Truth be told Jodi Picoult is my favorite author and I have read every one of her books and can’t wait for more. What I love most is that she has a genre of her own-she is no cookie cutter author. She takes on issues that are actually happening in our world, studies and deeply researches them before writing her books. I never fail to learn something from her books. This book involves Egyptologists or students of Egyptology.who find fulfillment discovering the tombs and unearthing the remains of ancient burial sites as well as the beautiful artifacts that adorn these tombs and the meaning of the hieroglyphics left by each tomb. This book has 3 main characters-Dawn who had studied to become an archeologist but had to give it up and now finds herself working as a death doula-beng a caregiver to the dying as well as their family), her husband Brian and the man she had worked beside in Egypt, Wyatt. Her first love brought her back to Egypt on several occasions to continue her work with Wyatt. Needless to say they became very close as he played a big part in her life periodically and eventually came to the U.S. for an important reason.
I think it’s important to say that we can learn a lot from the dying and fulfilling their final wishes-lessons that pertain to us as well.this book was also a love story- both personal as well as those that love and pursue archaeology. I highly recommend it and applaud her writing.

Extremely well researched, you can absolutely tell that the author but a lot of time into her background research. Unfortunately it was so loaded with facts that it overshadows the story.

I really disliked his book. I almost DNF it several times but I only kept going to find out what happened at the end and to NOT find out was beyond maddening. There was way too much long winded stuff about Egypt that I just did not find interesting. I didn’t like Brian or Wyatt and Dawn’s job was horribly depressing and hard to read about.

3.5 stars // It took me quite awhile to get into this book. I LOVE Jodi Picoult, but I just had a hard time following the timeline and all the factual information about Egypt.

All that said, though, I did like this. Like her other novels, she really dives deep into tough topics and shows them from all different angles. This one covers lost love, death, and marital infidelity. It was tough in a lot of spots for me. I was upset and heartbroken but then understanding in other spots. It made me feel, and I love that.

I will recommend this to friends, but it wasn’t the BEST novel I’ve read from her.

I loved the premise of this book - it reminded me of my recent read “The Midnight Library”, intended to get you thinking about your path of life and how you would do anything differently, if possible.

However, this book was overloaded with details that occasionally left me puzzled and led me to lose sight of the story itself.

I’ve loved other novels by Jodi Picoult in the past, but this one was unfortunately not a hit for me.

I've read & reviewed a ton of books this past year, but this masterpiece by Jodi Picoult far outshines the rest. A complex love story, both between adults and parents-child, but oh so much more. It explores from many angles the concept of death from the perspective of the main character who is an Egyptologist who changes professions after her mother's death to become a death doula. The combination of all of the beliefs of Middle Egypt with modern-day philosophy and physics is weird, but really works. I found myself absorbed in reading this, contemplating my own beliefs as I read. And, I found myself bookmarking passages to return to at a later date. Though I received a free e-copy of this book to review, I am going to buy a hard copy to keep and cherish. If I could give this ten stars, I would!

Emotional and heartfelt. Jodi Picoult never misses and she certainly did not with this one! I truly think this a book for people of any age and so many take aways!

Jodi Picoult definitely has a formula to her books, and good for her because her readers (including me!) keep coming back for more. That said, this book deviates a little from a typical Picoult novel in both subject matter and style. Instead of a legal question or moral conundrum, it follows a woman after a plane crash in a "sliding doors" fashion. WHAT IF she had made different decisions earlier in her life?

The novel also explores in fascinating details an ancient Egypt burial ground. This was a topic I knew nothing about and was not previously interested in, but Picoult drew me in and fascinated me.

In the end I didn't really know what was real and what was imagined in the main character's sliding door reality, and usually this would unsettle me. However, somehow it worked here and I enjoyed not knowing.

So disappointed I could not get into this book and I am a HUGE Jodi fan. I have loved all of her books. The consensus when I look at other reviews feels fairly similar to my own feelings. I am going to put it down and may try again in the future. I won't review on my blog until I have finished the book.

The Book of Two Ways // by Jodi Picoult

The premise of this book was super intriguing so I was very excited to receive the ARC for this one. I have read a couple of books by Jodi Picoult and while this isn't my favorite genre, I've always enjoyed myself with her. Overall, I like the story that was told here, the twisty structure, and the existential questions that weave their way throughout the entire book. But I want to point out to regular Picoult readers that this book is not exactly like what we are used to.

Jodi Picoult is great at finding topics and questions that to many of us are difficult to answer or think through. She usually presents them in a way where we can see both the benefits and downsides of each path. Sometimes these things are emotional, sometimes moral, and sometimes she turns everything we think we know upside down on its head. What is different about this book though is not this particular component but what she has added around it.

Part of the reason I wanted to read The Book of Two Ways is because I enjoy learning about new topics but Picoult took this to a whole new level. I've never understood the term info-dumping that I learned from other reviewers but I know exactly what they mean now. This book has SO MUCH information coming at you the entire way through. I'm used to a lot of world-building from my favorite fantasy books but this almost feels like a school textbook sometimes, not only for Egyptology but also quantum physics and several other topics. While overall I found this all to be interesting, it was difficult to stay engaged with the main storyline sometimes. I also had several other books I was reading and found myself preferring the excitement of those the majority of the time because Two Ways was just not very thrilling. It has more of a slow and steady approach.

The last quarter of the story though definitely picked up a bit. I had several theories about how this book would end but she managed to elude me after all. I enjoy a twisty story and while it was a bit confusing when you got into the middle of this mixup, it was fun to put the puzzle together at the end. I am happy that I read this book. It's obvious that a ton of research went into it. But I do think that the description of it makes it sound a bit more exciting that it turned out to be and that this wouldn't be a good fit for a lot of her regular readers.

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

I am a fan of Jodi Picoult, really I am. And I love Egyptology. But this book just didn't work for me. It was well researched (as per the author's usual) and very descriptive but the story just wasn't interesting.

Jodi Picoult's books are always great and this did not disappoint. I learned a lot and look forward to her next effort.

With a heavy heart I have to admit that I did not finish this book. I loved Jodi Picoult's previous books and I own most of them, however I could not get through the first half of this book. This was definitely a different kind of story from this author, and as much as I appreciated the amount of work the author put into researching and writing this book, this was not what I expected to read when I requested this book. I just think that I was not the right audience for it. I am looking forward to reading more books from Jodi Picoult, and she still is one of my favorite authors out there.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

When Dawn Edelstein survives a plane crash, the airline offers her a ticket anywhere she wants to go. The decision seems obvious, but this near-death experience leaves her at a crossroads. Does she return to Boston to see her husband and teenage daughter? Or does she instead fly to Egypt to revisit her life from years ago at an archeological dig with her former love Wyatt? This book examines both options, and we get to see how small decisions can have massive effects on our lives. Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors, and this book definitely felt different than a lot of her previous work. But it was fascinating and thought-provoking and so detailed and rich in history. A must for any Jodi Picoult fan--or Egyptian-history buff!

To be fair, I haven’t always loved Jodi Picoult’s books, often feeling like they are just the next hot topic to write about in an overly dramatic fashion. Really liked that as a teen, but as an adult it’s no longer my thing. This book was a bit different in that it didn’t really seem to focus around some taboo topic or drama, but it did have the romance bit. I enjoyed reading about the archaeological stuff, but felt maybe it was a bit too detailed. I was a little annoyed with the main character needing so much to be with this person, but at least she had some adventures on the way.

While there were some thought-provoking passages in this novel about life and death, that did not overcome how bored I often found myself when reading it. I know Jodi Picoult has some great works, but this was not one of them. As many of said, there is too much of an Egyptian historical background which really bogs the storyline down a bit. I found myself having to power through. 2.5 stars ⭐️rating , rounded up to 3.

THE BOOK OF TWO WAYS by Jodi Picoult was a LibraryReads Hall of Fame selection for September. I have read and really enjoyed a number of her novels – most especially Leaving Time, but also My Sister's Keeper and Small Great Things. Sadly, THE BOOK OF TWO WAYS just seemed to be about a mid-life crisis couched in information about Middle Egypt. The main character, Dawn Edelstein, leaves (sort of) her husband of fifteen years to run off to Egypt and Wyatt Armstrong, a former rival and colleague. He is on an important archeological dig and she wants to contribute despite having left the field and retrained as a death doula. Even though descriptions of the scientific process and the ancient fables were interesting, Dawn's total self-centeredness was extremely off-putting. I recommend reading something else by Picoult.

I had such high hopes for this book. I was highly disappointed. I could not connect with anyone. The whole thing was just not good to me. When this happens I hate leaving a review. I know the authors put so much work into them and for anyone to dislike it is sad. But it happens.
The writing is fine. The scenes are ok. The characters not at all. I heard a lot of good things but to me it fell way short. I've read this author before and loved her books but this one just didn't pull me in at all. It didn't hold my attention. I was able to lay it down and read something else. I went back to it several times just to finish it. I'm very sorry but I have to be honest.
I just could not get into the story and stay there.

Thank you to #NetGalley, #RandomHouseBallantine for this ARC. This is my own true feelings about this book.
3/5 stars and read if you want. I just didn't like it.

I found the lead into this book to be very dry. I kept feeling myself reading without processing the words. It is a very well researched book and, honestly, Egyptian history just doesn't hold my interest. However, as the story progressed it drew me in more. There is such a realness to the main character, Dawn, and her struggles. I can see how this will be a 5 star read for many, who have an interest in the factual aspects, but for me it fell slightly short.

Dawn Edelstein is at a crossroads in her life. Years ago she gave up her dreams of being an Egyptologist to take care of her younger brother after their mother died of cancer. It was her mother's death that led Dawn to a new career as a death doula. And it was her mother's illness that led to Dawn meeting her husband, Brian. Their life has been a good one and their teen daughter is the glue holding their family together after Brian behaved inappropriately with one of his students. Dawn's pain and confusion are more than she can deal with right now. And before she realizes what is happening, she finds herself on a plane headed to Egypt and the man she left behind fifteen years ago. It doesn't take Dawn very long before she falls back into the routines of the dig house. It was everything she remembered and more, including her time with Wyatt. Will Dawn be able to figure out what, and who will bring her happiness? Will she choose Wyatt or will she choose Brian?

To me, it seems like Jodi Picoult has become a "hit or miss" kind of author. I struggled with her last book and I struggled with The Book of Two Ways. I liked Dawn, but there is a lot of dense text about the art, artifacts, and history of ancient Egypt. And when I say dense, I mean really dense. I stuck with it because I really liked Dawn and I wanted to see what happened. There was a twist in the timeline, but not so much that it made up for the dense text. CLICK HERE FOR SPOILERS


Bottom Line - I know that Jodi Picoult is "must-read" for a lot of people, including mine. She will probably continue to be on my "must-read," but I think that I need to lower my expectations for all future books.

Details:
The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult
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Pages: 432
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: 9.22.2020
Buy it Here!
Thank you to NetGalley for the book in exchange for an honest review.