ELSEWHERE wasn't the book I thought I would be getting. It was better. Schaitkin wove together a story that questions what motherhood is but more importantly who a woman is in society. This story delves into identity in a way that is compelling and unique. Schaitkin truly gifted her readers with this one.

Thank you for this ALC. I tried to get into this book. However, I was not able to. I will not review this on my bookstagram account since I did DNF.

A place where girls know that their mothers may not be here tomorrow and women know that there is no guarantee for tomorrow. Once a woman becomes a mother there is a chance that they may just disappear.

The story centers around Vera who at the beginning of the book is a young girl and eventually she will fall in love and become a mother, but the best thing about this book is it doesn't end when she disappears, the reader gets to see what happens after she disappears and for me that was the moral of the story.

While I am not a mother, I may not have picked up on all the things, but for me the big theme of women disappearing as motherhood becomes their identity was really something to read. And then for these women to wind up in a different atmosphere and try to find themselves again really made me think about the roles women take throughout the years of their lives and how some of those phases a woman can really lose her identity.

With maybe hints of dystopia I liked this book. I had access through netgalley to the ebook and audiobook and I enjoyed having both forms to read and I would completely suggest either form as they were both enjoyable.

The narrator seemed like just the right voice to be Vera, so I almost preferred listening to this one over reading

I loved the premise of this book - it drew me right in. Along with the cover, I had high hopes. Very creative ideas - just way too long and not very engaging. The long chapters definitely did not work for me, along with the long stream of conscious narration.

This book is odd, but I liked it. I really didn’t know what to except after reading the synopsis, but again, it was weird. A good weird. It was sort felt as if this was the next step for THE GRACE YEAR, not realizing this story was dystopia. It’s not really a genre I gravitate towards, but I may need to venture out more often with how deep the themes of this story is. The more I think about it, the more I really liked it.

I wasn’t really a fan of the story being broken up into five parts. Essentially having five chapters made it kind of a drag. But the last two parts really brought the story back around, making it a neatly tied story. You wouldn’t guess that about halfway through, though.

Ultimately, this book makes you think about what love is. What someone considers to be their home, and how ageism and sexism affects women as they age and move throughout phases of their lives. I found myself really contemplating different situations of the book, really understanding how it mirrors so many women I know today.

It’s slow, but captivating with an interesting dissection of motherhood. Ultimately, it asks the question of, “what would you do for your child?” I recommend it, but remember, it was a weird journey to get me to this point.

Content warnings: sexual assault, grief, abandonment, death, bullying, child abuse

Big thank you to Celadon for the gifted copy!

ELSEWHERE is a female dystopian novel that conjures a community in which girls become wives, wives become mothers, and some of them, quite simply, disappear.

While I used to read mostly dystopian novels, it had been awhile since I jumped back in with this genre. I was excited to see where things were headed, and it definitely gave me Handmaids Tale vibes.

I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated by Ell Potter, who I thought it was a good choice for narrator.

*many thanks to Celadon and Macmillan Audio for the gifted copy for review

Very different than what I normally read. Dystopian is not my normal genre. However, I did enjoy the audiobook and it was easy to follow along. Highly recommend the audio.

I finished this novel and audiobook at the end of June into the start of July. I loved it. Like, give this all of the stars and then some, loved it. If I could do reviews with one liners and leave it at that, I would.

Isolated town, weird ritualistic aspects, a plot that makes you question where everything is going and disappearing mothers. I will warn you that this is one of those books where perspective brings out the uniqueness. It should be enjoyed slowly. There is grief, beauty, loss and the struggle of motherhood that I felt was represented with disheartening beauty.

The audiobook is read by Ell Potter. I feel like a repetitive parrot but I loved it! I adored the cadence, the tone, the character monologues... Everything. This is one of my favorite books of the year.

Mentioned as speculative fiction but also has a dystopian and science fiction hybrid vibe of sorts. It fits amongst The Water Cure, The Handmaids Tale, The Giver and even Delirium in respect to the feel of the novel. I don't believe its one that everyone will understand but I'm here to recommend it until I'm blue in the face. I freaking loved it!!!

I am so thankful to @macmillan.audio for the gifted copy. All thoughts are my own.

This was quite the story. The writing was haunting and I loved the plot twist at the end of the book. It really brought the story full circle and I appreciated that.

There is here and there is ELSEWHERE. Nowhere else matters.

This is my first Alexis Schaitkin book so at first I had trouble teasing out her level of depth. This one is layered and has a duality to it. One word can mean two things. And this book can be read two ways.

In the first way it is similar to folklore.

There is an affliction that plagues a village. And as we discover more about the affliction and the village and it’s inhabitants it creates an anxiety and a wariness for anything that is different or unknown and comes within its barriers.

The affliction is ever present, and assuredly coming, yet there is still hope.

For some.

This book is in part about missing mothers and what that absence might feel like if you were amongst many missing their mothers.

What are the in total effects of motherless mothers?

In another way, if I dive deeper, this book can be dissected and can mean a lot more. Which makes for a great reading experience.

There are a few themes going on on here. One that resonated with me was the discussion of things existing in two planes-simultaneously. And of people or situations, settings even, being both good and bad in the same breath. Everything being a shade of gray.

I think this would make an excellent buddy read or book club pick. Everyone will get something different and there will be plenty to talk about.

ELSEWHERE…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio and Celadon Books for every single one of my copies!

When I listen to an audio of a book I end up very much enjoying, I wonder if had I read it instead of listening, would I have liked it as much. Hard to know the answer to that, but I do believe that in whichever format, I would have recognized how brilliant and beautiful was the prose. Excellent writing here and it definitely brought an added bonus to this strange story.

Mothers and daughters, loving too much, or maybe not enough. They search for meaning after each disappearance. They accept it though as the price to pay in this place that they see as beautiful and perfect. But is it? One woman will take matters in her own hands and will bring both some clarity and a differing view of Elsewhere. Though I finished the book with some questions, some were answered and I was okay with leaving the others as a mystery. This book is original, strange and yes, mysterious. It fit my mood perfectly and loved every minute.

The narration was amazing.

Vera has always lived in her tight-knit community, which is separated from “elsewhere” by mountains and thick clouds. The women of this town suffer from a strange affliction; occasionally one of the mothers will simply “go,” disappearing into the night. As a teenager, Vera works with her father at Rapid Ready Photo, where she catches a glimpse of elsewhere in a stranger’s roll of film. Vera keeps this photo hidden away, like a secret escape hatch, should the affliction ever threaten to tear Vera away from her family. Alexis Schaitkin’s sophomore novel is the rare read that’s both gripping and more perplexing with each passing page. The audiobook narrator's British accent lends a universal quality to the story; it could almost take place anywhere, in any time period. And that cover (it means even more as you read)!

Thank you to Netgalley for the audio version of this book. I found this book very different from what I would normally read. It was so fascinating different I had a hard time putting it down. However because of the repetition of the plot I was able to figure out what was happening about three quarters into the book. Even with that being said this is a very interestion book with a strange dystopia. I again enjoyed it..

This is not an easy read; it requires thought, speculation, and introspection. I loved the topics addressed - mother - martyrs, giving themselves up for families no matter the cost; mothers being judged by others - especially other mothers, things they would do for their children; community and isolation - can you be part of the group if you want to do things differently - the classic mommy wars.

Vera, the main character grew up in a secluded seemingly cultish mountain town with Elsewhere - all other places- being thought of as superfluous and most likely inferior, but her town has an affliction - mothers (some - seemingly randomly) disappear, never to return - Vera‘s mother did. No one ever knows when or whom will vanish - but when they do, the other mothers sweep in to gather and burn any remaining photos, clothing or proof of their existence - such a powerful picture. When hVera is a mother herself, she starts to anxiously ponder whether she will disappear as well !
This was well written, beautiful and elegant and kept me turning the pages but when it ended it was a little to abrupt for me - I was waiting for a little more from the spiritual/cultish side of the community or just an additional layer of reasoning … maybe it is the speculative fiction part that was to speculative for me but I was still hoping for a bit more …

I love a different kind of book. I like dystopian. I finished this book and only because we were listening to it on audio during a TA ride. My husband listened too. Neither of us could connect to the story or characters. The stranger was predictable as to who it was and where the story would eventually move. It is very descriptive in scenery and emotion but at times overly detailed where it doesn’t add to the story, specifically in some of the later sex moments. I don’t have a problem with sex details but I felt many didn’t add any value to the emotion or plot. This book is a tough sell and is for a very narrow audience. It is not something I would recommend to many friends or family.

This book was completely bizarre. I don’t read a lot of dystopian fiction, but I do occasionally pick one up, so when Celadon sent me a copy to review and I received the audiobook from Netgalley, I decided to give it a shot. Vera is born in a small, isolated community where to be a mother is to risk the affliction. In this town, mothers disappear along with the memory of them, and no one knows what causes the affliction to take root.

Vera, feeling herself start to disappear, flees the town to Elsewhere, the world beyond their isolated existence. The transition into her new life is incredibly difficult, but she gradually finds a path forward in this strange elsewhere. After a few years, she finds herself drawn back to the town, hoping that she can reconnect with the daughter and husband she left behind. She doesn’t expect to be a stranger in the town that raised her.

The first half of the book was interesting. I was invested in the town and the society Alexis Schaitkin had created. But after Vera leaves the settlement, the tone of story shifts and its much bleaker than before, Elsewhere isn’t a utopia in contrast to the settlement; it’s just as difficult but in a grittier, more realistic way. The ending lacked hope, and I felt the resolution, which complete, was unsatisfactory. That being said, I couldn’t think of any better way to end it, so can I really complain?

If I were rating on the first half alone, four stars easy. After finishing, though, I think it’s a solid 2.5, but I’ll round up to three.

Thank you to the publisher for my advance review copy.

This was kind of amazing, unique. I'll be thinking about it for a long time. It would be great for book groups. Recommended.


Review copy provided by publisher.

That end! Sometimes you are reading a book and somewhere you get lost and want to stop. I liked the beginning. Establishing the town and the stranger. And then the middle parts of Vera coming of age had me intrigued. I don’t want to give away anything but more in the late middle I stopped caring about Vera and didn’t empathize with her, but I'm so glad I continued reading. It was the end that did it for me. The concept of our eternal search is what makes this novel amazing. Brilliant prose.

This book is being compared frequently to works by Shirley Jackson and Margaret Atwood, but I actually don’t agree at all. It has far more in common with the alienated and at times communal narrators of books like The Virgin Suicides and Never Let Me Go. It’s a really mysterious and hypnotic read that pulls you along at a stately pace that never really alters. The effect is a bit tidal, which makes sense considering where the story goes in the end. It’s set in a kind of not-England and adheres I think in part to the magical realist tradition of being very place-specific, but somehow obscured.

The reveal at the end isn’t much of a surprise as the scope of the novel is so narrow that it precludes many other alternatives. I’m not the kind of reader that needs every little thing explained, but there were some stones left unturned that it may have been a mistake to leave unexplored. I had to re-listen to the last two parts to be sure I didn’t miss something key.

I do love a story where the seashore plays a big part and I really enjoyed those elements the most, although the quiet mystery and horror of the the earlier parts of the story was also really compelling. I had been to an Amish market earlier in the week I started reading this book and that added a kind of immediacy, particularly to the question of who was responsible for how the narrator’s life has turned out.

I’m still not entirely sure what to make of it, but I liked the quiet feeling it gave me as I read and I think it’s definitely one I would recommend to people who like books with an alienating quality that push you to look with new eyes at ordinary things.

Thank you to NetGalley for the audiobook ARC!

The writing was exquisite and the tale was haunting. The narrator did a wonderful job conveying the loss and yearning. This is a book that will stick with me for a long time. I love how the story came full circle.