Liz's Life In Elsewhere By Gabrielle Zevin

For my realistic fiction book talk I read Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin.

Liz, the main character, goes through many conflicts while now “living” on Elsewhere. The setting of Elsewhere is very identical to Earth. If you were to be in Elsewhere it would be hard to tell the difference. There are living things, houses, cars, and more. It has an identical appearance to Earth so people in Elsewhere are more comfortable. Elizabeth Marie Hall, also known as Liz, is the 15 year old main character of this novel. Then, the main conflict of this novel was self vs. self. Liz constantly goes back and forth with herself throughout the story about her attitude towards being on Elsewhere. She is constantly on a battle with herself to figure out if she truly

Throughout the book this theme is present and noticeable. In the beginning, Liz meets her grandmother that died before she was born from breast cancer. Once meeting her, Liz is already picking a fight with her because she isn’t pleased with her new surroundings. She doesn’t see anything good in being in Elsewhere which causes her to snap and say, “‘I’LL NEVER GO TO COLLEGE OR GET MARRIED OR GET BIG BOOBS OR LIVE ON MY OWN OR FALL IN LOVE OR GET MY DRIVER’S LICENSE OR ANYTHING? I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS!’” (pg 50-51). Then in the middle, Liz chooses to become a sneaker, which is someone that chooses to return to Earth early. She really has her heart set on leaving so she goes through the process. Next, she thought to herself, “ If I interrupt this life, I will never know know how my life was supposed to turn out. A life is a good story, Liz realizes, even a crazy, backward life like hers,” (pg 220). Once Liz has gone through the beginning of the process she realized that what she was doing isn’t what she really wanted so, she escaped the sneaker process. In the end, Owen and Liz take a dive in the well, which is a part in the ocean where people on Elsewhere can watch and communicate with people on Earth, although they aren’t supposed to. There, they communicate with Liz’s friends and family that are at the wedding of her best friend, Zooey. Liz has a conversation with her brother, Alvy, “‘Are you happy?’ Alvy asks. And for the second time since she came to Elsewhere, Liz pauses and considers the question. ‘I am,’ she says, ‘I have a lot of friends. And I have a dog called Sadie. And I see Betty. She’s our grandma, the one who died…’” (pg 252). Although Liz knows she is dead and can not return to her old life, she found the good in being on Elsewhere which is the people she is around and the environment they have created together. Through the story she is realizing that Elsewhere isn’t as bad as she believed