Dawn Edelstein is traveling on a plane on the verge of crashing. Although she survives (not a spoiler) in those “almost” final moments she thinks not of her current world; one where she is a death doula living in Boston with her husband, Brian and daughter, Meret. Instead it is of her past world, where she is an Egyptologist excavating tombs with her first love, Wyatt.

The reader will be carried away into these two worlds as it ebbs and flows between the two timelines, the "Land" timeline in Egypt and the "Water" timeline in Boston.

In the middle of it all, Jodi Picoult webs a story out of the one question we all ask, what one choice (or choices) have we made that altered our whole world? The big… “what if”.

Although this story is textbook heavy with details of quantum physics, hieroglyphics and Egyptology it is equally rich in depth of characters.

Slowly savor this read and do not forget to pick up a copy upon its release: September 22nd

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance reader copy!

I love that whenever I read a Jodi Picoult, I learn a lot about a different subject matter, while enjoying a fiction book. Picoult has a way of writing fictional stories about real life drama or something that can/has happened. The Book of Two Ways did not disappoint at all. The story is about love, death, and Egyptology. It is all wonderfully and intriguingly interwoven.

I received a complimentary copy of The Book of Two Ways from NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

This novel was difficult to put down. With just enough mystery to keep me guessing about Dawn's previous relationship, the plot easily weaves the past and present of into one fabulous read. Brian and Wyatt, at opposite ends of her romance spectrum, leave the death doula wondering what might have been--if only she had not left her chosen career digging and exploring tombs in Egypt to see her ill mother. Excellent example of woman versus self.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

I'm not sure what happened with this one. Maybe I was distracted or something but it just didn't work for me in the present time. I didn't find the characters sympathetic and I wasn't a huge fan of the long drawn out passages about Egypt. I may try this one a different time.

DNF at 60%. I’m just soooooo bored. This is so heavy in information, I don’t think I’m smart enough for this book. The Egypt stuff started off interesting but my eyes quickly glazed over and I started skimming. It lost me completely at the quantum physics portion. I tried to push through but the truth is, I just don’t care enough about the characters or the story to continue. My thanks to the publisher for the advance reader in exchange for my honest review.

NetGalley ARC | I'm leaving the star rating off on this one for Goodreads because I DNF The Book of Two Ways. I read about 20% of the way in, skimmed the last chapter, and just couldn't. The story is congested with textbook details that don't really matter, the plot is all over and eye-roll worthy, and I literally could find nothing to like about this one. Reading it was actually painful. I tried three times.

Picoult is hit or miss for me. I either LOVE her books or don't. This was one of those bad ones.

You can find my full review on The Uncorked Librarian here: https://www.theuncorkedlibrarian.com/september-2020-book-releases/

Thank you to NetGalley and the author/publisher for providing me with a free advanced copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This title was unique and kudos to Jodi Picoult for never letting herself become formulaic. I learned a lot from this read and encourage others to pick this one up. As always I look forward to her next book as well.

Wow, what a different novel from one of my favorite authors. I've read most all of Jodi's books and was not expecting this one to read like it did.

This is a very HEAVY book. Probably about as opposite of a "beach read" as you can get. The Egyptian history sections of the book were a bit too much for me - I felt like they could've been condensed - but, wow, what research went into this novel.

I think Piccoult fans will be shocked by this one. Some will like and some might be disappointed.

This book is incredibly well researched and goes into incredible depth with Egyptian history. At times it read like a textbook and was a little tough to wade through. Dawn’s story and the emotion was what kept me reading. She was an amazing character and I could relate to her on many levels. The path she walked and what could have been resonated with me. Her choices (both career and personal life) and what happens when you reach the end of one path and have to choose a junction or reach the end of the known.

True to form, Picoult’s from out of nowhere ending caught me completely off guard, but it made a lot of puzzle pieces fall together. High suspense in this one.

I'm a huge fan of Jodi Picoult and was so excited to get to read her latest as an ARC. The blurb on this one - it's about a 40 year old woman who revisits a relationship she had as a student in Egypt - was also appealing. I love Egyptian history.

The premise is simple: after Dawn nearly dies in a plane crash, she finds herself re-evaluating her romantic choice. Although she's been happily married for years and has a daughter, she wonders if she made a mistake. Maybe marrying her husband in the aftermath of her mother's death was a mistake! Maybe she really loves Wyatt, her soul mate of Egyptian lore. Years ago, the two of them were starting to establish careers studying the Book of Two Ways (an Egyptian work that describes two ways, via water or earth, to reach the end of life, or Maat.) The book itself is a neat metaphor for Dawn's journey, and Picoult combines the idea of a multiverse - or Dawn making two choices simultaneously: going to Egypt or going home.

Picoult's writing is always superb...but after a while, I found Dawn to be a bit of a whiner. She's SO MEAN to her husband, who bends over backwards to accommodate all the terrible news Dawn throws at him. And while her behavior is couched in Picoult's usual high-brow prose - and justified with the belief "to thine own self be true", it doesn't disguise the fact that Dawn is, at heart, a stone-cold betrayer of the one she promised to stay faithful to forever.

“There’s really no such thing as a right or wrong choice. We don’t make decisions. Decisions make us.”

Dawn Edelstein miraculously survives a plane crash. In the aftermath, she is completely caught off guard for the surge of feelings that resurface for her great love, Wyatt, a Yale classmate whom she abruptly left in Egypt fifteen years earlier. In her profession as a death doula, Dawn special-izes in helping people prepare for their end of life with dignity and grace. With the sobering clarity that can only come with a near death experience, Dawn realizes that she has unfinished business as she re-examines her thwarted career as an Egyptologist and her relationship with Wyatt. Suddenly, her existence as a seemingly happily married woman to Brian and mother to teenage daughter Meret becomes threatened. There are two ways that Dawn’s life could take: Will she keep her life as it is-comfortable, familiar, and safe? Or will her trip to Egypt to confront the reality of her past with Wyatt create a daring new future?

Picoult creates a crossroads life moment that will deeply resonate with many readers. However, the narrative is constantly weighted down by the intricacies of the subjects of Egyptology and Physics (Dawn’s husband Brian is a physicist) that does not advance the story or illuminate character development. At times, I was wading through pages and pages of extraneous subject matter, feeling as though I stumbled into a college course that I did not sign up for but reluctantly had to take because it was the only one with openings available. The deeply academic discourse between the characters at times also did not feel realistic; simple discussions between Dawn and Brian evolved into physics lectures. I felt like an Egyptologist during this reading, trying not to unearth a Pharoah’s tomb, but the narrative itself and the heart of Dawn’s very real conflict.

In the author’s note, Picoult explains that her son is an Egyptology major and that Picoult herself traveled to Egypt with a leading scholar to better understand her characters’ professions and to learn about the book of two ways, the first known map of the afterlife. And while the map serves as an apt metaphor for Dawn’s decision, Picoult’s obvious passion for the nonfiction subject simply overtook the fictional book.

There were some beautifully crafted lines and some moving character situations, but overall the promise of this intriguing premise was flattened under the weight of the overzealous historical background.

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC.

My library will purchase this book because they are tons of fans of Jodi Picoult books. For me this book was too detailed and too much like reading a text book in the beginning about the mummies and history behind that and the pyramids. I wanted to get to the story a little quicker and it just moved way too slow. The end left great surprises like all of her other books, which is an element of her writing that I love so much, but I lost interest early on with all the long details. Just not a fan of this book.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult. Kate, and former Egyptologist who has studied The Book of Two Ways, and is now a death doula. Faced with the life path she pursued while a younger woman in Egypt, and her present day life, she wonders what her life would have been like today had she not returned home to care for her dying mother. Would she have married her first love, a fellow Egyptologist Wyatt , or her husband Brian. I am a great fan of Jodi Picoult but I felt let down by this book. For me there was way too much information about Egyptology which became tedious to read. Also I won’t give away the ending, but I hated the ending. Without so much information about the Egyptian kings and the burials, it would have been much better. I still didn’t like the ending.

As always, Jodi Picoult knows just how to tug on your heartstrings. This is a very detailed, in depth book. If you have interest in the Egyptians or multiple universes, this is the book for you. There feels like there's a lot going on in this book, so I'm pretty sure I missed some things.

3.5 stars- I usually love Jodi Picoult's books so I was very excited to get this one. The cover is beautiful, it sounded different and interesting. Well, parts of it were good. Unfortunately, I just felt like this was a very uneven novel. The main character was interesting- she was an Egyptologist and is now a death doula and she wonders if her life is what she wanted it to be- but the book was completely bogged down by very long and detailed parts all about ancient Egypt. Burials and customs and mythology can be made interesting- but not here. But at least it's constant and add in some more completely unnecessary and way over my head astrophysics. The only reason for this that I could find was to make the Egyptian parts more interesting by comparsion?

The main story line was a sliding doors premise that I actually liked and made sense- except when it changed story lines without any warning or breaks (like in the middle of a page). Sometimes you could tell by chapter where she was, but I found myself wishing I was on one timeline more than the other. I felt this added to it's unevenness.

So, I wanted to like this much more than I did. Maybe I'm not scholarly enough or maybe I just had high expectations based on Picoult's other excellent books. Please read this and prove me wrong! I will keep reading Picoult as she is an excellent writer, but I've liked some of her other books much more.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review. Comes out 9/22/20 (scheduled).

Mummies, love, and a plane crash - oh my!

Shortest Summary Ever: Dawn Edelstein nearly dies in a plane crash. This moment draws her back to Egypt where she left her former life (and a man named Wyatt) behind 15 years ago. Then there’s Bryan and her daughter Meret back in Boston - the life she’s created that’s also dear. Where should she go?

Thoughts: I love Picoult when she’s not giving the expected, and so I enjoyed this book. To keep my review spoiler free I can say this - it’s brutally honest, which is brave and ballsy. I absolutely love honestly. I don’t need “perfect” or I’d be reading romance (barf). The characters aren’t infallible - they are human, and humans are full of imperfection. I LOVE THAT. I have never married so for me it was enjoyable to sit on both paths - a life with Brian her steady true hubby, or what life would be like with “the one who got away.” I could easily put myself in these characters’ clothes, try em on for size, and stroll around for a while. Riveting and thought-inducing to try those outfits on.

Picoult’s characterization is her brilliance - she’s able to make the reader see and feel every side of this story down to 14-yr old Meret and her discomfort with her body, Brian and his steadfastness in his marriage, Wyatt and his facade of confidence, and Dawn and her questioning of everything that is LIFE. Damn that’s good.

The book is cerebral which is also tough to pull off. I’m a thinker and I’m pretty smart (don’t let the snark fool ya... I graduated Summa Cum Laude suckas!) so I enjoyed the LEARNING... but that brings me to my one star deduction.
I adored the information about what the book of Two Ways was, its meaning, the Egyptology (I Googled soooooo much stuff!), until it became ad nauseam Egyptology where every emotion Dawn was feeling had to be compared to some old dead dude and his wife. Then quantum physics was sprinkled in and flashback dashes of philosophy class (ugh I hated that class)... it seemed too jumbled in some places. But I FEEL crazy smart now and it’s the first time I’ve understood ANYTHING physics (don’t judge).


All my reviews available at scrappymags.com around time of publication.

Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Women’s Fiction/Chic-Lit

Recommend to: You have to be ready for cerebral because you’ll be schooled.

Not recommended to: It’s not a quick and done so be ready.

Thank you to the author, Random House Ballantyne, and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my always-honest review and for the education in all things Egypt tombs.

I've been reading Jodi Picoults book since I was 14. Therefore, it was foolish of me to think I had figured out this story and then be surprised by the twist. This was a really great book and I enjoyed all of the characters They were all really well developed. My sister is an archaeologist so it was actually really interesting to read about something she specializes in as well. I do feel like I wanted more out of the ending. It just seemed a little incomplete.

Wow!! I haven’t liked a book as much as I’ve liked this one in quite awhile. This is actually the first book I’ve read by Jodi Picoult, and all I can say is I’m missing out!

The Book of Two Ways is somewhat hard to put into words. There is so much to it that just brought out all the feels in me. First of all, the writing is wonderful. And the story is unique, l can honestly say I’ve never read a story quite like this before. And the angst, ugh, it just kills me ever time in a book. But it was definitely heart wrenching in this one. And the characters were so like-able as well.

I’m not going to give anything else away with this review because it is good to go into this book without a lot of knowledge of what’s going to happen. It honestly makes the book so much better, in my opinion. I’m just going to highly recommend it and scream at the top of my lungs for everyone to buy this book!!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5- Dawn Edelstein is a death doula. She helps people leave this world by taking care of all their wants and needs so that her clients are assured that they have left this world with someone taking care of the details. Prior to becoming a death doula, Dawn was on her way to becoming a Egyptologist. This book alternates between Dawn’s past and her present. Making for an interesting read. As someone who is a big Jodi Picoult fan, I found this particular book to be my least favorite of hers. It jumped around a lot which disengaged me at times and went into tremendous detail to discuss her work as an Egyptologist which I have to admit bored me. I was much more interested in one part of the story over the other. I will say that the book caught my interest in the end. Overall, it was a decent read.