The Book of Two Ways, by Jodi Picoult, is a challenging read for several reasons. First, there are parallel timelines that overlap and diverge, and it is difficult to follow where the timelines merge. Second, a significant portion of the book focuses on the excavation of an Egyptian tomb and the meaning of death for Egyptian royalty. There is a lot of dense reading about archaeology, Egyptology, and hieroglyphics. An equally significant portion of the book centers on what it means to die in modern America…both in terms of the physical mechanics and the emotional tying of loose ends. There are also references to quantum physics. Readers have an opportunity to learn a lot…should they choose to. Third, I did not particularly like the main character. Fourth, the ending intentionally is left open. While this is in keeping with the themes of the book, I missed the closure I usually have when finishing a novel. I admit that I felt somewhat manipulated.

Yet, I relentlessly have thought about the questions raised in this book related to death, dying, living, and making choices. Respecting the fact that we live for a comparatively short time, perhaps it does make sense to ask ourselves who matters, what unfinished business can be addressed, and to make peace with the choices we have made. This is a provocative book that I would recommend, but it comes with all of the caveats discussed above.

Thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing-Ballantine, and Jodi Picoult for the opportunity to read a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

#NetGalley #TheBookofTwoWays #RandomHouse #JodiPicoult

We all have that moment when we make a decision that sets our life onto a certain path. Are there parallel universes where both choices are being lived? When Dawn survives a plane crash she begins to search for the life and love she left behind. As readers we travel both paths with her as she lives both choices and sees that unraveling the past is not as easy as one might think.

I'm a big Jodi fan but this one dragged - too much Egyptian speak. I couldn't get involved in the story.

“The Book of Two Ways” is a journey through the life of Dawn McDowell. Her husband, Brian, is a theoretical physicist who believes in parallel universes. Dawn had once planned to be a researcher studying the Ancient Egyptians and their journey into their alternate worlds. Now, she assists people who pass into other universes of their own; their deaths are her job. She is a wife, a mother, and a doula, one gives aid and comfort, not medical care, to individuals and families as they face death.

The characters are complex and compelling; the plot is filled with tales both of today and of Ancient Egypt. The story unfolds through Dawn’s first person narrative and is driven by her thoughts and conversations; she talks to others, talks to herself, and talks directly to readers. She shares her conflicts, her joys, and her tragedies. Dawn takes readers back and forth in time, through her two realities, previous and present, coexisting and intermingled, yet separate and conflicting. She looks back on her past, evaluates her present, and anticipates her future. Events have split her in half, into “Water” in Boston and “Land” in Egypt. These alternating universes, these two stories, are all part of the same, yet divided, person. She does not know how to put herself back together, how she can choose one at the expense of the other.

“The Book of Two Ways” is a compelling journey with drama and conflict. Dawn’s world implodes; she must resolve a plane crash and startling actions from the past that complicate her present. The book ends with a startling twist that may not please everyone. I was given a copy of “The Book of Two Ways” by Jodi Picoult, Random House, and Ballantine Books. The ending, well, I am starting to accept it.

I adore Jodi Picoult and her writing, but I am afraid this book was not for me. It reads like it is part Egyptian text, part fictional story. I love learning new things while I read a fictional story, but this particular book was just too much like reading a textbook.

Have you ever wondered about what your life might be like right now if you’d made different decisions or taken different paths? If so, then The Book of Two Ways is for you.

The story is primarily a romance between Dawn, her old boyfriend and her newer husband. I liked the men in this story, but I didn’t care for Dawn, the main character. Aside from her amazing work as a death doula, she acted very selfishly. I didn’t understand her decisions and I certainly didn’t agree with them. I would have liked this book so much more if I’d liked Dawn. I almost felt as though she’d wrecked two men’s lives: first her boyfriend’s and then her husband’s. Her poor daughter was just collateral damage.

On the other hand, one thing that I really liked a lot was the information on ancient Egypt and the stories of the gods and goddesses. I learned quite a bit from reading this like (which is very typical for Picoult). I also liked how the story ran across two timelines and then explained the multi-verse from a physicist’s standpoint.

As always, Picoult writes a beautiful story. Her prose is excellent, and she’s an expert in bringing out the emotions of her characters.

However, in the end, this book wasn’t for me. I think it’s because I’m such a huge fan of hers and I hold her work to higher standards. I’m not sorry I read it, but I only gave it three stars.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

Another fabulous Jodi Picoult novel. The detail, as always, was immaculate, I felt fully immersed, not only in the characters & storyline, but also in the historical aspects of Egyptian culture. Great read!

A Review In Two Ways
I've ready many of the prolific Jodi Piccoult's novels, and to me there's no one who can capture the intricacies of human interaction, especially when it comes to enduring grief and tragedy. The Book of Two Ways is unlike any of her previous books I've read, but in many ways the same - and that's why my review really goes two ways.

Let's start with the ways I loved the book. For one, she's once again a master at painting characters. The Book of Two Ways is centered around Dawn, a former aspiring archaeologist who now works as a "Death Doula". Her job as a death doula is fascinating, and once again Jodi Piccoult examines death in ways that are comforting (at least to me). At the start of the story, Dawn is on a plane that is crashing, and what she thinks about in her last minutes (what she thinks are her last minutes anyway) are not of her current husband, but past love. That's where the book splits Sliding Doors-style into what her life would be like had she stayed with her dashing, fellow archealogist love Wyatt and bounces between that world and the one with her steady, solid husband Brian.

The ways I didn't totally love the book is it gets very heavily detailed on Egyptian history and hieroglyphics = and I sort of mentally checked out during those parts. For some, I'm sure it will be fascinating, but me for me I wanted to get back to the relationships and how Dawn is going to decide which way of the two ways she'll ultimately choose.

Overall, it's a wonderfully written story with a couple plot twists but plenty of details and the rich relationships you come to expect from Jodi Piccoult.

3.75 stars rounded up. Great story but lost amongst so much Egyptian history.
Couldn't get behind the deceit either. Overall a good effort but didn't love it.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.
I've read a few Picoult books and love the way she makes you think. I never expect a happy ending like you get with romance novels, which is good, it keeps me wondering where this is going. It's an honest exploration of the different paths life can take.

The characters felt real and their struggles felt real and pulled me in. However even though I'm a very smart person and like to learn things (historical fiction is my fave genre) this book felt like a lot of work to read because it had TOO MUCH detail about Egyptology and history and quantum physics etc. I feel like the author did her research so well she felt compelled to include EVERY SINGLE THING SHE LEARNS DURING HER RESEARCH and it was way too much, she needed to pare it down. It's frustrating because I end up skimming and then I'm afraid I'll miss something important. She needs to edit her own work or needs a better editor.

In one harrowing moment, her life changed forever.

Dawn Edelstein, the main character and death doula, braced herself as the very plane she was on crashed.

While she survives, that life-changing moment caused to her to question everything and she has many choices to make, including learning who she really is.

Highly recommend for fans of intercontinental self-discovery stories.

Jody Picoult did not disappoint with her newest book. Once again she demonstrates she is a consummate researcher and storyteller. In this book, she examines the loves of our lives, how we find them and lose them, and how fate and our choices conspire to weave together our lives and loves. It also examines what it means to live and to die. All this is set against the background of an archeological dig in Egypt and life back at home in Boston.

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. Interesting read. Not my favorite Jodi Picoult novel, but it was an engaging read that I enjoyed.

This was an emotional novel! It explores family and love. And it explores life and death. Dawn’s life is full of death as she works with people who are dying through her job and she lost her own mother. When she experiences her own near death accident, she questions her life and someone she lost a long time ago.

Jodi Picoult is back with another enjoyable book, though it wasn't one of my favorites of hers. It moved a little slowly at times. And, while she's known for meticulously researching her writing topics, it sometimes comes across as her trying to prove how much she knows about a subject rather than developing a plot. Nonetheless, I really connected with the parts of this story related to questioning past decisions and exploring "what if" scenarios about what could have been. I was also interested in Picoult's examination of what it means to both live a good life and die a good death. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the above topics and/or to egypt-obsessed readers, a subject which encompasses a good part of this fictional story.

I read Jodi Picoult for two reasons. One is that I've felt poisoned by deeply noir novels filled with unlikable characters and need to read about an inspiring protagonist. That's why I read the Jodi Picoult novella Larger Than Life. See my review here. The other reason why I read Jodi Picoult is because I want to see how she handles a particular theme.

The central concept of The Book of Two Ways sounded compelling. I expected that Jodi Picoult would approach it in a way that would be dramatic, and draw me in to the lives of the characters. She is an author who writes about significant ideas in the context of fiction about people who readers can identify with. At least, that has always been my experience through my years of reading Picoult. It's why she's been a favorite. I was saving The Book of Two Ways for a time when I wanted to get away from genre fiction. So I excavated the Net Galley copy of Picoult's latest book from my Kindle's contents with anticipation.

Our protagonist Dawn McDowell Edelstein had once been on track to become an archaeologist when fate upended her life. She left archaeology behind, got married and became a death doula. I've linked to a USA Today article about what death doulas do. A pivotal event happens and Dawn feels the need to re-examine her life. The plot summary says that this event was surviving a plane crash, but actually Dawn was impelled toward the journey that re-connected her with her past by something else that happened earlier. Revealing the entire plot sequence would, of course, be a major spoiler. I would never do that in a review.

Some readers have found it difficult to sympathize with Dawn. I have not been in Dawn's life situation, and don't know for certain how I would react if I were. I have compassion for Dawn, and believe that her decisions were understandable. Yet she hurt people who didn't deserve to be hurt. Readers will need to decide whether Dawn should be forgiven.

There are two men in Dawn's life, the archaeologist Wyatt Armstrong and her husband physicist Brian Edelstein. Both men are flawed in different ways. At various points, I wondered why she would have become involved with either one of them. On the other hand, they each have their strengths. All men are imperfect human beings, and Dawn certainly isn't a paragon herself.

Dawn's daughter Meret, who we meet at age fifteen, is probably the most relatable character. In her case, adolescent angst is very much justified. She needed a dependable mother, not one who was going through a mid-life crisis. In our society, men are more easily forgiven for their mid-life crises even when they have children. Mothers are viewed as being too crucial to families. They are harshly judged as child abandoners. It's fortunate that Meret turns out to be much more mature and resilient than the typical teen. I feel that husband Brian deserves the credit for that. He was the one who imbued her with the internal resources that allowed her to navigate challenging circumstances.

As always, Jodi Picoult has written a novel that focuses on the impact of a particular predicament on a family. The Book of Two Ways may not be her best book, but it was a worthy one, if only because I learned about the experience of being a death doula. Readers who are interested in ancient Egypt may also find it worthwhile.

’Everything changes in a single moment for Dawn Edelstein. She’s on a plane when the flight attendant makes an announcement: Prepare for a crash landing. She braces herself as thoughts flash through her mind.

’The shocking thing is, the thoughts are not of her husband but of a man she last saw fifteen years ago: Wyatt Armstrong.’

THE BOOK OF TWO WAYS by Jodi Picoult – Beautiful, Heartbreaking, And So Relatable—Highly Recommend!!

Thank you, NetGalley and Ballantine Books, for loaning me an eGalley of THE BOOK OF TWO WAYS in exchange for an honest review.

* SPOILERS*
I was so intrigued by the synopsis of The Book of Two Ways and having loved Jodi Picoult's last two novels I couldn't wait to read it. I found my mind wandering quite a bit during the first half of the book, mostly when it came to the parts on Egyptology. I was very invested in Dawn's two very separate and different love stories and that is what kept me reading. About halfway through the book it started to really pick up for me and I couldn't read fast enough. I had to know what path Dawn would take! But then it just ends. There is no resolution. I have no idea who or what Dawn chose. I get that this book is about life and death and love; I enjoyed exploring those topics more deeply. But I can't help but feel disappointed by the way this book ended. Having said that, it will not deter me from picking up Jodi Picoult's next book!

I am a huge Jodi Picoult fan and have loved every book. When I found out this book was about Egypt, I thought it would be different and it was. The story, which shifts back and forth, involves a young woman named Dawn who ends up on a plane to Egypt to supposedly finish her PhD which she started years ago but because of life situations, she never finished. She also goes back to see what happened to her first love, Wyatt, a fellow PhD student whom she met and became involved with during their investigations of an Egyptian pyramid. Dawn was called back home because her mother was dying. She goes back to be with her mother, and there she meets and falls in love with Brian Edelstein whom she marries. She later becomes a Death Doula to help people who are dying and their loved ones. The story is so touchingly written, with twists and turns. There were sections involving the tombs, pyramids, and quantum physics that I just glanced over because they were so technical.

I've only read a few titles by Jodi Picoult, but this book blew me away. It was beautifully crafted and uniquely told. I really enjoyed the prominence of Egyptology within the book and felt like I learned something in addition to just enjoying a haunting story that stuck with me.