I picked this book because I like the author and she did not disappoint. Multilayered and thoughtful.

Jodi Picoults books are always a fast page turning read for me. But this book for some reason wasn't like that. I had a hard time getting into it and honestly, didn't finish it.. I just wasn't interested in the characters or the story. Possibly because I just couldn't realate to the main characters motivation to suddenly leave her happy family to run off after an old flame.with little provocation from said flame. Ms Picoult is an excellent writer. Do not let my review of only one of her many fine books keep you from exploring her other works. This is one person's opinion.

(SPOILERS AHEAD)
The (way too long) story begins with Dawn surviving a plane crash, ‘someone’ holding her hand, presumably ending up in Egypt afterwards. From there the story oscillates between two timelines, and wasn’t clear (to me anyway) if they were parallel tracks of the same life (see the detailed explanations of quantum physics) or if they occupied a more linear time frame, though the order became clear about ¾ of the way through.

I suspect this misdirection was intentional. Growing up I was a huge fan of the ‘choose your own adventure’ books. I am fascinated by the idea of parallel worlds and alternate endings. Kate Atkinson’s “Life After Life'' may be my favorite novel. What happens with Two Ways isn’t quite the same, as Dawn runs away from her choices, which of course is a choice in itself.

It’s clear Picoult has done exhaustive research for this novel. I had never been interested in Egyptology or quantum physics before, but now I can understand the appeal for some. In both fields you can achieve notoriety for being so smart you speak in a language no one else can understand, while disconnecting completely from family and other obligations in the pursuit of your field, often half the world away. (The Egyptologist poking fun at Dawn’s mother’s superstitions was rich.) As a death doula, Dawn’s duties are firmly rooted in the here and now. She serves as a guidewire for the dying and their families in their journey from the now to the after. What could be kinder than that? Death is the ultimate reminder that control is an illusion, a security blanket we wrap around ourselves that can also serve as a barrier, a means to blur the edges of a messy life. In her work, Dawn reveals for her clients that death is another stage of life, and shows them that they continue to live in the memories of those who love them. These are our hieroglyphs, our monuments to the future.

The theme of fate is central to the story. Is our life story pre-ordained, and we are just destined to follow blindly? Do we not have any agency to choose our path? Of course we do. We can choose whom to please, ourselves or others. If we please others at our expense, we’re martyrs; if we please ourselves and hurt others, we’re selfish. Dawn finds that the only right path is the one she chooses, or the one she allows herself to get carried along on, whichever that ends up being. We can’t have life without death, joy without pain. How else would we be able to experience anything? We don’t know what’s in the afterlife any more than we know what’s happening to us next week.

And the cliffhanger ending? She chose Meret, of course. The bond Dawn has with her daughter is the only one in her life that doesn’t cause pain to another. If she loses either of the men, she’ll still be all right. Maybe she’ll even find someone who loves her just as she is, and doesn’t put her on a pedestal.

I received this advance copy from NetGalley and Ballantine Books in exchange for an honest review.

For this one I had to DNF. I could not get into the storyline. It read so much like a textbook and I found it to be very boring.

I'm a big fan of Jodi Picoult before she became popular. I was recommending The Pact to all of our Library patrons. It was so easy to sell that book especially when she was popular and the most recent wasn't available for patrons. This book again captivated me, as well as her others. I liked the premise of the book and her way of handling a romantic conflict. I learned about the real "Book of Two Ways."

This was surprisingly my first Jodi Picoult novel and while it was interesting, sadly it missed the mark for me. This novel was extremely well researched and you can see the passion the author has for these topics. As a kid I had a phase where I wanted to be an archaeologist and even took an archaeology class in college so I thought I was going to love this book given my interest in archaeology; unfortunately, it read a bit too much like a textbook.

This novel follows Dawn who after being in a plane crash receives a free ticket anywhere in the world. We follow her along two paths - one where she returns home to her husband and daughter in Boston, and another where she travels to Egypt to revive her career as an Egyptologist, potentially reconnect with an old flame, and complete her research on the Book of Two Ways, which is the first known map of the afterlife.

I enjoyed the storylines of motherhood and familial relationships, and it also brought up so many important themes on loss. This was not a light read and spoke to many themes of loss, with mentions of death and philosophical ideas. This novel spoke to the fact that past traumas can shape your life much more than you think they do, which I appreciated.

I could feel myself zoning out in some chunks of the novel - especially where it went into extreme detail on quantum physics and Egyptology. While I am fascinated and interested in both of these topics, I felt as if the descriptions went too far and were not necessary for the larger context of the novel. I would recommend this book to someone interested in gaining further knowledge on either of these subjects but in the context of a novel rather than nonfiction or a textbook.

Overall, this was an extremely well-researched novel but it wasn’t for me.

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Ballantine Books, and Random House for the gifted e-book in exchange for an honest opinion!

I was able to read this book thanks to NetGalley. Jodi Picoult is one of my absolute favorite authors so I could not have been more thrilled! I love all of her books and this was no exception. The story was amazing as usual. The research perfect. And the writing was beautiful and impeccable. I was so invested in the characters. I will always read and recommend her books. Thanks again to NetGalley for the amazing opportunity to read this book.

I love Jodi Picoult and I loved this book. Interesting world I didnt know much about and a love story!

Could not get into. Sorry! This was so different than her usual books. I get her last one and this one are different and she is trying something new, she isn't succeeding.

Unable to get into this book. I've read many in the past and have enjoyed. For some reason, be it mindset or subject matter, this one did not grab me.

I am a huge Jodi Picoult fan. I will wait outside in a hurricane of snow to pick up her book on release day. But this book was just not easy for me. The extremely technical speech, especially about Egyptology, made it almost impossible for me to connect to because I was searching the internet for explanations and definitions. The main characters were hard to connect to. I found myself liking bit characters way more, even those only mentioned once. One thing I did enjoy and feel while reading was the obvious love the author must have for the culture and people of Egypt. Her writing was full of raw feelings. I may not recommend this specific book to my average book loving friends but will continue to be a lover of Jodi Picoult.

This is another excellent book by Jodi Picoult dealing with a middle aged death doula flying on a plane that is about to crash. Her thoughts are not of her husband but of her former lover. The book is a little confusing at times as the story frequently goes back and forth in time from grad school at Yale and a dig in Egypt where she is researching her PhD in Egyptology to the present where she is a wife and mother of a 15 year old daughter while working with patients approaching death. She finds her daily thoughts drifting back to the what might have been vs. her real life choices and after a trip to London made at the request of a dying patient, she flies instead back to Cairo to revisit the past.

Although a bit slow paced compared to other Picoult books, it is an interesting read where our heroine looks at her life choices honestly and attempts to decide whether she really made these choices or did the choices make her the woman she became. Has she had a good life or a great one? As a death doula, she leads patients toward a peaceful end but helps them evaluate their lives, relationships and obviously their choices along the way but what of her own choices? This is a lovely, well written story that really forces you to look at your own life and wonder.

I found certain sections a bit dry when her husband, a Harvard physics professor explains certain aspects of his own research but it actually ties in with her own research into a book of spells from Middle Egypt that aided the dead getting to the afterlife. This book was buried beneath a mummy in the sarcophagus with very specific instructions. Each of these books, The Book of Two Ways, is somewhat different as are the other hieroglyphics incorporated within the tomb. Each is a series of suggestions on how to over come the obstacles as the dead sought their destiny. In a way, it directly related to Dawn’s work as a death doula in helping a dying patient and their caregiver come to the close of their own life.

Jodi Picoult once again writes a book that makes the reader look into themselves and ask some tough questions. What makes the mind go to those tough places is the way this story unfolds with the main character, Dawn Edelstein, believing that she is about to die...and then surviving. The thoughts she had when facing death, were not of her husband but of another man from her past. As a survivor, she chooses to follow her heart to the other man and face some unresolved issues. This was not a favorite book of hers to me. It felt slow at times and I did have trouble keeping myself really interested in the characters because of all the descriptions of Egyptology... which was important to the characters...but not really to me. I can, however, understand how this book can and will also be a favorite to many people because the author has a great writing style and a way of bringing in so many different aspects to the story. Thank you to NetGalley andRandom House - Ballentine Books for the opportunity to read and review this advance reader copy. #NetGalley #TheBookofTwoWays

Jodi Picoult's The Book of Two Ways is one of those books that not gives us the story that the author wants to tell but a story that makes us look inward at our own life story.
In one life-altering moment, Dawn Edelstein, finds herself in a plane that is about to crash. While her immediate thoughts as she is bracing for impact and near-certain death should be of her husband Brian, daughter Merit and life in Boston, it isn't. Her mind races back to her first love, Wyatt Armstrong and her life before Brian. Her life in Egypt when she was studying to be an Egyptologist.
Dawn and thirty-five other passengers miraculously survive the plane crash. Dawn, whose career as a death doula in Boston, finds herself daydreaming and actually going back to Egypt to revisit Wyatt and her past. She finds herself questioning her life choices and whether she made the right ones.
Dawn's life story is really the vessel that Picoult uses to get the reader to look inward at their own life choices and where we have been but also where are our choices taking us,
The Book of Two Ways is a beautiful story of love, life, death and dying, There is nothing morbid or morose but a book that focuses on what is the meaning of life.
If there is one problem with the book, it is that Picoult thrusts an inordinate amount of information on Egyptology and archaeology. All of the factual information distracts from the story of Dawn and was cumbersome at times.
Jodi Picoult once again gives us a spectacular, thought-provoking, character-driven story in The Book of Two Ways.
I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley. #NetGalley #TheBookofTwoWays

I usually love this author, but for me, this book didn’t do it. It was way too heavy on the Egyptology and archaeology for my taste; these chapters were more like a textbook. I kept hoping it would lighten up, but nope. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

I have been a huge fan of Jodi Picoult books for a while and I really enjoyed this one. It was a powerful story that tugged at my heart and I felt so many feelings for the characters. Although it was a great book it's wasn't my favorite of hers.

I have always been a fan of Jodi Picoult books. She always writes very real books that keeps you engaged. The beginning of this book was great. But then it started to feel like I was studying for school and I began to lose interest in the story.
I will try again when her next book comes out. But this one was a disappointment for me.
Thanks Netgalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Jodie Picoult writes fantastic novels. This book is set et mostly in Egypt, the book is filled with wonderful descriptions of Ancient Egyptian artifacts yet I was not able to finish it due to my limited understanding of her subject.

cannot review. book has been archived and can no longer access it. I will try to check out from the library but there is a long wait list

THE BOOK OFTWO WAYS is one of Jodi Picoult’s deepest and, for me, best books. Thanks to Ballantine for allowing access to the galley.
The crash mini course in Egyptology was interesting, and although I didn’t expect to, and in fact, didn’t retain all of the information she laid out, especially in the first 100 pages, I did. manage to understand and store some tidbits that were very interesting. I mean, we learn about the Egyptian civilization through their death rituals and that alone is fascinating. Using this civilizations death rituals was the perfect foundation for setting up the other compelling part of this story- the exploration of death and dying in Western civilization. And oh yes, it’s a love story too.
As a reader in the latter part of her life, this was an excellent way to explore a subject that I, like many others, have avoided., despite knowing, as we all do, that it is the one aspect of life we cannot escape..

And somehow, despite the sometimes somber, heart wrenching material, this book also manages to be a love story of the ages. I found the character compelling, and real, but not always likeable.. they were human and flawed, like all of Ms. Picoult.’s characters are, riddled with conflict and fear, but still managing to connect with the reader in the most elemental way - as human beings.

And, just as an aside, the ending was perfect. As a reader I was conflicted with the choices and the potential paths that the main character would choose ( the two ways) and the ending was the perfect choice.

Brava, Jodi Picoult. THE BOOK OF TWO WAYS is an absolute triumph.