I read 35% of this book before stopping. I liked the mystery of what was happening to the mothers in the town, but I felt that it dragged a lot. I didn't find myself wanting to keep reading. I liked the descriptions of the small town, but plot was too slow moving for me.

Elsewhere is unusual, mesmerizing, surprising, imaginative, deep, uncomfortable, disturbing, thought-provoking. It feels familiar, but it’s just different enough to knock you off balance. The writing is lyrical, lofty, in the clouds. In fact most of the story takes place in a town so high in the mountains, so protected, so hidden, so isolated, that it feels like the town itself is in the clouds. And everywhere else is, well, just Elsewhere. It doesn’t even need to be differentiated into individual towns; the townspeople know all they need to: Elsewhere is not here and they don’t need any details.

This town is so idyllic it could be heaven itself, up there in the clouds – except for the affliction that regularly befalls the community: some mothers vanish, disappearing into those very same heavenly clouds. Only mothers. A family goes to bed and in the morning the mother has disappeared. There is no advance warning nor any explanation left behind.

Every child, however – male and female – has grown up knowing the traditions and rituals surrounding the affliction and the role they are expected to play in following them. The disappearance of a mother may be sad to those left behind, but the rituals do not allow for sentiment or deviation. It appears that the townspeople have taken what was initially very frightening, unanticipated and negative and over time turned it into a positive thing, something that makes them special and grateful. They are the lucky ones, unlike those poor, unlucky masses residing Elsewhere. Their rituals and routines make them feel safe, feel better, feel happy with their lot.

Vera is our narrator. Hers is the only townsfolk mind we get a peek into, so we can’t be sure if she is the norm, but the picture she paints of life “up there” isn’t always flattering. The traditions can seem harsh, rigid and cruel. Not many of them have seen a stranger from Elsewhere and when they do they are initially fascinated and drawn to them, feeling sorry that they have not been privileged to be “here” before and certain they will soon see and understand the townspeople’s way. When the strangers don’t, that pity eventually turns to disdain and anger and maybe even violence. Our way is better. Don’t you get that? If you don’t, what’s wrong with you – and you don’t belong. Tolerance is not our strong suit.

Elsewhere speaks to the complexity of motherhood: the doubts and unknowns, the self-criticism and sense of impending doom or failure and identity loss. But motherhood doesn’t only change the mother; it is also life-changing for all those around her. The entire society has to adjust and adapt and make the best of things. Vera understood the history and rituals and expectations of life in her town, but as an often-rejected outsider she was perhaps even more worried and uncertain about the future than the other women. Author Alexis Schaitkin does an amazing job of examining Vera’s fears, the actions she takes to try and test fate, and the unexpected consequences of those actions.

There’s a lot going on in Elsewhere. It’s not an easy book to read but it’s very, very satisfying and makes you think. Thanks to Celadon Books for providing an advance copy via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion as a Celadon Reader. I recommend Elsewhere without hesitation. All opinions are my own.

Elsewhere has to the the strangest book I've ever read. I don't mean that in a bad way either. I started this late one night, intending to only read a few pages in order to get a feel for it and I was immediately sucked in. Partly because I was so intrigued by the weirdness and partly because the writing was so interesting. I finished the book the following day because I could not get enough of the story. I was in a state of perpetual confusion about what the heck was actually happening. I kept trying to figure it out, I had a couple of theories. The more it went on the crazier my theories became but in the end it wrapped up neatly. I don't really know what genre to place this in. It's like science fiction meets symbolism. The symbolism here being about mothers and all that they sacrifice of themselves for their children. The science fiction part was the world in which Elsewhere is written. The village in which Vera lives seems like a cult or some sort of netherworld. The elsewhere is vague and weird as well. No matter, it all works. Elsewhere is probably the most interesting and thought provoking book that I've read all year. I'm still mulling it over.

I first want to thank Celadron Books for giving me access to this ARC.

I am not someone who knows how to DNF a book. I have always felt that every author slaved for their craft and even if it was brutal I would power through. With that said, I powered through and came out very confused.

The premise of the book was intriguing. I enjoy heavy and intense books and even books that aren’t fast reads because they make you stop and think. The cover is artistically beautiful and draws you in. The actual story though is lacking in…I’m not sure exactly what, but it is lacking.

I thought I understood what was happening and then I realized I didn’t. And I had that ping pong reaction throughout the whole thing. At face value, I couldn’t connect with the characters. I tried looking for a deeper meaning and came up short.

I did finish the story, but I didn’t find enjoyment out of doing so.

Thank you to everyone for this copy of Elsewhere.

While the story had an interesting premise, I have to admit I don’t get it. I thought I did, but I don’t. I thought maybe the mothers “leaving” was the idea of mothers losing themselves after having a baby, but I’m just kind of confused by the concept of that.

“Elsewhere” is not my usual type of read. With elements of dystopian fiction, it is speculative fiction with an almost Margaret Atwood feel. That being said, I did enjoy it much more than I expected to. Why? The author’s writing was a pure joy to read. Her phrasing and narrative flow made the read almost poetic at times. There was a sense of sensory descriptiveness which spoke to the inherent love of place that many of us have.

“She was truly gone now. The clouds held her, as they held all our gone mothers, and at night when we opened our shutters and invited the clouds in, they would enter us: memories we could not touch, a feeling we could not name.”

The setting of the book made the reader feel as damp and chilled as the weather there. Imagine if you will, living in the clouds – the feeling of a damp, moist blanket surrounding you. The exact setting remains illusive, but you are led to believe it is somewhere in the Himalayas – but without seasons. The peculiar town was very remote and isolated from everywhere ‘Elsewhere’. An insular society stemming from the author’s imagination with flora and fauna unlike anything I’ve ever heard of. A place where mothers suffer from an ‘affliction’.

The time period was also unspecified. The town seemed ‘backward’ in many respects but that could be attributed to its bizarreness and isolation as much as the calendar.

The protagonist, Vera, is a sixteen year old whose mother has been gone for several years when we first meet her. She is in her final year of school and works with her silent and emotionless father at his photography store called ‘Rapid’ where he sells and develops film. We follow Vera through her young adulthood up to when she becomes married to Peter and a mother herself.

Motherhood is the main theme here – but it is explored as no other book I’ve ever read before. The speculative aspect of how some of the mothers in the book are suddenly not dead, but ‘GONE’, unnerved me. How the other women in the town acted after the mother was gone I found to be even more unsettling. The novel examines parental feelings of guilt, blame, inadequacy while it expounds on motherhood’s anxieties and desperation.

“A mother was a chance to hate someone as much as you loved them, caring and wounding, a push and pull that only tightened the knot that bound you.”

This is a memorable novel, and one I’m glad I took the time to read. That being said, it was WAY out of my comfort zone genre-wise. I appreciate that sometimes it is very healthy to extend your reading experiences. I deeply appreciated the writing, but the overall feel left me uncomfortable and somewhat melancholy. Perhaps that is what the author was aiming for?

Recommended to readers who enjoy superbly written speculative fiction.

This one sounded good by the synopsis. The writing was good but it was an odd one for me. I couldn’t get into it or attached to any characters. I was actually lost for a bit. Having said that, I know others that have loved it. So I suggest you give it a shot even though it didn’t work for me.

This book was difficult. I was so intrigued by the premise and the cover. However, the phrasing was difficult to follow and left me more trying to engage and follow instead of intrigued by the mysterious moments. There were moments of awkward thoughts included and I wasn’t quite sure how to fully dive into this book. As soon as I began to feel engaged, one of those moments would leave me questioning. I was not able to finish this book entirely for this reason.

If you know me, I am not necessarily a fantasy reader. I prefer my fiction as it was meant to be…real-life fiction. Ha Ha Ha

However, I knew very little about this book when I picked it up. I hadn’t even heard of the speculative fiction genre! I am learning so much!

Turns out, this book is among the genres of magical realism and/or speculative fiction. The first half of the book, I was asking “what am I reading’ and “what am I missing” because I couldn’t tell if the beautiful writings were supposed to be in a fairytale land, or was this happening in a remote village somewhere?

I think that’s the whole point of the book – you need to be immersed in this coming of age story. The story of a girl who is growing up in a world where girls become wives, wives become mothers, and mothers and some of the mothers…simply disappear…

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Ell Potter and SHE IS AMAZING. SUCH A DREAMY NARRATION!

I did appreciate where the story took me, and enjoyed the journey. Even with the magical realism!

Thank you to the Celadon Books publicity team for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Elsewhere is a tale of identity associated with motherhood. As we help define our children, our individual selves disappear. As our narrator, Vera, grows older, she sees how much weight is placed on the expectations of having a child.
The way motherhood is presented is a ride you need to strap in for – let the author take you on their journey.
The clear writing allowed deeper topics to flourish and flow. I enjoyed this dystopian work.

This felt a little bit like reading someone’s fever dream - everything is described in technicolor but you definitely don’t know what’s going on for a while. It’s mostly all fun and games until someone disappears.

It isn’t horror moving dark either - think more Handmaid’s Tale but less assault. More of a metaphysical assault? It’s pretty wild, but I’m afraid of my own shadow and it didn’t give me nightmares or anything.

I really enjoyed reading this and hope to read more from this author soon!

Thank you NetGalley for this book!

I read Saint X a while ago and was really impressed by it. The story was excellent, and the language was just gorgeous. So, when I saw this one on NetGalley, I requested it in eager hopes that it was just as good. And it’s not. It’s BETTER! I absolutely loved every minute of reading this book. And it’s one I will think about for a long time.

From Goodreads: Vera grows up in a small town, removed and isolated, pressed up against the mountains, cloud-covered and damp year-round. This town, fiercely protective, brutal, and unforgiving in its adherence to tradition, faces a singular affliction: some mothers vanish, disappearing into the clouds. It is the exquisite pain and intrinsic beauty of their lives; it sets them apart from people elsewhere and gives them meaning.

Vera, a young girl when her own mother went, is on the cusp of adulthood herself. As her peers begin to marry and become mothers, they speculate about who might be the first to go, each wondering about her own fate. Reveling in their gossip, they witness each other in motherhood, waiting for signs: this one devotes herself to her child too much, this one not enough—that must surely draw the affliction’s gaze. When motherhood comes for Vera, she is faced with the question: will she be able to stay and mother her beloved child, or will she disappear?

Provocative and hypnotic, Alexis Schaitkin’s Elsewhere is at once a spellbinding revelation and a rumination on the mysterious task of motherhood and all the ways in which a woman can lose herself to it; the self-monitoring and judgment, the doubts and unknowns, and the legacy she leaves behind.

The story is told in first-person from Vera’s perspective, so you know you’re going to be with her for the duration of the book. That said, this book had me guessing a lot. I had no idea what to make of the disappearances, and when a stranger comes to town (not a spoiler, happens very early on in the book) the reaction to her of the townspeople is really interesting. The story comes full circle, and, by the end, I was really happy to see how Vera’s story turned out. I absolutely loved this and will be recommending it.

When someone on bookstagram compared this book to The Grace Year, I was very interested when I received a widget from Celadon because I really enjoyed that one. It’s not true to say I don’t enjoy dystopian novels since I have enjoyed a select few that the masses rave about, but it isn’t my usually go-to genre just like sci-fi isn’t really either.

This story is told in a singular POV and follows Vera, the MC, while she grows up in a quaint, isolated mountain town where women tend to disappear after they become wives and mothers. It happened to her mother, and Vera faces the possibility it might happen to her, too. They call it an “affliction” and any reference to other places is “Elsewhere.”

To be entirely honest, I wanted to DNF this title around 8% when the characters were eating dirt and tasting each other’s blood. At a later time in the book, the MC says “I am in her and she is in me” in reference to sucking her friend’s blood in their childhood and it made me cringe. That was the most memorable part of the book for me, in a bad way.

It was very difficult to get into this story, especially with such a long portion in the beginning dedicated to Vera’s childhood without much plot or answering any of the questions readers want out of reviewing the synopsis and deciding to dig in. I stuck with it and eventually it got a little more interesting and the story moved along. I don’t think I would have been able to finish this one if it wasn’t for the audiobook approval in addition to the e-galley widget. The story does eventually come full circle and answer some important main questions about where the mothers go, why, and whether they ever come back, but still left with so many other questions in an incomplete way, not a good literary deep thinking way.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, Celadon, and the author for an e-galley and the advance listener’s copy in exchange for an honest review!

This book is the type that stays with you. Following Vera’s journey from childhood to adulthood in her unique town was so thought provoking. I found myself constantly needing to know more but there’s room for interpretation which makes it so much more interesting.

I think the beginning felt a little slow but once I saw the bigger picture I couldn’t put it down.

It was definitely one of the best books I’ve read this year.

I read and very much enjoyed Alexis Schaitkin's debut, Saint X. Be warned, Elsewhere, is nothing like Saint X, and honestly the genre was outside my norm and certainly outside my own reading comfort zone. With that in mind, I'm honestly having properly rating this one.

Vera lives in a mountain village, isolated from the world or "elsewhere", where mothers are overcome by a mysterious "affliction" and disappear into the clouds at night. Elsewhere is about Vera and the village and how they deal with mothers disappearing, and it explores what it means to be a mother, to be a daughter, and the mother-daughter relationship.

The writing is beautiful and enjoyable, and I definitely agreed with the overall portrayal of motherhood and how we can lose ourselves in our children. The book never makes moral judgments either way, although it was humorous to see how the villagers try to analyze each mother for her faults and shortcomings to attempt to explain why she disappeared. Certainly being judged by others is not a rare occurrence in motherhood.

This is a book I think best enjoyed with no expectations, purely for the discussion of motherhood and how mothers and daughters navigate their own relationships.

Knowing that it was outside my own norm I will rate this 4 stars. Thank you to Celadon Books and NetGalley for the electronic ARC of this novel for review.

Thank you Celadon Books and Net Galley for providing me with an ARC of this incredible novel.

I typically read several books at once, but this was the novel that I kept returning to because I was captivated by this fictional town and the book’s narrator, Vera, whom we meet as a child innocently playing dolls with her best friend, Ana, watch traversing the uncertainties of adolescence, and then observe maturing into a dentist’s wife and mother to precocious Iris.

“Elsewhere” is set in a town situated “high above the rest of the world” in the “narrow aperture between mountains.” The denizens don’t know the origins of their town, but the streets, park and river inexplicably carry German names. Seemingly bucolic, the town has its secrets. Mothers are cursed with what is known colloquially as “our affliction.” Without advance warning or predictability (except “something out of balance in the nature of her love for her children”), women simply vanish into the clouds. Their possessions are removed from the home and are offered to their peers at the Op Shop. Efforts by mothers to secret personal effects are thwarted by men who sweep their houses to remove any pictures or other items, which are then burned. Fathers move on, remarry, and have more children.

The only regular visitor to the town is Mr. Phillips, who arrives by train quarterly with supplies that the town folks had ordered and which he exchanges for the baskets that the women weave and which he sells without disclosing their origins. Strangers seldom stumbled onto the town, and when they did, tradition holds that they were “disappointments, painful lessons in what life elsewhere made people into.”

Vera recounts how a stranger, Ruth, arrived in town when Vera was a teenager working at the Rapid Ready Photo owned by her father. Vera was delighted that the local hotel, Alpina, “had a real guest, one that had traveled to reach it, not just one of our newlywed couples staying in the honeymoon suite.” The curious townspeople bestow Ruth, the stranger who takes nature pictures, with gifts; however, when Ruth questions why the women meekly accept their lot, the townspeople decide that she cannot be trusted with the town’s secret to a horrific conclusion.

As Vera struggles with her all too likely fate, a fate that plagued her own mother, Ruth’s words resonate with her as she becomes increasingly attached to her daughter and realizes she may be on the verge of disappearing. Knowing that “the affliction” is upon her, she bolts.

This stunning work of speculative fiction depicts the vulnerability of young woman. It is a psychological exploration of motherhood, about how becoming a mother both deepens and threatens a woman’s identity. It is also an examination of group identity, and allowing oneself to be subjugated to something larger. “Elsewhere” is a provocative tale, gorgeously told, that is suffused with a sense of dread and sinister overtones. Although highly original, it is reminiscent of the work of Margaret Atwood and Shirley Jackson.

I really liked this book, I wanted to keep reading and finished it quickly. It makes you think. I did know where it was headed though.

I would have liked the last chapter to be deleted and Vera to endure the same fate that she bestowed on her mother. That would have made a nice circle and wouldn't have tied everything up in a bow, but instead would have made me think about the book long after finishing and ponder about life more.

I felt like I had stepped back in time to a Brothers' Grimm Fairytale when I read this book.

Alexis Shaitkin's novel tells the story of Vera who is raised in Eschen. I preferred to imagine that it was a small, German town outside of Nuremberg. It lies near the top of a mountain where the clouds constantly weave in and out of buildings amongst people and streets. Vera works in her father's photoshop. She's made fun of by her peers. She's motherless. Indeed this malady affects everyone in their town. Women reach the age of marriage, have children and unexpectedly vanish. Girls are left to mature alone and unguided.

A strange woman enters the small village. She's from Elsewhere. It's not here. It's not Eschen. Ruth attempts to be accepted into the community. She's fascinating to the town's people with each member attempting to gain her attention. Will the town people continue to find Ruth intriguing? Will their curiosity about a stranger amongst them provoke joy or fear amongst them?

Throughout the book we see the evolution of Vera from a teenager to an older woman in her 50s. We experience her life as a woman in a society which assumed that she will perhaps disappear, vanish and abandon her future family. We experience the rituals of the mountain and question whether what we know as normal as simply being strange and wrong by others.

This book tied a bow around motherhood and everything it means to love a child so fiercely yet question the definition of "a successful, good mother". What causes us to make decisions as parents? Is it the society that we live in? Is it the other women that surround us that provide advice?

Are the things which we experience in life similar to other's perceptions of the same experience? Is one's interpretation of something of a food being "too rich" accurate or is it simply what we are acclimated to what is rich and instead it is simply "the norm".

I enjoyed each of the characters in this book and wanted to understand this fantastical mountain town. I felt Vera's pain, sadness and eventual joy. I generally am not a speculative, fiction reader but this book felt genuine in it's story. It is neither dystopian nor science fiction. It brings together the story of what it means to be a mother and the choices we make to care for the ones we love.

Many thanks to Celadon the publisher for my E-ARC on Netgalley.

Elsewhere is a beautifully written novel about a town with a mysterious phenomenon. The mothers inexplicably vanish into the clouds, but not all the mothers have this affliction. It is about a mother's love and the bond she has with her child and husband.

Alexis Schaitkin weaves a wonderful story filled with beautiful analogies and descriptions. The characters didn't always feel real, but it was because of the odd traditions of the town and I think it actually added to the book.

I recommend Elsewhere to book clubs because I think it will spark a lot of great discussions. I also recommend it to anyone that enjoys literary fiction especially mothers because I think they'll feel a different connection to the characters.

Thank you to Celadon for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was very confused by this book in the beginning. So much so that I almost set it to the side. The writing was very lyrical and poetic.

The world Alexis Schaitkin created for us was magical. While there are parts that have me confused or not completely understanding, I still found the ending thought provoking and I find myself revisiting it still. I’d love to share more around my feelings and certain “events, places, etc.” but I despise spoilers. 😵‍💫 I’m ok with the parts I don’t fully comprehend. That’s life, right?

I haven’t read the author’s previous work, Saint X, but I believe I may want to give it a go!

Thank you Celadon and Net Galley for the ARC!!