Customer Reviews

The Other Life

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Other Life is fascinating, original and intriguing. Exploring the complexities of mother/daughter dynamics, the book examines the consequences when that love is put to the ultimate test. If you are longing for invigorating, relevant writing over a broad emotional plane, you will love this book. Be prepared to be touched deeply.

What would you do if you had the option of escaping from today into a life that might have been yours had you made different choices? Quinn Braverman finds portals to the life she might have led to be irresistible lures. She vacillates between her present-day life and the road not taken throughout the novel. We find ourselves relating to Quinn and her family in one time frame and then, just as our comfort zone is set, we are drawn into Quinn's alternate life. Grieving over an abnormality in her unborn baby, Quinn desperately seeks comfort from her dead mother, Nan. However, in that alternate life, Nan had tormented her daughter with unpredictable episodes of depression. Complicated? Yes. Grief, emotional chaos and the difficulty of making the right choices abound. Ms. Meister handles all of this tricky business with ease. Some descriptions of sexual encounters are included, but they do not overwhelm the book.

Author, wife, mother, curator, and lecturer on literary issues, Ellen Meister created a masterpiece in her new novel, The Other Life. A departure from her earlier light, hilarious books, The Other Life not only explores mother/daughter love but is also a tribute both to its blessings and curses. In an interview, Ms. Meister stated that book clubs enjoy novels with fresh writing, complex characters and emotional dilemmas to which readers can relate. She met that challenge with this creative tour de force.

The book is interspersed with metaphorically brilliant vignettes called "Quinn Deconstructed," a series of paintings done by Nan. Each depicts Nan's perceptions of Quinn's earlier life. There are other stunning touches. A suicide note in the form of a painting. A house not put on the market for seventeen years to preserve a child's memories. A pink infant's outfit kept by a mother in anticipation of her granddaughter's birth.

The Other Life is a riveting read for thoughtful women. Recommended for book clubs, mothers, daughters, and anyone who longs for the listening ear of a deceased, loving parent.

I thank G. P. Putnam's Sons for supplying me with a review copy. The opinions expressed in my review are unbiased and wholly my own.

Reviewed by Holly Weiss, author of Crestmont

For anyone who has ever stood at the crossroads, for those of us who have had moments of self-doubt, or pinpricks of longing for what could have been, this book is especially for you.

Although extremely intrigued by the premise, I began reading Ellen Meister's wonderful novel, "The Other Life" with a bit of trepidation, as I thought I was, via reviews and word-of-mouth, already familiar with the possible scenario, thought I knew what to expect, e.g., woman is going through life-changing, difficult time in her life, woman is faced with a dilemma that could be heart-breaking no matter which path she took... I am, in a roundabout way, that woman, and I feared emotional overload, a reading experience too close to home to be comfortable. Yet read I did, and how glad I am that I ignored any niggling "Oh, it will depress you," and "Do you REALLY want to go there?" thoughts. This book is anything but depressing, and is, in fact, everything that contemporary fiction should be: Thought-provoking, intelligent, unique, and unforgettable.

Meister deftly leads the reader from a world of domestic conventionality into one of surrealistic normalcy (for lack of a better term), and does so with careful pacing and subtle whispers as opposed to a heavy-handed dose of "weirdifying for the sake of being weird" a lesser author might employ. The cast of robust, three-dimensional characters -- all of whom seemed so real to me, I could picture their laugh lines, hear their voices -- are a delight to know, and beautifully wrought with endearing quirks, witticisms, compassion, and an imperfect humanness that touches the soul.

And the last paragraph in the book is killer. Killer.

I found the plot to be quite intriguing, but once I got towards the end, I found myself wanting to skim and just get it over with since the ending is quite predictable. For some reason, I had a hard time warming up to the main character, Quinn. As much as the author mentioned that Quinn was so giving and wanted to be needed, I didn't really get that sense. She mainly seemed a little self-centered.

I think the storyline would have been more compelling if she visited the other side more and if the other side actually seemed compelling. Aside from being able to see her mother, the thought of Quinn with Eugene was enough for me to actively cheer against her choosing that world.

Overall, though, "The Other Life" is an enjoyable read -- it could just be my own nitpicks that kept me from truly liking this book.

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.

Spoilers. I am not usually the type to read fiction involving other worlds, but after reading Susan Henderson's interview with Ellen Meister at The Nervous Breakdown, I was intrigued by the premise of Quinn being able to see into other lives. There were some parts of the plot that I had a little trouble following, but the main sequence, of Quinn's life with Lewis, versus the life she could have had with Eugene, was gripping. Meister paints a world where somehow it makes a twisted kind of sense for her to be able to leap between each world, and I had to wonder if perhaps Eugene had been a better boyfriend if her decision might have been more challenging.

There are certainly characters here who are hard to cozy up to; for all Quinn's love for and devotion to her mother, the reader is left with a picture of a woman who is in some ways selfless, and in some ways selfish. Which, of course, is perfectly natural, except I still wanted Nan to be better, and while Quinn ultimately forgives her for her tragic choice, it was harder for me to. There was a part of me that wished the story had ended differently, though I suspected what I thought Quinn would do. The complications with her pregnancy lend the book a somewhat tragic air, though there are moments of levity, such as her neighbor Georgette, who's having a cyber affair, her brother and his boyfriend's ongoing relationship ups and downs, and her visits, in her other life, to places like Fiji.

Meister has created a moving look at one woman's struggle between the present and the past and there were many layers of action and history happening all at once. That Quinn could see and travel into more than one alternate world was hard to wrap my brain around at times, but the visceral descriptions of her passage from one world to the other, her disorientation and yet also ease in the other life, were done wonderfully. Highly recommended.

This engaging domestic drama goes the extra mile as far as story, plot and prose. Her style of writing is tender when it should be, and sharp, yet sentimental, when trying to drive a point home. It's solid chick lit, and engaging. It is a love story that focuses on a woman's love for her family, and her introspection/reflection of the choices that she made, could make, and will make in the future.

The basic premise is, "What if I had..." Who hasn't gone down this road before and wondered what would have happened if they had taken a different turn when presented a crossroads in life's web of highways? For Quinn Braverman, these questions became realized when she, throughout her life, found "portals" to what can only be called a parallel universe that would take her to an alternate reality, for her to see what would be, had she made a different choice. She exists in both; she finds a way to cross over from one life to the next, and back again.

This book begins with a "What If?" What if she had stayed with Eugene, her semi-famous shock jock boyfriend, rather than her "American Dream" life she chose--her husband, Lewis, a son playing soccer, and a daughter on the way. Quinn's struggles with the suicide death of her bipolar mother, her pregnancy with a daughter who may have a serious birth defect (if she even makes it to term), and her conflicts with her choices she's made lead her to escape to the other side to explore possibilities not taken. It tempts her to question, maybe even change, the life she has chosen.

I was confused with the explanation given by the author for the reason she experiences the portals that Quinn's mother explained in the alternate life. I don't want to give too many details, for fear of spoilers, but I don't get it completely. This didn't really detract much from my enjoyment of the story, but maybe it was a little too abstract for me. All in all, it was an enjoyable read. It kept my interest, and also showed me that I can venture outside of what I normally read and be pleasantly surprised.

5 out of 5

Ellen Meister has posed the question in The Other Life that many of us have asked ourselves silently but have not expressed out loud or visited even in our wildest dreams. What would have my life have been like if I had taken that other life? The Other Life we have all had, those forks in the road, where we parted ways with or lost a love, a family member, or a course in our career. What if we were able to go back and revisit ourselves in that other life as it went along a separate dimension prior the fork in the road, separate from the life we live now? Would we choose the same one or "The Other Life"? Tough question, and for each of us, the circumstances both present and past are different but no less difficult to choose between.

In the novel, Quinn Braverman is trying to choose between her present life which includes her adoring husband, her first child, and occurs during the pregnancy of her second child or her previous life with a very famous but needy, non committal boyfriend of 10 years and her mother. Her mother had committed suicide shortly after her "fork in the road" and the marriage to her present husband, and before the birth of either of her children. Her mother is who she misses terribly, and needs to connect with her for advice. Even though she is angry at her mother for leaving all of them, she can revisit the place where neither of them knew what the future held or what part the past had played to set up their future lives. Unfortunately, for Quinn, when she visits this other life she does so through the apartment that she occupied with her boyfriend of 10 years and he becomes a participant in her other life.

This may be starting to sound like another version of The Time Traveler's Wife but it isn't. Don't get me wrong. I loved that book as well but I did not even associate the two until long after I finished The Other Life.

Enjoy this book, and see if you can answer the question and make the decision Quinn had to make.

I loved The Other Life by Ellen Meister!!! Let's just get that out of the way right off the start. Wow, it sure makes you ask yourself some interesting questions like...Do you ever wonder if we live parallel lives? Do you ever wonder about the road not taken? Would you be willing to give up your life to take that other road and live that other life? What if you couldn't ever come back? The Other Life by Ellen Meister will keep you reading into the late hours of the night (like it did for me) as you fly through the pages wondering just where this, at times heart wrenching but hopeful and moving novel, will take you.

Quinn, a wife and mother of Isaac, has always known that there was a portal to another life, different from the one she was living; one that would show her what her life would be like if she had chosen that alternate path. She has always felt the urge to know what was beyond but she has resisted; that is until now when she receives the worst news - there are medical issues with the baby she is carrying. Now the need to know what is on the other side is overwhelming - what if she had taken the other path - would things be different?

In Quinn's basement, there is a fissure in the wall which is the portal to her alternate reality. When she goes near it she feels the pull of the other world trying to lure her through. However in this life she has a wonderful husband and a beautiful son who need her. With everything going on with her pregnancy Quinn can't resist going through the portal to see what's on the other side. In her alternate reality she finds her ex-boyfriend Eugene and the life she would have had with him. Most importantly one that still includes her mother.

In her life with Lewis, Quinn's mother had committed suicide years ago. On her first visit to her life with Eugene she is shocked to learn that in this life, her mother still lives. Once her shock wears off, she is anxious to hear her mother's voice again and see her. Gosh, who wouldn't give everything to see a loved one again, especially a parent - to be able to talk to them again, to hug them, to tell them you love them. For Quinn, it's even more important. Her mother, Nan, had been bipolar and depressed most of Quinn's life and Quinn feels that she bears some responsibility for her mother taking her own life. Quinn has so many questions for her mother, she needs answers to so many things to be able to be at peace with herself and live her life in one world or the other.

I really liked Quinn. I couldn't relate to her in terms of what she was going through with her pregnancy but I could in terms of being curious as to what was on the other side. I would love to know how different my life would have been if I had taken other paths instead of the one I did. Quinn is left with no easy decision - her family on one hand and her mother and an easier life on the other. A mother who she has mended some fences with, one she wishes she could still have with her. What will Quinn decide to do? Will she stay with Eugene? Will she stay with her mother and be able to build on their relationship? Or will she be a mother herself and realize that nothing matters more than her own small son?

There are other secondary characters in this novel as well that were wonderful. I liked Quinn's brother Hayden and his boyfriend Cordell. Quinn's husband Lewis sounded almost too good to be true - a man who just wanted his wife to be happy. Quinn's crazy neighbor Georgette was a real hoot with her online affairs and such. I was very intrigued by Quinn's mother Nan too. She did have bipolar disorder so that already put her at a disadvantage somewhat especially when she would go into depressive states. Yet at the same time, while her life was hard for her, she still put her daughter first at one time.

This is a complex story about the relationships we have with people, particularly the relationships between mothers and daughters. It also forces us to look deep within ourselves and question what we would do in Quinn's position. Would we give up what we have to live our other life? And ultimately would it end up being any better? Nothing in life is perfect - just because the grass seems greener on the other side doesn't necessarily mean it is. However, if I was given a chance to spend some time with some of my loved ones who are now gone, I'm pretty sure I'd head through that portal.

To read The Other Life by Ellen Meister you do have to suspend belief because some may shoo at this idea of portals. I'm not one of them because I believe in things I can't see and I do think that there are alternate realities living parallel to mine. I think it took a creative mind to put together this novel and I found it fascinating. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. I think it would be such a fantastic pick for a book club. There are so many different angles of discussion in this book from family, children, suicide, and the big one - taking that different road in life or being able to take a trip to see what it might have been like without having to give up what you have now.

First sentence: On the day that Nan Gilbert decided to kill herself, she awoke sometime after noon to the sound of her neighbor playing the radio in his backyard.

Quinn has known for a long time that there are portals open to her; portals that lead to a life that she could have led by making a different decision here or there. There's even one in her basement behind the old-fashioned pull-out ironing board. Her mother had her own secrets, and we sense that she knew about the portals before she died after losing her battle with depression.

With a much-loved 6-year-old son Isaac and her loving husband, Lewis, Quinn should feel satisfied and happy with her life. When she finds out that the new baby she's carrying has a congenital defect that could cause a lifetime of impairment, she feels that Lewis is shutting her out, talking to everyone except her about his feelings. Her brother Hayden is bipolar as well, and she worries about him and his partner Cordell, who she dislikes and feels doesn't treat her brother well.

As her life becomes more complicated, Quinn begins to journey back and forth from this life to the other. The other life ... where her mother is still alive, her old beau is rich and famous, and she has no worries about her baby. The problem: this is not a parallel life; when she goes to the other life, she is missing in this one...and it's getting harder and harder for her to come back.

I think many of us have those "What if's" in our lives, and this book does a good job of letting us know that we journeyed down a certain path for a reason. I enjoyed the book; Quinn is a believable and likeable protagonist, and the secondary characters are wonderful as well. I like some of the twists that let us know that people we thought were not-so-great are pretty great after all, and the complex and loving familial emotion is spot on.

QUOTES (from and ARC; may be different in final copy):

But of course that was Quinn's nature - she was a caregiver. All those years of handling her mother's moods had taken root in her psyche, and Quinn grew toward the troubled like a plant seeking sunlight.

She was crying because a grown-up writer believed that beautiful sentences weren't wasted on children. And because even as an adult, she still struggled to believe she deserved any tenderness at all.

If she had only stayed with Eugene, her mother would be alive now. It didn't mean she didn't love Lewis and Isaac with all her heart, but the unfairness of the trade-off was too much to bear.

Writing: 4 out of 5 stars
Plot: 4 out of 5 stars
Characters: 4 out of 5 stars
Reading Immersion: 4 out 5 stars

BOOK RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

I really loved this book. It deals with real world issues, but with a supernatural twist. We've all thought about "what might have been" a million times in our lives, but this novel answers the question for one woman. And, on top of that, she has to deal with all of life's difficult, sometimes heart-wrenching problems, of which she has more than enough. I don't want to give anything away, though. Just know that it was thought-provoking, enticing, funny, sad, touching, and entertaining. It's a bit like a Jodi Picoult novel with a pinch of Stephen King (not the evil clowns, pets, & cars King, but the other dimensions you can pass in & out of King). Wonderful! I cannot wait to get Meister's other books!