guess that was the best they could do." Thandi pulls Liz into a hug. "It was certainly nice meeting you, Liz. Maybe I'll see you again someday."
Liz wants to say something to acknowledge the profound experience that she and Thandi have just shared, but she can't find the right words. "Yeah, see you," Liz replies.
As Thandi closes the door, Liz has the impulse to call out and ask her to stay. Thandi is now her only friend, except for Curtis Jest. (And Liz isn't even sure if she can count Curtis Jest a friend.) With Thandi gone, Liz feels more alone and wretched than she has ever felt before.
Liz lies down on the bottom bunk. All around her, she can hear the sounds of people leaving their cabins and walking through the ship's halls. Liz decides to wait until she can't hear any more people and only then will she venture from her cabin. In between doors opening and closing, she listens to snippets of conversation.
A man says, "It's a little embarrassing to only have these nightgowns to wear..."
And a woman, "I hope there's a decent hotel..."
And another woman, "Do you think I'll see Hubie there? Oh, how I have missed him!"
Liz wonders who "Hubie" is. She guesses he is probably dead like all the people on the Nile, dead like she is. Maybe being dead isn't so bad if you are really old, she thinks, because, as far as she can tell, most dead people are really old. So the chance of meeting new people your own age is quite good. And all the other dead people you knew from before you died might even be in the new place, Elsewhere, or whatever it was called. And maybe if you got old enough, you'd know more dead people than live ones, so dying would be a good thing, or at least wouldn't be so bad. As Liz sees it, for the aged, death isn't much different than retiring to Florida.
But Liz is fifteen (almost sixteen), and she doesn't personally know any dead people. Except for herself and the people on the trip, of course. To Liz, the prospect of being dead seems terribly lonely.
On the drive over to the Elsewhere pier, Betty Bloom, a woman prone to talking to herself, remarks, "I wish I had met Elizabeth even once. Then I could say, 'Remember that time we met?' As it is, I have to say, 'I'm your grandmother. We never met, on account of my untimely death from breast cancer.' And frankly, cancer is no way to begin a conversation. In fact, I think it might be better not to mention cancer at all. Suffice it to say, I died. At the very least, we both have that in common." Betty sighs. A car honks at her. Instead of speeding up, Betty smiles, waves, and allows the car to pass. "Yes, I am perfectly content to be driving at the speed I'm driving. If you wish to go faster, by all means go," she adds.
"I do wish I had more time to prepare for Elizabeth's arrival. It's odd to think of myself as someone's grandmother, and I don't feel very grandmotherly at all. I dislike baking, all cooking actually, and doilies and housecoats. And although I like children very much, I'm not very good with them, I'm afraid.
"For Olivia's sake, I promise not to be strict or judgmental. And I promise not to treat Elizabeth like a child. And I promise to treat her like an equal. And I promise to be supportive. And I won't ask too many questions. In return, I hope she'll like me a little bit, despite anything Olivia may have told her." For a moment, Betty falls silent and wonders how Olivia, her only child, is doing. Arriving at the pier, Betty checks her reflection in the rearview mirror and is surprised by what she sees. "Not quite old, not quite young. Very strange, indeed."
An hour passes. And then another. The halls grow quiet and then silent. Liz begins to hatch a plan. Maybe she could just be a stowaway? Eventually the boat would have to make a return trip, right? And if Liz just stays on it, maybe she could simply return to her old life. Maybe it's really that easy, Liz thinks. Maybe when she heard stories of people who had had near-death experiences, people who had flatlined and then come back, those "lucky" people were not lucky at all. They were the ones who knew enough to stay on the boat.
Liz imagines her homecoming. Everyone will say, "It's a miracle!" All the newspapers will cover it: LOCAL GIRL BACK FROM DEAD; CLAIMS DEATH IS CRUISE, NOT WHITE LIGHT, TUNNEL. Liz will get a book deal (Dead Girl by Liz Hall) and a TV movie (Determined to Live: The Elizabeth M. Hall Story) and an appearance on Oprah to promote both.
Liz sees the doorknob move, and the door begins to open. Without really thinking about it, she hides under the bed. From her position, she can see a boy of around her brother's age, dressed in a white captain's costume with gold epaulets and a matching captain's hat. He sits himself on the lower bunk and appears to take no notice of Liz.
The boy's only movement is the slight swinging of his legs. Liz notices that his feet barely reach the floor. She has a perfect view of the soles of his shoes. Someone has written L on the left one and R on the right one in black marker.
After a few minutes, the boy speaks. "I was waiting for you to introduce yourself," he says with an unusually mature voice for a child, "but I don't have all day."
Liz doesn't answer.
"I am the Captain," the boy says, "and you are not supposed to be in here."
Liz still doesn't answer. She holds her breath and tries not to make a single sound.
"Yes, girl under the bed. The Captain is speaking to you."
"The Captain of what?" Liz whispers.
"The Captain of the SS Nile, of course."
"You look a little young to be the captain."
"I assure you my experience and qualifications are exemplary. I have been the Captain for nearly one hundred years."
What a comedian, Liz thinks. "How old are you?"
"I am seven," the Captain says with dignity.
"Isn't seven a bit young to be a captain?"
The Captain nods his head. "Yes," he concedes, "I must now take naps in the afternoon. I will probably retire next year."
"I want to make the return trip," Liz says.
"These boats only go one way."
Liz peers out from under the bed. "That doesn't make sense. They have to get back somehow."
"I don't make the rules," says the Captain.
"What rules? I'm dead."
"If you think your death gives you free rein to act as you please, you are wrong," says the Captain. "Dead wrong," he adds a moment later. He laughs at his bad pun and then abruptly stops. "Let's suspend disbelief for a moment, and say you managed to take this boat back to Earth. What do you think would happen?"
Liz pulls herself out from under the bed. "I suppose I'd go back to my old life, right?"
The Captain shakes his head. "No. You wouldn't have a body to go back to. You'd be a ghost."
"Well, maybe that wouldn't be so bad."
"Trust me. I know people who've tried, and it's no kind of life. You end up crazy, and everyone you love ends up crazy, too. Take a piece of advice: get off the boat."
Liz's eyes are welling up with tears again. Dying certainly makes a person weepy, she thinks as she wipes her eyes with the back of her hand.
The Captain pulls a handkerchief out of his pocket and hands it to her. The handkerchief is made from the softest, thinnest cotton, more like paper than cloth, and is embroidered with the words The Captain. Liz blows her nose in it. Her father carries handkerchiefs. And the memory necessitates another nose blow.
"Don't cry. It's not so bad here," the Captain says.
Liz shakes her head. "It's the dust from under the bed. It's getting in my eyes." She returns the handkerchief to the Captain.
"Keep it," says the Captain. "You'll probably need it again." He stands with the perfect posture of a career military man, but his head only comes up to Liz's chest. "I trust you'll be leaving in the next five minutes," he says. "You don't want to stay." And with that, he quietly closes the cabin door behind him.
Liz considers what the strange little boy has said. As much as she longs to be with her family and her friends, she doesn't want to be a ghost. She certainly doesn't want to cause more pain to the people she loves. She knows there is only one thing to do.
Liz looks out the porthole one last time. The sun has almost set, and she passingly wonders if it is the same sun they have at home.
The only person on the dock is Betty Bloom. Although Liz has never seen Betty before, something about the woman reminds Liz of her own mother. Betty waves to Liz and begins walking toward her with purposeful, even strides.
"Welcome, Elizabeth! I've been waiting such a long time to meet you." The woman pulls Liz into a tight embrace that Liz attempts to wiggle out of. "How like Olivia."
"How do you know my mother?" Liz demands.
"I'm her mother, your Grandma Betty, but you never met me. I died before you were born." Grandma Betty embraces Liz again. "You were named for me; my full name's Elizabeth, too, but I've always been Betty."
"But how is that possible? How can you be my grandmother when you look the same age as my mother?" Liz asks.
"Welcome to Elsewhere." Grandma Betty laughs, pointing matter-of-factly to the large banner that hangs over the pier.
"I don't understand."
"Here, no one gets older, everyone gets younger. But don't worry, they'll explain all of that at your acclimation appointment."
"I'm getting younger? But it took me so long to get to fifteen!"
"Don't worry, darling, it all works out in the end. You're going to love it here."
Understandably, Liz isn't so sure.
Excerpt from ELSEWHERE by Gabrielle Zevin. Copyright © 2005 by Gabrielle Zevin. Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC in 2005. All rights reserved. Visitors to this Web site are warned that this work is protected under copyright laws and reproduction is strictly prohibited. Permission to reproduce the material in any manner or medium must be secured from Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.
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