"A life isn't measured in hours and minutes. It's the quality, not the length.”"
Elsewhere created by Gabrielle Zevin You might be wondering why I said "created by" instead of "written by". That is because this is the kind of writer who didn't just invent a cool new plot. She created a whole world. Now how many people can do that? Some can. I have seen a few authors that create world. Such as 1984, Uglies, Harry Potter, and The Hunger Games. A world completely different from our own is born in these kinds of books. Worlds with their own social system and way of life. Zevin has created a parallel world called Elsewhere. This is a place people go to after they die. They wake up on a cruise ship and arrive in Elsewhere. The question I ponder is; because this book is about something not real, does that make it a fantasy? When I think of fantasy books, like most people I think, I think of unicorns and dragons, or vampires and werewolf's, or orcs and hobbits. This book doesn't have any of that, but it is surrounding a subject that is just as ludicrous. Except when you read this story it feels believable. When people first arrive at Elsewhere they go through an orientation to explain what has happened and what will happen. Say, like our main character Liz, you are hit by a car and die before your sixteenth birthday. You will wake up on a cruise ship with your wounds still present. You then are brought to a pair os binoculars where you watch your funeral. Yep, you are definitely dead, but then again, are you? You feel fine. Until the introductory video explains that when people die they come to Elsewhere where they live backwards until they are a baby then shipped down the river to start the cycle again. That explains your young grandmother who you live with. For Liz she could hardly accept this fact. She doesn't want to get younger. She wanted to grow up get married, have a job, have children, grow old, get her drivers license, and fall in love. Also she now knows that she will stop being her in fifteen years. Can she make the most out of it, or will she live in the past? This abstract book has a complete world in it with lovable characters and detail. This is what I like about fantasy; it is the least limiting to the imagination. Fantasy can be anything. Elsewhere kind of fantasy that really lives up to the title. A tip of the hat to those writers like Zevin who create worlds for us to explore.
