February 18, 2011 / Leslie

Review: The Other Life

Book Review, Fantasy, Women's Literature

The Other Life
by Ellen Meister

Genre: Women’s Literature
Publisher: Putnam
Publish Date: February 17, 2011
Format: Hardcover | 320 pages
Rating: 4 of 5

In quantum physics there is a theory that many universes exist parallel to each other. That the universe we exist in may be just one in an endless multiverse, each with a separate reality. And that every choice we have does happen. And every decision we make in this universe has an opposite reality in another one. If you could travel between these universes, would you?

From the time she was a young child, Quinn Braverman knew about the portal to another life. She was warned to never go there, that it was dangerous. Her mother knew, her brother did too, but no one talked about it. As an adult, she knows she has another life on the other side of that portal, the life where she never left her neurotic boyfriend and was still living a fast paced life with him in New York City instead of her life in this reality where she is married, living in the suburbs and now pregnant with their second child.

Quinn also knows that her mother, who committed suicide in this life, is still alive in that other reality, and Quinn desperately wants to see her mother again. After a particularly stressful week, one in which Quinn learns there are problems with her pregnancy, she makes the decision to go through the portal to the other life. It’s alright, she figures, because she can come right back; but each time the journey gets more difficult and Quinn must make a decision, which life does she want to live in.

The relationships Quinn has with her family and friends is the overriding theme in this book, the primary one being between mother and daughter, but also important is the relationship Quinn has with her own family. Quinn is torn by her indecisiveness and second guesses many of her decisions. She’s not sure if she did the right thing by leaving Eugene, her neurotic boyfriend, all those years ago. She cannot forgive her mother for leaving her and yet she risks doing the same thing to her family every time she passes through the portal to the other life. What if she can’t get back?

Ultimately this is a story about working through grief, learning to forgive and realizing what is truly important in life. Suspend your reality and believe that Quinn could travel between worlds. Then ask yourself what would you do? This book brings to the surface a lot of excellent discussion questions and could be a good choice for book club.

Recommended for those who like women’s fiction and can believe in the fantasy of the unbelievable.

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Source: A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for review.