This book had a lot of information in the story. The author did a great job imparting some highly intelligent subject matter while keeping you intwinned in the drama of the main character. I feel smarter for having read this book.

This is a book about the choices we make and whether it's possible to revisit an early decision and take a different path to the life we could have lived. Dawn is a happily married death doula with a teenage daughter living in Boston, but when she was 24 she was an Egyptologist, a PhD candidate on a dig. Also part of that group was Wyatt, a fellow student and Dawn's soulmate, the love of her life. A family crisis forces Dawn to leave Egypt suddenly, and her life veers onto a completely different path. 15 years later she's given the opportunity to return to her original passions but is it too late?

The book has a complex plot and it's further complicated by all of the information Picoult throws at the reader. At times the book almost becomes a textbook about hieroglyphics and how to interpret and translate them with detailed explanations that do nothing to aid character development or advance the plot. For the majority of readers who do not share Picoult's passion for egyptology these digressions are boring and confusing. If that weren't enough, Dawn's husband is a physicist and the reader is also treated to discussions of quantum physics complete with equations to solve, and Dawn's profession leads to detailed clinical descriptions of the human body at the end of life.

The threads of the plot braid together in the last third of the book, but the story is lost within the science and I found the ambiguous ending very frustrating.

Not my favorite Jodi Picoult. My biggest issues with the book are also huge spoilers, so sorry for the vagueness but I don’t want to spoil it for others who will enjoy it!

I did get invested in the characters as I usually do, however, I didn’t like some of the decisions Dawn made (especially as it neared the end); one plot thread in particular was completely left hanging and I didn’t understand at all why Dawn didn’t see it through. And the end itself was very open ended and anticlimactic and left the reader wondering how exactly it was going to work out. But honestly my biggest issue was the alternating chapters that had you believing one format for like the whole book and then boom - reveal - not the format you thought it was. Ugh. I wish she’d committed to what she alluded to, as I think it could’ve come out really cool.

Not my favorite book from Jodi. I had to read almost half the book before I couldn't put it down. Even then still not my favorite book from Jodi.

I was so excited to get an ARC of this book because Jodi Picoult is one of my all-time favorite authors. However, this book was pretty disappointing. I felt like I was reading an Egyptian history textbook and not a novel for enjoyment. There were so many words and phrases that I had to google like Djehutyhotep and epigraphy. If you put all of the ancient Egyptian history aside, the overall story was pretty good but unfortunately it was overpowered by all of the history. I think some of the history was definitely needed to give the story some background; but it was definitely overkill. If you are a big fan of Egyptian history, this book may be better suited for you.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was a unique premise and an incredibly intelligent way of telling the story which is classic Jodi Picoult. However, I did feel like I was in an interesting position of continually turning pages because I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen for two-thirds of the book until I finally realize that there wasn't much of anything happening. It felt like a story always on the verge of tipping into something incredible, but never quite gave you the payoff. I enjoyed the book and would still recommend, but I think it fell short of what it could have been.

Here's another winner from Jodi Picoult, who has the ability to examine a topic from all possible sides. The Book of Two Ways is not to be missed.

This was not your typical Jodi Picoult book. It is clear that Picoult spent countless hours researching as she has done for every novel but sadly this one failed to draw me in and I found myself thinking that I had signed up to take a class on Egypt. I missed Picoult's storyline that she had become known for. I was unable to finish this book.

Wyatt: "I wrapped myself around him, the source of the flame, and set myself on fire."

Brian: "That giddy feeling of falling, I realized, was rivaled by the discovery of a soft place to land."

Dawn Edelstein is a death doula. There's nothing she won't do for a client. Being present for the deaths of so many, she figures she has a good grasp of what constitutes a life well lived. But Dawn is heading towards a crossroads, and this book explores the ripples and waves of her choices in two possibilities.
I am a devout Jodi Picoult fan. She creates real characters and family dynamics better than anyone. In this book, I especially enjoyed learning all about Egypt and ancient customs when we explore things with Wyatt, and quantam mechanics and complicated physics when we are in Boston with Brian. The quotes I included above are taken from Dawn, sharing her intimacy with both men, and I believe they clearly indicate the differences between the two. This book is about a reckoning for Dawn, and although we get to see two possible paths for her life, the ending feels inevitable. The Book of Two Ways is tender and deep, honest and beautiful. Another winner for Jodi Picoult.
4 stars

I received a review copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Thank you to Ballantine Books and Netgalley.

Take a deep dive into Egyptology with this engaging story. In typical Picoult fashion two ways means more than just two ways, and our anti-heroine (lets face it she cannot seem to figure out which way she wants to follow) finds several ways to deal with death. On the one hand she studies tombs which provide paths to life and death, and on the other hand she is a death doula who ushers the dying into a peaceful beyond. The book is a wonderful, real-life romantic romp with a dash of mother/daughter dynamics and a trail down to soul searching. Of course Jodi's fans will devour it and she will gain many more fans out of first time readers.

Ms Picoult has the ability to kidnap you from daily lives and take you into a story. I enjoyed this book very much and can’t wait to share with my customers .

There have only been a handful of books that I've read that have moved me as much as this one.

I admittedly have never read a Jodi Picoult book. I have always wanted to, so I am so glad I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. I will definitely be checking out her other books after this one.

The book starts with Dawn Edlestein on a plane ride when the plane crashes. This brush with death makes her re-think her life and the man she left behind 15 years earlier when she was in graduate school to become an Egyptologist. In 2003, Dawn McDowell, fell madly in love with Wyatt Armstrong as they were in graduate school in Egypt.

Dawn finds out her mother is dying, so she rushes back home to Boston and life takes her on a completely different path. She meets Brian in the hospital as one of his family members is too dying, and life throws another curve ball when she becomes pregnant with their daughter Meret. She has to stay and raise her younger brother Kieren so she gives up her graduate studies in Egypt and Wyatt, to lead her life with Brian and their daughter.

Due to Dawns experience with her mother's passing, she becomes what is called a death doula. I never knew this was a career, but after reading this book I think this one of the hardest professions one could take on.

You get to experience Dawn's work as a death doula, by her relationship with Win. Win is dying of cancer, and she and her husband Felix hire Dawn to help the both of them through the end of her life. Dawn and Win develop a deep friendship, and they both teach each other a lot in just a short amount of time.
"Oh Win. There's really no such thing as a right or wrong choice. We don't make decisions, our decisions make us."

This book tells two stories, one where Dawn goes back home to Brian and her daughter, and her life as a death doula, and then another where she travels to Egypt to find one what could have been with her career in Egyptology and her relationship with Wyatt.

I loved that this book took on the flow of The Book of Two ways' two paths through the afterlife, Land and Water. Land was Dawn's life with Brian and Water was her time in Egypt with Wyatt.

The whole book I am wondering which path will Dawn choose??

I love the little twist at the end, and how the book ends. To me, it was perfect.

"I mean, who gets such an embarrassment of riches? One love that sends you into orbit...and then another that guides you home?"

The Book of Two Ways is described as a “what if she’d chosen this path instead of that one in her life”, and I absolutely adore that trope. Technically, this book does deliver on that description. Unfortunately, interspersed with that enticing storyline is a mountain of scientific/historical context that really detracted from the flow. Sure, some of that was necessary to lend a feeling of realism and understanding, but there was WAY more than necessary. I ended up skimming numerous sections to make it through.

Thanks go to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Great, as always. I have a fascination with Egyptology, so that may have made me love this book even more. Highly recommended.

Categorically speaking, this novel would fall under the Sliding Doors trope.

It "slid" in setting. In choices. In tension. In so many other things I've always found to be literarily enticing.

On top of that, as a reader, it also plunged me into the emotional depths of "what if" like few other books of this genre have done before. It took me to a place where my heart could get caught between two slats and be squashed or squeezed until it swelled, until it bruised. Until it shattered into various irreconcilable pieces that hurt almost as much as they healed--always in ways I never would've foreseen.

I liked how I felt compelled to exhume the turmoil and suppressed yearning those two little words - what if, what if - could render whenever they're thought together, spoken together, felt together. Or in the case of Dawn specifically...lived together.

The Book of Two Ways juggled a lot of balls, I won't lie.

I imagine some people will be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of Egyptian terminology and quantum physics talk, for instance. Perhaps even put off by it. For my own part, however, I wasn't. Even though there were spots where the specificity could've been tampered down some - trimmed, rather - I thought it worked. I was riveted, tantalized. It made me feel like I was part of the archaeology of it all: the spark, the science, the burning passion that could lead to self-discovery.

The layered minutiae only enhanced the tapestry of the plot and its characters for me. I really the enjoyed the wealth of feeling it opened up in me and I'd definitely recommend it.

Put it this way: Jodi Picoult would be on my "must read" list if she hadn't already been before.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House, and Ballantine Books for the ARC!

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy of this book.
I love Jodi Picoult and have read every book she has written. I was very excited to read her new book, The Book of Two Ways. Unfortunately I found this book difficult to read. The concept was interesting. A woman taking an opportunity to see if she made the right decision to leave the man she loved in Egypt for the man she is married to. I like the. usual dilemmas that the authors set her main characters into. However, this book read too much like a text book on Egyptology. I found myself skimming sections when the subject became too detailed and labored.

I am a fan of Jodi Picoult but I think this is one that I may have to listen to during the drives to work rather than read. I simply could not get into it and found myself rereading quite often. I think if you are a history or technical reader you may find this book very interesting. However, I cannot give it a fair rating because I could not finish it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for sharing this ARC in return for an unbiased review.

Having read most of Jodi Picoult's books, I found this one a bit different. Generally she explores social issues, which I find fascinating as they aren't generally black and white. But this one was more of a personal issue, dealing with a marriage betrayal and views on death, served with dose of Egyptology, which is not of a personal interest, but was still fascinating, although a bit too technical for my tastes. The exploration of who we might have been if circumstances had been different is one of my favorite subjects, and this one did not disappoint, as the characters were allowed to experience second chances, and the effect that has on the ones they love. The additional theme of death, and how it's approach affects the dying and the ones they are leaving behind, was tough, but very thoughtful. Highly recommend. .

Jodi Picoult's latest novel offers a glipse of how life might have turned out if different choices had been made.
Dawn Edelstein is on a plane that is free falling. Instead of her life flashing before her eyes, she finds her thoughts landing on what might have been. An intriguing novel about being human, the consequences of our choices, and what matters most when we cling between life and death. Well written and emotionally stirring. Thank you to NetGalley for making this available to me to review.

I really liked the premise of this book and I really wanted to love it because I enjoy Jodi Picoult’s books, but it was not my favorite book she has written. There was a lot of the book where I felt like I was getting a history lesson on Egypt and while it was informative, it was not what I thought the book was going to be about. There was not as much about the characters as I would have liked, that part of the book was interesting to me as I found the parallel worlds fascinating. I liked the relationships Dawn had with her husband Brian and with Wyatt but when she was with Wyatt, I started to dread those chapters because I knew it would be another long section about Egypt again. For those that really enjoy history and in depth lessons about Egypt, you will really enjoy this book. Picoult’s writing is captivating as usual and you feel as if you are right there with Dawn as she is in Boston or Egypt. Overall, I would give this book 3 stars. Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book.