On Tuesday, I finished a book called Elsewhere. It was a very interesting book that was very geared toward young adults. It also made me think about what Heaven, or the afterlife, or whatever you believe in, is going to be like. I guess I'll start with a long synopsis (it started as a short one, but this book is so interesting, there is no way). The basis is that a fifteen year old girl, Elizabeth Marie Hall, is hit by a taxi and finds herself on this boat. At first she doesn't remember anything and assumes that she is dreaming. She meets a girl similar in age, Thandi, and they soon become close because the boat they are on, The SS Nile, is mainly filled with older people. While Thandi realizes what has happened, Liz, or Lizzie, still believes that it is a dream.
Finally, the ship docks. By now, Liz has realized that she is dead but is far from accepting it. She tries to stay on the boat so that she may return to Earth. But she finds out from the Captain of the boat, who looks to be about six or seven, that she would then become a ghost. Deciding that that would not be a choice for her, she chooses to get off the boat.
Once off the boat, she meets her grandmother. She has never met her grandmother before because her grandmother died before she was born. When she first sees her grandmother, she is very apprehensive about her, and her own death.
The next day, Liz has an appointment at the "Registry". This is where the newly dead go to learn exactly what Elsewhere is. They learn that they age backwards, and Liz is very upset. She is frustrated that she will never get to experience much of what life has to offer. She will never get married, go to prom, get a driver's license, etc. In the aging process, the age they die at, for Liz fifteen, is what they are when they get there and they age backward from there until seven days old. At seven days old, they are sent down the river back to Earth to be born again. She also discovers that there is a "Sneaker Clause" where if you decide within your first year in Elsewhere, you can go back to Earth with the babies.
Liz takes a while to accept her death. She makes many trips to the Observation Decks, which are places where the dead can watch the living. She becomes obsessed with these spending much of her grandmother's money, or "eternims" there.
One night, Liz tries to contact her family and makes a trip to "The Well", which is at the bottom of the river/ ocean they have in Elsewhere. She gets caught by a worker, Owen Welles. They have a brief exchange and soon become unlikely friends. After they come friends, their relationship turns romantic.
Everything seems to be going well for Liz and she actually accepts her death, until Owen's wife from when he was alive shows up. She breaks Liz and Owen up for a brief period of time but then Owen and his wife break up because they realize the only thing they have in common anymore is the past.
Before Liz realizes Owen and his wife broke up, Liz decides to become a "Sneaker" and is sent down with the babies. A part of the way down, she realizes it is not really what she wants and tries to turn back. She fails and partly drowns. She is stuck at the bottom of the ocean until Owen saves her a day later. Then, they get back together and are together until Liz is sent down the River for real this time as a baby.
My whole point of this blog is not to give you that synopsis, which was longer than I meant it to be. Sorry. :)
My point was that, Heaven can't be like, Elsewhere - can it? I guess depending on your religious beliefs it can be whatever you want. But I refuse to believe it is anything like Elsewhere. Zevin put in reincarnation and added a Heaven where everyone gets in, no matter what they did when they were alive. The last part seems promising. But I want to believe that when I am with God, I am there for good. Oh! And in Elsewhere, you don't meet God, he is "as he was when you were alive." So I guess that means that he either exists or doesn't exist depending on your beliefs. When I go to Heaven, I want to see God and meet who I worship. Not repeat an endless cycle and never meet my Creator like in Elsewhere.
My longest blog yet - Whoot whoot! (:
