Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin, Recent Read

There are times I finish reading a book and am immediately puzzled by the fact that it took me so long to discover it. I am jealous of other people who have had the immense joy of reading the book and knowing about it and thinking about it while I've not even known it existed. I felt this way when I finished Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin. I've read a few of her books prior to reading this one, and while I've enjoyed them, none of them has grabbed me in the way this one did. It was seriously a book that I found to be unputdownable, and any chore that I might have needed to do around my house didn't get done until this book was finished.

The brief synopsis from Goodreads:
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?

My opinions...
Obviously, I loved the book. I found Liz to be an extremely likable character, and I felt like she was easy to relate to. Her situation was heartbreaking to me at times, yet I found myself excited for her as she faced new experiences and opportunities. The idea of the afterlife being a place where you live life in reverse was an interesting concept. At first, I was uncertain as to how Zevin was going to make it work after Liz arrives and goes through her orientation, but the story unfolded beautifully. I think it has great appeal to a wide variety of readers.