I was enjoying this book so much until I got to the end of the book and it disappointed. It felt unfinished.
I was hoping for so much more.

I have read a lot of Jodi Picoult's book, while this one was different than her others, I really liked it! I would call it a must read!

There are two types of book I am a sucker for. As in, I don’t care what anyone else says, I don’t care about the goodreads rating, I’m gonna read it anyways:
1) A locked room mystery
2) A story that explores a Sliding Doors moment, or rather stories that explore a moment in time that alters the trajectory of a life.
This book was a perfect example of the latter, and I loved it!

It’s been years since I read a Jodi Picoult book, and I remember now why I enjoyed reading her so much way back when. There were so many shrewd observations about life and marriage that I found myself wanting to start a quote notebook. The Book of Two Ways was such a stimulating examination of life, death, marriage and motherhood and I found myself in that reader’s conundrum that happens with a really good book: do I sink in and read without looking up until I’m done? Or do I savor each page and chapter and make it last as long as possible?

**I will say: the character in this book is an Egyptologist and there is a LOT of Egyptian history, myth and folklore woven in; it almost seems like overkill and may be distracting for some, but it isn’t the main focus of the story and could even be skimmed. If you wanted to...

Sitting down to review a new Jodi Picoult novel always catapults me into a state of awe. She’s a terrific writer who always envelops me in her story, and those stories are rich in layered textures, interwoven like brilliant tapestries. Her work is characterized by a deep, consistent trust in the discernment and judgment of her readers. She never bashes me over the head by telling me how to feel or what to think about any event, situation, or character. So here goes The Book of Two Ways According to Deborah:

The “Two Ways” in the title refers to many things: in Egyptology, a map depicting two paths a dead person may follow to find the afterlife, one by water, one by land. It also refers to “the road not taken,” the “might-have-beens” in any person’s life. How would things have been different if we had chosen one career over another, or committed ourselves to one first love instead of letting them go?

More importantly, what happens when the chosen life and the might-have-been collide in real life?

Dawn’s first and abiding passion in life was the study of Ancient Egypt, in particular a new interpretation of The Book of Two Ways painted on the insides of mummy cases. She didn’t expect to also find human love with an equally obsessed, brilliant British archaeologist, Wyatt. But when her mother was dying, she left both career and lover to return to the US and a long, excruciating hospice vigil that she survived thanks to the gentle, loyal Brian, whom she eventually marries. She finds new meaning in her work as a death doula, supporting dying clients and their families through their transitions (and echoing the Egyptian practice of guiding the dead to their destination). Dawn’s daughter Meret becomes the shining star in her life. A near-fatal airplane crash fractures Dawn’s neatly assembled world and sends her back to Egypt, and Wyatt.

So much for the plot. First of all, the book itself isn’t linear in chronology, and a good part of it is layered, spiraling back to themes and situations previously touched on, each revisitation offering new insights.

Secondly, Egypt! Tombs! Mummies! Mysteries! Unearthing objects not seen in millennia! Just about every kid I knew was fascinated by Ancient Egypt at one time or another, me included, and Picoult presents the scholarly material and methods in her typical blend of passion and accessibility.

Thirdly, what does it all mean? Can we ever truly pick up the pieces of the lives we might have lived? How do we know if we want now what we wanted then, or have we ourselves changed so there is no going back?

Is it possible to love two people, each in different ways? How does any of us choose between love and the demands of an all-consuming vocation?

In the end, Picoult presents us with an ending that reflects as much what we as individual readers have experienced or longed for, as the text of the previous story.

As usual, highly recommended.

At first I had a difficult time connecting to this story. In part due to all the terminology related to Egypt and the afterlife. I’m not one to start a book and not finish even if my interest lags a bit. As I began connecting to the characters my intrigue grew. Jodi did a fantastic job of developing the relationships between Brian, Meret, Wyatt, Win and Dawn. The deep complexity of the love was heartfelt on many levels. A slow moving rollercoaster that picks up speed slowly until your moving so fast you can’t keep up. Stick with it in the end you will be glad you did. #Netgalley#BookOfTwoWays.

You might recall that not long ago I finally read my first Jodi Picoult book. Two things had put me off before that: the snobbish idea that good books cannot be written as fast as Picoult writes books and the idea that her books seem to always be about the latest "big" controversy. I still don't know that you could write the great American novel in a year but Picoult proved to me that you can write a book that will engross and entertain readers that quickly. And that if you can write well about whatever the latest big topic is, then it's good to write about those things in a way that will make people think about them. So we come to this book, which I was eager to read when it was offered to me. It is most decidedly not about the latest talking point. In fact, it is about two of the oldest subjects: love and death.

Having not long ago read God, Graves, and Scholars, it was interesting for me to find myself back in Egypt, uncovering the mysteries of ancient burials. According to Wikipedia, "The Book of Two Ways is a precursor to the New Kingdom books of the underworld as well as the Book of the Dead, in which descriptions of the routes through the afterlife are a persistent theme. The two ways depicted are the land and water routes, separated by a lake of fire, that lead to Rostau and the abode of Osiris." Taking that as her starting point, Picoult has tied ancient superstitions with physic's theory of a multiverse. As explained by Brian, in the book, the idea is that every action has multiple outcomes and that each of them exists in a different universe.

Picoult has structured her book so that I was never quite sure where in time I was or if I were reading two possible different outcomes which, instead of finding confusing, I found really intriguing. In her current life, Water/Boston, Dawn is a death doula, wife, and mother; in her past, Land/Egypt, she is a graduate student on the cusp of a major archaeological discovery and passionately in love with a fellow student. In both locations, Picoult spends a lot of time sharing with readers what she has learned about hospice work, quantum physics, and Egyptology. A lot. It was certainly interesting, and Picoult has done an incredible amount of research, but it often distracted from Dawn's story.

Speaking of Dawn's story: you know the old trope where our two leads hate each other in the beginning and then end up falling in love? Yeah, that's Dawn and Wyatt. Unfortunately, that story's grown old for me and I have a hard time buying the idea that the guy that was a jerk in the beginning turns out to be Mr. Wonderful. Which is a problem here - we have to believe that Wyatt was so incredible that Dawn never fell out of love with him and I never entirely bought that.

And yet...despite that fact that I felt like Picoult took a couple of story lines too far and that some of the plotting was predictable...I liked this book, to a large extent, I think, because I liked the structure and the idea of wondering what might have happened if. I appreciated that Picoult doesn't make either of the men in Dawn's life less than the other; both have their flaws but plenty of reasons for Dawn to be love them. Which makes the ending of the book unknown to readers and I really liked the way that Picoult left things open in the end. For fans of Picoult, I think you'll enjoy this one.

I do not feel right giving my favorite author anything less than three stars. Her writing is beautiful, her imagination legendary.

But, this book did me dirty. I will not say why, spoilers aren’t my jam.

I stayed up way past my bedtime to finish and would throw this book across the room if it wouldn’t potentially wake up my daughter.

Now that I am done being dramatic, I’ll forget I read this one and anxiously await the next.

Thank you for the opportunity to read Jodi's work, she is an auto-buy author for me and I can't wait to see what she thinks up next.

As usual Jodi Picoult pulled my emotional strings.
The archaeological details were a bit heavy at times but I could visualize the setting .

This title character in this book is a death doula. You would not imagine this would be an uplifting book but Jodi Picoult brings depth to her heroine. She is compassionate and loving despite having endured heartbreak at the time of her mother's death. The novel moves between different time periods , locations (Boston and Egypt) and involves a plane crash. It is all subtly woven together.

Jodi Picoult is one of those authors who for me is either amazing or eh. This book for me is sadly in the eh category and usually she is in the amazing for me. The BIGGEST reason is it feels like it needs a good quarter of the book needed to be edited out. I LOVE long books that keep me enthralled. This was 416 pages that should have been maybe 325. Dawn Edelstein is one of the survivors of a horrific plane crash. She realizes she has what ifs and maybes still looming over her head. She walked away from being an archaeologist to a death doula. The whys are a big part of the story so will not say too much. She wonders what would have happened had she not walked away and decides to figure out. Or does she? It is called 'The Book of Two Ways' for a reason and the chapters bounce from one road taken after the crash and another road taken. Too much of the book feels textbook/lectures on Egypt and not enough character movement/development...and then rushed development. Some heavy editing would have easily made this book a great exploration of how the choices we make ripple across so many others' lives with some fascinating facts on Egypt and the Book of Two Ways. Instead it is heavy handed facts and trying to remember to connect with the characters. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

I have loved everything that I have ever read by Jodi Picoult, but this one was hard to get through. It felt more like I was taking class on the history of Egypt which made me quickly lose interest. I will still continue to read other work by this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and Jodi Picoult for my copy of The Book of Two Ways for an honest review. This book had me a bit crazy.. I loved the love story, the heart break, the hardships and the characters.. Yet I wasn’t a fan of all the Egyptology parts. Dawn Edelstein, has a very complicated life. She has the world at her fingertips, tragedy strikes and she is left to make a new life. I love how Jodi Picoult tells a story and this story is no different. I just felt like it was too much. The dynamic of Dawn’s family is written very well. There is adventure, motherhood and romance, it has something for everyone. Even though I felt it was a little long and filled with a bit to much Egyptology, Jodi had me hooked and wanting to follow a long. Such a wonderful story teller, I knew it would be worth the wait to see how it unfolded.

Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors. Her books make me think, and she always humanizes different sides of an issue or topic.
This book felt different. The story was good, but it became burdensome at times with all of the information about Egyptology. I was thinking more of how it all worked than I was the characters of the story. Once I began skimming over those details, I enjoyed the book much more.
The characters are well-developed, but like many other Picoult books, I didn't always like them. The concept of choices and the two ways was interesting.

Overall, it's a good read. Not a quick read, but a sit-down-and-think read.

Thanks to netgalley for providing me a copy of this book. My thoughts are my own.

I have read almost everything she has written, and this was not a disappointment. Great thoughts about living and dying.

Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors. Some of her books have been some of my all-time favorites. I finished this book about a month ago and I’ve sat on this review because I’m not quite sure what I think. I had just finished another book that had referenced the multi-verse so I thought that it was interesting when it was brought up in this book as well. I thought the concept of how every different choice impacts our lives however big or small. Also to think that there could possibly be another multi-verse where your life is going on simultaneously but different is intriguing. I also found the idea of a death Doula to be so compassionate and thoughtful. Dawn is on an airplane headed home when it crashes. She is grateful to have survive the crash but when they ask her where she needs to get to she hesitates. Why does Wyatt a man she was involved with years ago come to mind rather than her loving husband at home? What choices will Dawn make and what impact will that have on her life?

Dawn is a complicated character and as the book progressed I began to like her less and less. The overall story focused way too much on Egyptology for my liking. I could tell that Jodi Picoult did a lot of research, but quite frankly I don’t have much interest in ancient Egyptian culture. Perhaps if it had been woven into the story a bit more rather than presented like a textbook I would have appreciated it more? I really don’t now and I really wanted to like this more. I would love to read a book about a character who is a death Doula in a future book without all the Egypt stuff.

*** Big thank you to Random House for my gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ***

As I read this book, I felt like I was reading a textbook from a class I needed to take but really did not want to. So much Egyptology, math, and such that I could almost feel my brain hurt. This was not like any of her other books. I really think she tried to put too much into it. The research was evident, but the translation into a solid storyline failed miserably. After surviving an airplane crash, Dawn Edelstein returns to Egypt rather than to Boston where her husband and daughter await her, to seek out an archeological site where she knows her old friend Wyatt is, to try to reconnect with a story she left years ago. She goes there and must then confront the question of what she should do from here on. How would things be different if she had stayed on rather than leave, and what would her life have been, compared to what it is now in Boston with her husband and daughter.

This was a very difficult book to get through. As I said, it was like reading a textbook rather than an easy-going novel. The author did an enormous amount of research, but, in my opinion, probably should not have spent so much time going on and on about ancient Egypt and its culture, what it all means and such. A simple story about a woman faced with the dilemma of where to go and what might have been would have been better. It certainly did not help the book. If you are into reading lots of classroom-like or textbook-like stuff, this book will probably appeal to you. There is a good story there. It is just difficult to get to it with all the other stuff in the book. I received this to read and review from NetGalley

Im sorry but I seriously couldn’t like this book. It was a text book and an extremely sad story about death. She literally describes death. And right now we just don’t need that.

Jodi Picoult is one of my all-time favorite authors. That being said, I struggled with The Book of Two Ways. It was missing the emotional connection I typically feel to Picoult's characters. The undercurrent of passion I would have expected, given the life-altering circumstances, just did not come through. It was a solid read. I learned a few things about Egyptology and quantum mechanics, but it was not as engaging as I had hoped. As always, I look forward to reading Jodi's next novel!

I love Jodi Picoult’s writing style and really looked forward to reading this book. It’s a good thing I like her style, or I probably wouldn’t have made it past the first chapter. The level of detail in Egyptology about made me want to put the book down. The book has a significant amount of detail on Ancient Egypt, gods, and physics. If it had less, I probably would have given it five stars. The title comes from details in Ancient Egypt coffins and, brought to current times, references the two paths of the protagonist’s love life.

The story begins with the survival of a plane crash. Thereafter, it weaves between current day and fifteen years ago. Wyatt is a fellow Egyptologist from Dawn McDowell Edelstein’s past. Dawn and her husband, Brian, a physicist, have a daughter, Meret. The character development was quite good and I found myself rooting for each character.

The book provides much insight into the process of dying and a death doula. I learned a lot about the process of dying and, surprisingly, enjoyed this aspect. With death prominent throughout the book, it was still somehow a positive book and thought provoking. For example, “All of us will die sooner or later. No one can prevent death; it’s the outcome of birth. It’s inevitable.” While there was much about death and dying, the book was also about life and living. The Author’s Note sums it up nicely: “…I needed to write about—the construct of time, and love, and life, and death.”

I recommend this book but wish I’d skimmed much of the technical detailed areas. The jury is out on the ending…

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Ballantine Books of Random House, for an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult reads more like a textbook than a work of fiction. It was obvious that Ms. Picoult did a ton of research on Egypt for this book, which is appreciated, but it was not used so much to enrich the story but rather to teach. And, while I did enjoy parts of the story, I was super perplexed during others. It took quite a while to get through this book because I had to look things up a lot to understand what was being discussed. For the most part, I read for enjoyment and this book took quite a bit more brainpower than one for entertainment. I am aware there are plenty of people that read to be challenged and to learn at a high level, this just is not why I choose a book that I think is going to be more story-based non-fiction.