Thank you NetGalley & publisher for an ARC of this new title. The Book of Two Ways centers on Dawn, a former Egyptologist who left the field after the death of her mother. Dawn has since married, had a daughter, & embarked on a new career comforting they dying during the final days, but her thoughts often turn to Egypt & Wyatt, the man she left behind. Dawn returns to Egypt & reconnects with Wyatt, but finds herself pulled to both the excitement of her life with Wyatt in Egypt & the comfort of her marriage & motherhood. As always, Jodi Picoult exquisitely develops her characters & settings so the reader feels entranced by the narrative. However, instead of focusing on a societal or social issue & its complex intricacies as Picoult’s novels usually do, The Book of Two Ways deals with the more personal topic of how we chose love & the irrevocable consequences of our choices.

After a near death experience onboard a plane causes Dawn to rethink her life's choices, two versions of her life are laid out- one where she goes back to Boston to come to terms of what's left of her marriage and continue with her career as a death doula or one where she flies to Egypt to confront her past relationship with fellow Egyptologist Wyatt and the degree she never got to finish.
I really enjoyed the how the subject of death was handled in both versions of Dawn's life- especially with Win. I could have taken or left the romantic aspect and the big reveal at the end regarding Dawn's romantic life as I thought the idea of seeing two roads of your life and how different they would be much more interesting.

I was very disappointed by Ms. Picoult latest book. I normally love her books but just couldn’t connect with the characters. I didn’t finish the book which is very unusual for me. I received an advance ebook from the publisher and this is my unbiased review.

I'm so torn on this review. I really love Picoult's writing but I just didn't love this book. I found it way too wordy and a bit eye-roll worthy. This just wasn't the type of book for me, I guess.
Others may love it and the writing is great so I would still recommend it, just not to everyone like I usually do with her books.

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley.*

Darn you, Jodi Picoult. Way too many spots made me tear up. I had to look away several times and remind myself that none of these people are real....it’s FICTION for goodness sake! Let’s just say you better have some Kleenex handy when reading this one and not for the reasons you’d expect.

The first scene....airplane crash...death doula? You got me, I’m in. What the heck is a death doula anyway and if there is such a thing I want one!

One critique I have on this one: WAY too many Egyptian scholarly facts....trying too hard to show how much they researched. Egyptology blah blah...skim...hieroglyphics blah blah...,skim....King this and Queen that...skim. Just get me back to my main characters please.

My favorites:
Scene with Kieran-“Things have a way of working out the way they’re supposed to,”
Also:
“After fifteen years, love isn’t just a feeling,” he says. “It’s a choice.”

That ending though....come on!!!

I have read all of Jodi Picoult's books and always eagerly anticipate the next one she publishes. I admire the research she puts into all of her books and am amazed at how she is able to pack so many seemingly unrelated topics in a story and have them intersect to teach me something about myself and make me more sympathetic to others.

After the first chapter, I was a bit worried. I personally am not super interested in Egyptology and feared the book would become too technical - how would I ever remember all of those words and names? But my worries were squashed as I continued reading.

I was also a bit confused as to the overall timeline - I couldn't tell if the time in Boston and the time in Egypt were running in parallel or not. Did they both actually happen? I never did quite understand this but chalked it up to maybe that in an of itself being on purpose when thinking through some of what I read about Egyptology and Quantum Mechanics and parallel lives and such. Maybe it isn't supposed to be clear but instead left up to some interpretation.

From Egyptology and Quantum Mechanics to Death Doulas and Superstitions. Jodi Picoult morphed all of those topics together into a story that was easy to read and took you on Dawn's journey to find herself. Oh and the ending! Yeah, I can't wait to talk with folks about that ending. Well done.

Thank you NetGalley, Jodi Picoult and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Dawn has the world by the tail. She is young; she is a recognized Egyptologist; she is in love with her soul-mate; she has an unfettered and secure future. In a blink her life turns upside down. Her mother is diagnosed with terminal cancer and Dawn returns home to care for her. In that moment she turns a sharp corner and begins to live another life - not better or worse, just different--for fifteen years.

Jodi Picoult has written a complex book that immediately grabs readers. She explores the intriguing question: If given a chance, would people return to another time in their lives and make other choices? Is that possible - is that right? What are one's obligations to others compared with one's personal journey? Should one disrupt others lives for the sake of personal fulfillment? What is happiness; what is love; what is forgiveness? These questions are considered against the backdrop of Ancient Egyptian practices at the time of death juxtaposed against Dawn's current profession as a death doula.

The Book of Two Ways is filled with a variety of rich primary and secondary characters who each contributes greatly to the plot. Time is not linear in the telling of this story, and once again Jodi Picoult delivers her signature, unexpected punch at the end.

I was so excited about Jodi’s new book. I’d been looking forward to it since she posted about it. As usual, she keeps you on your toes with the time jumps which I enjoy. I would recommend this book to a friend. Personally, though, I wasn’t thrilled with the ending but I understand why the author ended it that way.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I LOVED this book. I am a huge fan of Jodi Picoult's books, and this one was no exception. The story is about Dawn, who was pulled away from her grad studies and love affair in Egypt to return home to Boston when her mother was dying. She was never able to return to Egypt and became a Death Doula, married, and had a daughter. She's haunted by the life she thought she would have but left behind.

Have you ever wondered about who you would have become if you had made different choices? I think most everyone has, and that's part of the allure of this book. We watch Dawn explore what she left behind. She gets to make another choice.

This book is heavy in a lot of ways. There's a lot of information on Egyptology, some quantum physics, and a lot about the process of dying. But it's also emotionally heavy as Dawn grapples with her family in Boston, the career and love she left behind in Egypt, the person she wanted to be vs. the person she is.

A woman gets a second chance to explore the career she left behind after a near-fatal accident. As she returns to the man and the field she loved, she begins to question everything she knows about life and death. Author Jodi Picoult returns with her trademark depth of story and character in her newest novel, The Book of Two Ways.

On a flight home to Boston, Dawn Edelstein lives through every person’s worst fear: the cabin crew instructs passengers to brace for impact. The plane is going down, and no one can stop it. Dawn, like all the others, gets into position and thinks of those nearest and dearest to her: her husband and daughter; her brother.

She also can’t stop thinking about Wyatt Armstrong. Fifteen years earlier, Dawn arrived in Egypt as a fresh-faced graduate student from Yale ready to pursue her life’s passion: researching the Book of Two Ways, an ancient text often found drawn and written in coffins. Egyptians believed the Book of Two Ways would give the dead clues to navigate obstacles in the afterlife to reach the ultimate goal of feasting with the god Osiris.

Because of conflicting information unearthed after archaeological digs and the difficulty in interpreting the text, most students don’t study the Book in such detail. Dawn can’t help herself, however. She’s drawn to Egypt and this mesmerizing piece of the country’s history and culture. Despite her best efforts against it, she’s also drawn to Wyatt.

A cocky Brit who is also royalty, Wyatt is witty, handsome, charming, and utterly infuriating. From the time Dawn joins the team first on campus and then in the Egyptian desert, Wyatt seems bent on showing her up. The two go head to head in every matter—until they can no longer resist one another and go heart to heart. Dawn’s depth of feeling for Wyatt is only bested by her love for the Book of Two Ways. That he understands on a fundamental level why she wants to master it and also shares that goal makes her believe they’re tailor-made for one another.

Then Dawn gets a call from home. Her mother is dying. Without a second thought, Dawn walks away from Egypt, the Book of Two Ways, and Wyatt. One week turns into two, then ten, then another life altogether. Dawn gets married, has a child, and becomes a death doula. She takes care of people in their last days, talking to them, comforting them, and helping their loved ones process what all of it means.

After surviving the plane crash, the airline offers Dawn a ticket to anywhere in the world. Her first impulse should be to return to Boston. Instead, she knows that if she listened to her heart, she would go back to Egypt and to Wyatt. Back to finish what she started. Back to see if the Book of Two Ways will lead her to the life she was meant to lead.

Author Jodi Picoult treats her characters with such care that readers will feel like they’re standing right next to Dawn as she agonizes over her decisions. Picoult’s intimate narrative style will draw readers right in and not let them go. Her research, as always, is second-to-none. Picoult clearly immerses herself into the subject material that forms the backbone of her books; the results beckon readers to wade right in and join her.

While research is one of Picoult’s strongest points, in this book it can get a little overwhelming at times. Dawn is working on a dig in the Egyptian desert and studying a topic not many people tackle; the topic possesses its own vocabulary and attention to detail. Dawn and Wyatt’s excitement is clear when they unearth critical artifacts, but their conversation goes deep into technical territory. Readers might resign themselves to sitting back and waiting for the scene to end so they can keep moving with Dawn on her personal journey. The professional one, at times, is a little hard to follow.

The overabundance of material is the only drawback to the book; Picoult will astound readers with the story structure and the questions she raises. Once again, she has a winner on her hands. I recommend readers Bookmark The Book of Two Ways.

Picoult is a master of researching any topic that becomes the focus of her books. This current novel is no different . Where could you find a consuming book about Egyptology that paralleled a love story about the choices we make in life? It strengthens the intellectual amplitude with deft assured writing. The flashpoint of the story starts at the beginning when Dawn, a former Egyptologist and current death doula is in a plane crash ,survives and is given a ticket to anywhere. That decision alters her entire universe. Here she connects with her former passion and partner whom she has never forgotten in her heart.Her husband back home is a quantum physicist, with a logical rational brain, whom she indeed loves. Two parallel divisions that must be answered with only one real option. Which one will she choose?. Along the way the reader is entertained with discourses on Egyptian archeology ,history, the meaning of hieroglyphics,quantum physics, death doula, the process of dying and life reviews, while intertwined with love choices. I loved looking up things on the web to root out fact from fiction but this heavy dose of information made for a very confusing disparate mixture. It felt like she had
researched three different topics and wanted to squeeze all the information into one package. I am always excited about a new Jodi Picoult book but I think this one missed the mark.

This is one of a handful of authors that I will drop everything to read. This book was different unfortunately. The characters were fine, but the history lesson were definitely a turn off with the book. This seemed so average story-line wise, like other authors been there, done that. Disappointing.

Thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free,it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult. The synopsis of this book is this: what if you could live your life over, making different choices? From the moment I read what this was about, I was hooked. It begins with Dawn, a wife, and mother aboard a plane. In the next moment, there is word from the flight attendant to prepare for a crash landing. In that moment when her life is flashing before her eyes, Dawn’s immediate thoughts go somewhere she was not expecting. Dawn was not thinking of her husband Brian, but rather of a man named Wyatt. Dawn has not seen Wyatt in almost 20 years. When the plane lands safely, the airline offers to fly the passengers wherever they want to go. This gets Dawn thinking. Does she want to go home or somewhere a little off the beaten track—to find Wyatt and the life she left behind ? This book then follows “both” lives. Read this book. This was an interesting change of pace from Picoult’s normal ethical dilemmas storylines.

Since I haven’t studied Egyptology in any manner since elementary school, the detailed information in the story was quite overwhelming. After reading this book once, I was pulled in so many directions. There was so much I liked about the book, but I didn’t have my usual Jodi Picoult over the top feeling. Usually I can’t wait to discuss the issues she writes about. Ms. Picoult is so adept at making you reconsider your opinions about the current issue she tackles. Death is a tough topic, especially right now when so many people are needlessly dying in this pandemic. After thinking about the book and my mixed feelings, I decided a reread was in order. Obviously it was a much better experience the second time around. I still felt overloaded at times with the archaeology, however, the second time I saw the connections quite clearly.

Dawn is a death doula who started out with dreams of being an Egyptologist until her mother became ill. She leaves her dreams and love behind to care for her mother in her final days. She becomes her brother’s guardian and supports him as he pursues his dreams. As usual with Ms Picoult’s books, my emotions were fully engaged. I cried, laughed, and was angry (at her husband who I felt manipulated her). I appreciated her desire to complete something she left unfinished and find out what might have been.

Savor this book. Study a bit of Egyptology and quantum mechanics before you start. Pay attention to the changing timeline. Be prepared to think about choices you’ve made and how your life would be different. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, the first 1/4 of the book reads more like a textbook than a novel. This textbook mentality continues sporadically and interfered with my enjoyment of the book. I really never cared about the characters.

Jodi Picoult's book always tend to have a fresh message and draw you in. This at times did that but then it also felt like a history book---I like to escape and not think while i'm reading so this was a bit of a let down. Not one of my favorites, but since it's a JP book, I of course wanted to read it. thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for a review.

Thanks to Netgalley, I was able to receive a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This book is VERY deep... It starts off slow and you learn so much about Egypt and how they find rare artifacts in burial sites. There were times when I literally felt like I was studying Egyptology instead of reading a Jodi Picoult book and I skipped some parts because of that... Especially in the beginning. About 60 percent into the book, I got used to it. It shouldn't have taken that long. It also took away from what could have been more development in the characters.. You also learn about the job of a death doula. I had never heard of that before so it was very intriguing to learn about. The main character, Dawn, was tough and hard to like and get to know at first but she slowly grows on you. I didn't feel connected to any of the characters because so much time was spent reading about tombs, Egypt, and figuring out what those pictures and symbols meant.. It's not one of her best books.. It falls somewhere in the middle. I like it, I just don't love it. I'll have to reread it. However, Jodi Picoult never disappoints and I will definitely be buying the physical copy of this book! Every library should have this book. Readers will learn so much and be entertained.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. You can get your copy in September here: https://www.amazon.com/Book-Two-Ways-Novel/dp/198481835X

Jodi Picoult writes heavy stuff! I can really only read her books once a year, if that. Her topics are heavy, but she is an AMAZING writer. I tend to steer more towards what I like to call Light and Fluffy, but I do tend to veer off this path occasionally. Jodi’s books are so far from Fluffy! For example, the opening line of this book is, “My Calendar is full of dead people.” This can be interpreted in soooo many ways, but then we discover the main character, Dawn is on a plane and about to experience a PLANNED EMERGENCY. The plane is crashing, and they are told to BRACE! WHAT? That is quite the ease into the book, right? We just crash right into this book. Dawn is one of thirty-six people that were on the flight that survived. Dawn knows where she needs to go after escaping death-Egypt. If you knew you were about to die what would you do? Who would you need to speak to? Apology tour, perhaps? Dawn helps people make the transition from life to death. One thing that she asks her clients is, “What is left unfinished” I think we should all live our lives with this in mind. You do not know that tomorrow will or will not come. What will you leave unfinished? Have you danced with your child, so they have a video for their wedding day? Have you told the people that you love that you love them? There are the occasion funny thing in this book, but you have to be aware to catch it- like, “THINGS YOU SHOULDN’T FLUSH: ANYTHING YELLOW, TOILET PAPER, YOUR HOPES & DREAMS. I think 2020 has that one covered!
We toggle between the past and present. Dawn is struggling with her current future and what she wants it to be. There is a shock in here that I suspected, but wasn’t quite sure about until the confrontation and confirmation. This book is heavy on technicalities which is fun in a little way, as you are actually learning something. As Dawn assists others between life and death as her Death Doula job calls for, she realizes how many regrets she could have, unless she changes. Only you stand in your way of your happiness. You have control of your situation, you just need to take it. It was slow to start, but around halfway through, it picked up. Overall, it was a good book!

Jodi Picoult did it again! I was so absorbed in this book I did not want to do anything else!

In ancient Egypt, the Books of Two Ways is a map to the afterlife that was left in coffins so that the dead could follow the map- there are two routes, a land route, and a water route. In this Book of Two Ways, Dawn is on a flight when there is an announcement for a "planned emergency" that makes Dawn take stock of her life. Does she continue on her current path, to her husband and child, or go to Egypt to find her lost loves?

We follow Dawn through both possibilities, in alternating chapters she is with her husband and daughter and in the other she goes to Egypt. The weaving of these two paths at the end is pretty masterful.

In her life in Boston, Dawn is a death doula and the themes of life and death fit really well with her passion for Egyptology. Her husband is a physicist who lectures on multiple universes, so that ties into there being two possibles paths, or an infinite amount of them happening all at once.

Picoult's newest release is a heartfelt exploration of the impact our life circumstances can have on our happiness and the power of regret. A near death experience leaves Dawn Edelstein shaken. As a death doula, she is used to death however she realizes that her last thoughts were not on her daughter and husband at home in Boston, but instead centered around a man and a career she was forced to give up long ago. Drawing inspiration from the ancient Egyptian text with the same name as her story which believes that we can lead two lives simultaneously, Picoult weaves a tale of dual storylines, one of which follows Dawn in her life as a mom and married woman as she was before, and the other explores a new life, one she could have had if only she had made a different choice. Fifteen years ago, Dawn was a young woman, working on a PHD and in love with an Egyptologist named Wyatt who she worked alongside. However fate intervened in the form of a phone call that forced her to give up on her dream and her future with Wyatt to take care of her brother and dying mother. The story evolves slowly yet masterfully, switching between perspectives and exploring the power of choice and it's impact on our happiness.
Picoult is a master storyteller and her talent shines through in her newest release. Though the story covers a truly astounding amount of complex topics, ranging from death to quantum physics, she masterfully combines the seemingly disparate topics into a single compelling tale. The careful attention to details and in depth research is evident and the prose, while descriptive, is beautifully and meticulously constructed. The Book of Two Ways is ultimately a cautionary tale on the importance of living in the moment, a theme that is relevant to current events. I highly recommend this book to those looking for a satisfying and insightful novel that will have you reflecting on your own life choices.