Welcome to Elsewhere. It is warm, with a breeze, and the beaches are marvelous. It’s quiet and peaceful. 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 is where fifteen-year-old Liz Hall ends up, after she has died. It is a place so like Earth, yet completely different. 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. 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?     This moving, often funny book about grief, death, and loss will stay with the reader long after the last page is turned.

Suggested Book Club Questions for Elsewhere (Fiction)

The following book club questions provide a starting point for creating a reading group discussion on Elsewhere:

• Did Gabrielle Zevin emphasize any specific themes throughout Elsewhere? What do you think Gabrielle Zevin is trying to explain with this theme?
• What was unique about the setting of Elsewhere and how did it affect the storyline?
• Could you relate to any of the characters? If so, which ones and why?
• How do characters change or learn throughout Elsewhere? What events caused these changes? Have you or someone you know experienced the same thing?
• How does Elsewhere reveal Gabrielle Zevin's own perspectives about people and the world? For a lively discussion, describe why you think Gabrielle Zevin is liberal or conservative.
• Did certain parts of Elsewhere affect you emotionally? Why did it evoke those emotions?
• Did Gabrielle Zevin's point of view on things lend new perspective to your own view of the world?

Suggested Book Club Questions for Elsewhere (Non-fiction)

The following book club questions provide a starting point for creating a reading group discussion on Elsewhere:

• Did Gabrielle Zevin make persuasive arguments in Elsewhere? Did Elsewhere change or reinforce your opinion on the subject?
• What did you learn from Elsewhere?
• How does Gabrielle Zevin present the information and did you enjoy it?
• How is Gabrielle Zevin biased within Elsewhere? Is there a political slant to what is being discussed and how does it impact the book?
• What, if anything, does Elsewhere make you want to read next? Why?