Life asked death, "Why do people love me but hate you?" Death responded, "Because you are a beautiful lie and I am a painful truth." - Unknown
"Everyone's surprised by death, which is kind of ridiculous, when you think about it. It's not exactly a spoiler. But I think that what really shocked me is how many people can't see the shape of the life they've lived until they get to the very end of it." Dawn from The Book of Two Ways, Jodi Picoult.
"Time is a construct. Our brains take eighty milliseconds to process information, did you know that? Anyone who tells you to live in the here and now is a liar. By the time you pin the present down, it's already the past.
Dawn from The Book of Two Ways, Jodi Picoult.
Just a few of my many favorite quotes from The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult.
Jodi Picoult is an exquisite novelist. As in all of her novels, this one is beautifully written with well developed characters and vividly depicted scenes. Her topics and plots are complex and captivating. She provides remarkably in-depth research. The Book of Two Ways allows us insight to Egyptology and Quantum Physics as well as a better understanding of death and dying and a sensitivity to body image issues.
The Book of Two Ways in Egypt is the Book of the Dead, in which descriptions of the routes through the afterlife are a persistent theme. The two ways depicted are the land and water routes, separated by a lake of fire. Picoult uses the two roads of water and land to reveal Dawn's life choices to us. The story shifts between her two ways, her two paths. Dawn has a passion for Egyptology. She goes to Egypt to work on her doctorate degree. She specializes in hieroglyphics. There she meets Wyatt another academic with the same passion for Egyptology. They both have an single minded intensity to their work which sparks from the pages. This is Dawn's Land/Egypt way - path. She is unexpectedly called back home because of the critical illness and impending death of her mother. During her vigil, Dawn meets Brian at the hospice where he visits his grandmother, They console each other in their grief. Brian is an academic as well - his specialty is Quantum Physics. This becomes Dawn's Water/Boston way - path. Dawn stays in Boston and becomes a Death Doula - she works with patients as they transition from life to death - which I find to be a very interesting concept and the insight that Picoult adds to this concept is spot on. There are very deep life questions - can we see ourselves in a different life - who do we want to be there for us when we die - if we could change a decision we made in life would we - would you uproot your life for a do over - What really makes life worth living?
The novel has us wondering if we can make choices between what is and what might of been - Do we get a second chance to take the road not taken? The physics addition to the novel makes me smile - think Egyptology and Quantum Physics - the shifting sands - alternating potential futures - the concept of parallel universes - Bravo Mrs. Picoult! The beginning of the novel is somewhat heavy on the Egyptology research but don't let that bog you down - continue on for the novel is worth the read. In fact, I usually do not stay up all night to finish a book but for this one I did. I was captivated. Is Dawn living her two life paths in parallel universes? Or is Dawn getting that second chance? And the ending -help- is there an ending? Some events have left me pondering - I already have this novel pegged for a re-read and I can not wait!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Random House/Ballantine Books and Jodi Picoult for the opportunity to read her latest novel - 4.5 stars rounded up.

The story unfolds with a plane crash as Dawn is on her way home to her family in Boston. But her family is not the first thing that comes to mind as she faces the possibility of her death - it's the man and the life she left behind in Egypt 15 years ago. When the airline offers to fly her anywhere, Egypt is where she goes. The book then alternates between her life in Boston and Egypt as different choices are made.

I've been a huge Jodi Picoult fan since I first read The Pact more than 20 years ago. I've devoured each one of her books since then and love how she is able to pick a controversial subject and truly show and make you feel both sides. This book exemplifies that theme, with showing two different life paths and how to make decisions that you know will hurt you and others.

I'm not sure I've read a more meticulously researched book on so many different subjects. You will read and learn so much about Egyptology, quantum physics, and the culture of death. I'm sure the vast information overload will bog down many readers but I personally thought that there were so many important life lessons in this book. I was fascinated with Dawn's job as a death doula and loved the conversations she had with her client, Win, as she faced her death from cancer. There's also the theme of how we choose our paths - are we selfish when we choose others' feelings before ours? Or are we selfish when we choose what we want?

Would be such a great book club read since there is so much to talk about.

"The Book of Two Ways" by Jodi Picoult, Ballantine Books, 432 pages, Sept. 22, 2020.

Dawn Edelstein is on a long flight when a flight attendant warns passengers to brace themselves for a crash landing.

Dawn is a death doula in Boston. She helps people who are dying and their families. She is married to Brian, a physicist, and has a daughter, Meret, 14.

But while preparing for what is happening, Dawn isn't thinking of her husband and daughter. She is thinking of Wyatt Armstrong, whom she hasn't seen in 15 years. Wyatt is in Egypt working as an archaeologist. Dawn was a graduate student at the dig, but left when her mother was diagnosed with cancer. She never returned.

The plane comes down near Raleigh-Durham, N.C., she is one of 36 people who survives the crash. The airline has survivors checked out by doctors, then offers transportation to wherever they want to go.

Dawn has to choose between returning home or going to Egypt. When she was in Egypt years earlier, she was researching The Book of Two Ways—the first known map of the afterlife. The map shows two ways to get to the Field of Offerings, either by land or sea. She questions if she has made the right choices in life.

The storyline has multiple timelines of when she is in Egypt and when she is in Boston, with several twists. Picoult switches up perspectives with ease. There are multiple themes. The characters' discussion of the Egyptian hieroglyphics can be challenging, but it is essential to the plot.

Jodi Picoult is the author of 25 novels. Many of the books take on controversial issues in the context of a family crisis. She does extensive research for her books. I have enjoyed almost all of her novels and this is one of the best. I have mixed feelings about the ending-- at first I yelled out loud--but I see what Picoult was doing with it.

In accordance with FTC guidelines, the advance reader's edition of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

The Book of Two Ways is a thought provoking book. It will have you questioning what you would do if you were in a similar situation. Jodi Picoult always delivers a satisfying story.

Dawn is a death doula. She works with hospice patients to ease their way into the afterlife. She is lead to this career after her mother passed away and this is also when Dawn’s life shifted from Egyptologist to wife and mother. As of late, she is questioning her choice. And the pull of an old lover, Wyatt, may be too much for her to handle.

This book is so well written and I loved it! Now, it is totally out of this author’s normal type of book. It is what I call a “smart read”. It is full of science and historical Egyptian references. Not sure everyone will feel the same way I do. But, I was so captivated by Dawn and her Egyptology and throw in her husband and his quantum physics with parallel universes and I was hooked.

But, that is not what made this book for me. The characters and their plight and the unique way Picoult wove the tale together is absolutely amazing. You do not want to miss this one! Makes you think…in more ways than one!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult was a fascinating, multi-layered book about Dawn Singleton who after studying and practicing as an Egyptologist becomes a death doula. Much of the book is the death journey of a lovely woman names Win, who led Dawn on her own journey, not to death, but to life. Dawn had been on a dig in Egypt when she got the call from her mother telling her that life, as she knew it, was changing. Dawn dropped everything and returned to Chicago, both to guide her mother's last days, but also to raise her brother, Kieran. She had never gone back, never looked back, really until Win sends her with a letter to her lost love. Dawn is not able to deliver the letter (a matter of conscience) but does find her way back to Egypt and to the man she left there, Wyatt, possibly disrupting her 15 year marriage to Bryan and certainly upending all of their lives.

The story is told in segments that jump between her life as her mother is dying and what happens next; modern day both in her home life and with Win, who is dying; and Egypt, both then and now. Truthfully, sometimes it was difficult to immediately tell whether Egypt was then or now. Purposefully? Discoveries were made on all levels. Just how those discoveries would impact lives remains to be seen. Picoult is able to broach difficult subjects in a gentle and consuming way. This story is no different with so much of it tied up with dying. Re-examining a life well lived is another general them of her works, and this book is no different. Her characters are real, all of them, with quirks and foibles and feelings. There was a plethora of information about Egypt, always fascinating. This was an intriguing book, well worth the read. I recommend it.

I was invited to read a free ARC of The Book of Two Ways by Netgalley. All opinions and interpretations contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #thebookoftwoways

I loved, loved, loved this book. None of the author’s typical focus on controversy, just an amazing storyline. I love Egyptology and nerd that I am I was fascinated by all of the details surrounding the dig and hieroglyphics. And like most people I have wondered what life would have been like if I had made different choices. This book was so hard to put down I often read far into the night. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

The Book of Two Ways is the Egyptian belief of the existence of two paths that can be travelled from death to the afterlife. The book describes in detail the paths and obstacles faced by death's travelers.

Dawn Edelstein has traveled two lives. The life she planned for herself and had been living for years when fate intervenes and Dawn must assume responsibilities that bring to her a new career and a new love without a regret for her lost dreams....or were there regrets that she buried and couldn't face? A life changing event, a plane crash scare that causes her to question her life choices, will open doors she thought closed forever while she weighs her current responsibilities against the future she might have had.

Jodi Picoult is well known for educating her readers as well as entertaining them with spell bounding stories. Her stories ALWAYS end with a twist, one you will not see coming. This book provides us with information on counter cultural beliefs of the afterlife that will keep you thinking long after the story ends and you turn the last page. Her outstanding writing skills insure you will not forget her books.

Woah. This book is extraordinary. Words can’t convey how it truly made me feel. Picoult always creates incredibly thought provoking and emotional stories, but she sprinkled some magic fairy dust one this one. ✨ I want to start by saying I cried...multiple times. Seriously, this was such an all consuming and remarkable story. I cannot stop thinking about it now that I’m done.

The story begins with Dawn, who survives a airplane crash landing. Dawn is a death doula (it’s a thing) and helps people transition at the the end of their lives. In the past, she was a Yale student who studied in Egypt and translated ancient Egyptian texts about death and the afterlife. She was forced to leave her studies and passion behind when a family emergency arose, and never returned to her studies

Dawn’s own death is something she never spent much time considering until the plane begins to go down. Instead of thinking about her current life, her mind flashes to the work and the man she left behind in Egypt so many years ago. After surviving the crash, Dawn sets out on a path to answer some of the ‘what ifs’ that came to her mind during her near death experience. The story flashes back between past and present and between Egypt and Boston to weave a full picture.

Basically, this novel is absolutely phenomenal. If I had a tangible book, you’re would see hi-lighter through the entire thing of quotes I loved. I really enjoyed the Egyptian elements of the story as well as the Quantum Mechanics component, and I learned a lot while I read. I also really appreciated the love story, aspects of motherhood, and in depth reflections on death. I will say, this is not a light read...it’s complicated and emotional, but it is so beautifully written and one of my favorite books this year.

While a lot of this book dealt with Egyptology, with so much information that was way over my head, I did find it fascinating and found myself going online to look up a lot of the information Ms. Picoult was writing about. Wow! What a well-researched book. The Book of Two Ways, to me, not only dealt with Egyptology, I felt it was a way to make the reader think about how things in your life would have turned out differently if you'd made a different choice other than the one initially made. And if you had a second chance to relive your life, the one you dreamed of living, would you do it even if it meant hurting those you love? The story goes back and forth to Dawn Edelstein's past life and present life. I did find it confusing at first, but I did finally catch on and found it to be very well done. The beginning of the book appears again towards the end of the book and that was a "wow" moment for me. So even with all of the Egyptology and physics that was in the book that, again, was over my head, I did enjoy this book very much, more than I thought I would. It really left me thinking, especially at the end which was a real surprise to me. I have to say I was a little disappointed but I guess it's because I wanted more. Perhaps it's one for the reader to decide and to discuss which one of the two ways Dawn decides to take.

Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the review copy.

Thank you to Netgalley, Random House Ballantine and the Author, Jodi Picoult for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I am familiar with other works by this Author and this book sounded so interesting that I really wanted to love it but I struggled to read it. While it was a great story and fascinatingly rich with Egyptology I found myself spending too much time looking up words and wishing I didn't feel like I was reading a textbook on Egyptology.
I'm a great fan of Jodi's but this book just fell flat for me.

I would like to thank Ballantine Books & NetGalley for an e-ARC of the book in exchange for a honest review.
———
DNF at 66%.

I tried. I really tried. I absolutely hate DNF’ing books and this is the first one I’m letting go in 2020.

I also feel absolutely horrible writing this review because Jodi Picoult is a huge name in literature and I was very much looking forward to this book. But it just didn’t at all work for me.

The main character, Dawn, is given a choice of returning home to her husband and daughter or going to Egypt to complete unfinished grad work. I loved this parallel choices theme. We could all relate to the “what ifs”. Where would be now had we chosen different paths during pivotal moments in our lives?

I also knew going in that the book was going to be heavy on Egyptian history/jargon, which I was also ok with, given how I loved Egyptian history in school.

But unfortunately, several things didn’t work for me.

The entire story isn’t plot driven or character driven. It’s as if the author has done tremendous research and had bucketloads of information that she didn’t know what to do with it, so she just laid it all over the place. The constant switching between Egyptian terminology to the love banter between the grad students or Dawn’s present marriage life, was dizzying and unsettling. I kid you not when I say this book gave me a migraine, which has never happened before.

The love banter between Dawn and Wyatt was ridiculous. The hate one moment, love next moment has been tried a million times in romance novels and work in a romance setting. But this novel isn’t a romance and so it completely ill-fitted with the serious Egyptian history narrative.

After reading two-thirds of the book, I just had to give up. I hope others are able to appreciate this book better and ignore my review. I am happy to hear constructive dissents of my review.

I have never read Jodi Picoult before but I know her mostly from My Sister’s Keeper (during which I bawled for the entire two hour movie) and so I was looking forward to the chance to finally read her.

When this book starts we learn right away that our main character Dawn is a death doula. I think: of course. This is Jodi Picoult. So I am now expecting some heart wrenching tale of someone dying. But that’s not exactly where this goes.

Our story opens as Dawn barely survives a plane crash and finds herself being drawn to her former life and former lover, Wyatt, even though she has a husband and daughter at home. We are then led down two separate paths: one where she travels to Egypt to reunite with the life she gave up and the other where she returns home to try to reconcile issues with her husband and daughter.

This is all set up to mirror The Book of Two Ways, an Egyptian map to the afterlife that Dawn studied as a PhD student before she had to return home to take care of her dying mother (so much death in this book). Which obviously has me wondering if Dawn is actually dead and is taking her two paths to the afterlife or if these are hypothetical dream scenarios or I don't know what the heck is going on. And without giving too much away, I’m not really happy with how it ended up because I felt very tricked. That was sneaky Picoult, and I’m not sure I appreciate it. It's possible the whole thing went way over my head but either way I felt unhappy with where the story ended up.

This book was long and heavy. The Egyptian history was so uninteresting to me. I love historical fiction because I hate history. If this would have been a story set in ancient Egypt, I would have been more interested but the recitation of facts by someone who was a PhD in the subject was way more than I ever wanted to know. I just felt like I was reading a history book and found it very dull.

Then, as if that weren’t enough, we also get a college course introduction to quantum physics and multiple universes. Easy peasy stuff! I get what Picoult wanted to convey here, but this was a lot to pack in on top of everything else.

And finally, there is so much death in this book. Obviously thinking about your own death and what comes after is very scary and uncomfortable, which made reading this scary and uncomfortable. This book may have slightly helped me to vow to embrace each day of my life but it also induced minor panic attacks while reading. This is not an easy read by any means.

Then besides all that, I really disliked the plot. I recently finished The Light We Lost and found the storylines very similar to each other, so I again did not love it. I just am not a fan of hearing stories about people not ending up together when they very well could have. I found it difficult to empathize with Dawn. She didn’t have to date Brian if she was still so in love with Wyatt, so I don't really feel bad for her when she feels one insecurity in her marriage and decides she should throw it all away to pursue that guy she once had a fling with because ~destiny~. Gag me. I found so much of this storyline unrealistic and cliché.

I also hated the ending because it didn’t end! Picoult leaves us hanging and in her Acknowledgments she mentions that she had a completely different ending and someone encouraged her to change it and I really wish I knew that other ending because this one stunk.

Even though there was so much that rubbed me the wrong way, this wasn't a truly awful book. I think it was very expertly crafted. My personal issues with it were most likely personal.

Overall, I felt so disappointed reading this because I knew pretty early on that I wasn’t enjoying it but I wanted to give it the chance until the end. Unfortunately, this did not click with me but if any of these subjects interest you or you like when an author pulls the rug out from under you then you may want to go for it.

I am grateful to have received an advanced reader’s copy of this book from Random House Publishing - Ballantine Books through NetGalley.

My thanks to #NetGalley for this eBook in exchange for an honest review. As only Jodi Picoult can do, Egyptology, Quantum Physics, and love are all brought together in a book of choices: what if we made the wrong choice? Can we go back and fix it? In true Picoult style, the story is told in a broken storyline, bouncing from location and time. A death doula in the middle of a personal crisis at home, Dawn finds herself between worlds. Life and death. Art and Science. Egypt and Boston. Brian and Wyatt. Dawn takes advantage of a situation and tries to see if she can go back in time and reverse a decision. When is it too late to go back? Picoult does not disappoint. The reader gets a college-level education in Egyptian history with no quiz at the end. Totally recommended for Picoult fans.

This is the first Jodi Picoult book I've read, so I can't compare it to prior works, but it is quite well written, with an intricate story structure (reflecting Egyptian theology and quantum physics) and - mostly - sharply defined characters. While at heart a love triangle, the book contains considerable meditation on death and how we go about dying (most thoughtful and often moving), along with a large helping of Egyptology (fascinating).

Unfortunately the plot vehicle for the Egyptian history and religion is a character straight out romance novel central casting: a sexy bad boy archeologist (an English lord, no less) who has a love/hate relationship with the narrator. No bodices got ripped in the writing of this section of the book, but it came pretty close. Picoult tries to make the guy more complicated toward the end, but he never gets beyond two dimensions.

Otherwise, the book rings emotionally true, and the final section of the book honestly shows how complicated things can be after "happily ever after."

I have read all of Jodi Picoult’s book. I like how she presents issues and shows that a problem is not just one way or another. I loved Small Great Things and A Spark of Light. I was excited to receive an ARC of The Book of Two Ways. I liked the beginning as Dawn survives a plane crash and the book alternates when Dawn looks at her past decisions of which life path she should have taken. Is it with Wyatt who she met while doing graduate work at Yale in Egyptology or with her present husband, Quantum Physics expert Brian and her teenage daughter Meret. She met Brian when she had to leave Yale to take care of her grandmother who is in hospice and who raised her. She became a death doula. Looking at your life and the choices that you make is on most of our minds.

I had to start and stop this book several times in the past few months.The problem I found was that there was too much about Egyptology. I felt like I was taking a course and had hours of reading to do to prepare. When the story focused on the characters who I liked and breezed through their stories but there was just too much detail about Egyptology which took away from my enjoying the book.

My thanks to Ballantine and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars, rounded up. I'd seen a couple of reviews for this book that made me a little nervous diving in. I am a longtime fan of Jodi Picoult's books and I desperately needed this one to be a bright spot. And for me, it was. This was the kind of book I was talking about when I wasn't reading, that completely engulfed me in the story. Unlike many of the author's books, this one is told from a single perspective, but instead of playing with multiple narrators, the author really challenges structure instead. It took a little bit to get with the structure (I'm no physicist), but I don't think it's incomprehensible in any way- you just might need the same clues I did. I really, really loved Dawn's story and her questioning and seeking out of what might have been- what her other timelines might have looked like. If there is one negative to the book, it might be that it's so intricately researched that there are a few moments that read as big info dumps, but honestly, if I had accumulated that much knowledge about these topics I'd probably be unable to not overshare, too.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for a digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult follows Dawn, a death doula, after she survives a plane crash. The story is reminiscent of the Sliding Doors movie, and what ifs while the two paths of Dawn's life are described side by side. The book is heavy on Egyptology, which I appreciated having been a former archaeological student, but it felt like a text book at times.

Look for this on 9.22.20.

This is a book that I will think about for a long time. A woman survives a plane crash and it makes her rethink her life and the choices she made. It takes her to Egypt to the man and the career she left behind, to see if that would have been a better choice than the life she has made for herself. It’s the ultimate what if, and it is very complicated. The book is about Egypt and archaeology, about the path not taken, about how life happens and things get in the way of what you really want to do. It’s about love and loss and children and healing.

2.5 stars

I have read all of Jodi Picoult's books, and while I haven't loved all of them, I always look forward to reading them. Picoult knows how to tell a compelling and thought-provoking stor,y!

The Book of Two Ways is an interesting concept, exploring the choices we make and how different choices could lead to completely different lives. Specifically this book focuses on a woman named Dawn and the two ways that her life would be different based on a choice she has to make.

This book is fairly long, and it features a lot of information about ancient Egypt. A lot of information! Far more information than I cared to read about. I eventually had to just skip over the Egypt parts, because I did not have any interest. I have read other reviewers who really found the Egypt bits to be interesting, so this could be a matter of preference. But I personally did not find it interesting, and as a result the first two thirds of this long book were very slow for me. There are also some long bits of information about quantum physics and art. There were just a lot of passages of information that didn't seem to propel the story forward and were not interesting enough to keep my attention.

It's obvious that Picoult did a lot of research for this book, because it is overflowing with facts and information. Personally, I felt like more editing needed to be done with all that research. I don't think it all needed to be included in the book in such a detailed way. For large parts of the book, it felt more like reading a research paper than a fictional novel. I had similar feelings about Picoult's last book, A Spark of Light.

However, about 70% through the book, the compelling and thought-provoking Picoult storytelling kicked in, and finally I was invested in the story. I had to keep reading. I had to know what was going to happen. I flew through the last 30% of the book to find out the ending. Because I knew that Picoult always has some sort of surprise waiting at the end!

Unfortunately the ending was not what I hoped. I did not love the ending of this book, though I understand why it ended the way it did. But after wading through so much information and so many pages, I was disappointed. It was a lot of work to get to the ending, and the ending was not satisfying for me. Reading the author's notes, Picoult originally had a different ending planned. Her editor suggested that she switch to the current ending in the book. But now I really want to know-- what was the original ending? Would I have liked it better?

With more editing and less information and facts about Egypt and other things, I think I would have connected to and like this book much more. It is definitely an interesting concept to think about how our choices affect the paths of our lives! Someone more patient or someone with more interest in ancient Egypt may find it more engaging than I did though!

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House-Ballantine for sending me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.