The Book of Two Ways, Jodi Picoult 4/5

Dawn is a death doula, she spends her days preparing people for their own deaths and making their final transitions peaceful. However when a plane she is on plummets, she is forced to face her own reality, not of the perfect life she has now, but of the one she abandoned 15 years ago when she walked away from a career in Egyptology and a man she loved. Against the odds Dawn survives and offered a ticket to wherever she needs to go Dawn is faced with a decision... 2 futures. 1 choice.

Huge thanks to #NetGalley & #Hodder&Stoughton for a ARC of this book in exchange for a review.

Jodi Picoult is just a master of fiction. I’ve followed her work along the years and she never fails to impress. Her stories are always carefully interwoven with difficult decisions and layers of folklore and history. The Book of Two Ways is no exception, Jodi masterfully crafts together a compelling novel about life, death and the choices we make.
This book is rich with storytelling, weaving back and forth through the timelines of Dawns line as she asks complex questions about the nature of what it is to be human.
In particular here, I found Picoults’ explanations of death to be beautifully composed.
This one is more history and factually heavy than some of her others, but it is essential to the story and fascinating to explore.

So I’m a huge Jodi Picoult fan, I’ve read almost all of her books (a few just didn’t take my fancy, I will get round to them though). So when this popped up on Netgalley, I knew I had to try. I requested her last 2 and was rejected for both, so when this one was accepted, I screamed. Everything else got pushed back and The Book of Two Ways went right to the top of my list. It took me a while to get through this, only for the reasons of distractions with 2 at home kids, both with special needs. But I tried reading every night before sleep. Last night I was awake until 1am finishing it, wiping my tears before they soaked my pillow.

The book starts with Dawn, who is on a plane which makes an emergency landing. We don’t know why or what really is happening, but the next step leads us to see where she decides to go next. The Story unfolds over 2 different places and a few different times. We see Water/Boston, which is her home with her husband and daughter, we see Land/Egypt, which follows her in Egypt with Wyatt. The chapters bounce from present to past, but it is easy to follow which is which.

Dawns job is a death doula, which made me think is this a real thing? And wow it is. What a brave job to do, in my opinion. Dawn talks about how she helps a patient at the end, how she will do anything they ask, be there if they wish when they take their final breath, stay around and help the loved ones left behind manage to grieve. My heart broke during the parts she was with a patient, the emotion Jodi put in those pages killed me, I will admit I cried more than once, almost always during those scenes.

The other side of the book is Dawn’s past when she was in Egypt as an archeological student, finding hidden treasures, decoding ancient Hieroglyphs, searching for the Book of Two Ways. I’m not going to lie, at first I found myself a bit confused with all the names of the Egyptian Kings and Queens, but I got used to it fairly quickly. I loved learning about The Book of Two Ways, googling things in the book to see what was true. The beauty behind it is lovely.

The book actually had me internet searching quite a bit of stuff, and I learned a lot! So thanks for that Jodi! The story is one filled with love and regret, hope and friendship. Again, bring tissues as it’s sad at the same time as being wonderful.
You pulled at my heartstrings again Ms Picoult, Thank you x

Dawn is a death doula, and spends her life helping people make the final transition peacefully. But when the plane she's on plummets, she finds herself thinking not of the perfect life she has, but the life she was forced to abandon fifteen years ago - when she left behind a career in Egyptology, and a man she loved. Against the odds, she survives, and the airline offers her a ticket to wherever she needs to get to - but the answer to that question suddenly seems uncertain. As the path of her life forks in two very different directions, Dawn must confront questions she's never truly asked: What does a well-lived life look like? What do we leave behind when we go? And do we make our choices, or do our choices make us?

The plot for this is very different to Picoult's recent novels. It actually reminded me of Picoult's earlier novels which made me apprehensive and to be honest I did not think I would enjoy this. Well how wrong was I! I could not help but fall in love with everything about this. Picoult has such a beautiful, easy writing style that completely swept me away. I was engrossed in the read and captivated by the words and the events that were being told.

What makes this read that little bit extra special though? Well, Picoult captures human emotions perfectly, I do not think I have read a novel where emotions are captured so simplistically, so perfectly and so incredibly moving. The characters in this go through every emotion imaginable, and as the captivated reader, I did too. Words cannot express how stunning this read is and how perfectly Picoult has captured, love, loss and human life.

Which brings me nicely onto the characters. As I would expect from Picoult, the characters are perfectly crafted, and just like the plot, I could not help but fall in love with them. Their story is so pure and so realistic. Picoult does not need to use twists and tricks in this novel as what makes a better story than human life. I just know these characters will stay with me forever.

The other aspect to this novel is Egyptology, a subject I have always had an interest in myself. I have seen comments that say this felt almost like a textbook at times but I disagree. I can see why readers have commented with this but enjoy it, take an interest and learn from the history weaved effortlessly into fiction. Personally I enjoyed this aspect and thought it brought more depth to the read however I agree it makes the read a lot heavier.

'The Book of Two Ways' is another stunning read from Picoult. I did not think I would like it and I ended up loving it; the sign of a masterful author. The portrayal of human love and life left me speechless as I read this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an advance copy.

This book starts on fairly stable ground - you feel you know what you're getting. A woman (Dawn) is on a plane that's about to crash, or as it's named in the book a 'Planned Emergency' which is quite frankly a very staid term for a terrifying thing - she survives and then makes a decision that causes the narrative to split in two (hence partly why the novel has the title it does).

We're first taken to the Egypt of now and shown some of Dawn's past as a burgeoning Egyptologist, and how she first meets Wyatt (a former lover). It's here I get the first surprise in that this section is VERY detail heavy. There's a lot of information here about Egyptian death practices, hieroglyphics, tomb layouts and a myriad of other little details. It's in-depth to a level of almost being text book, and I can see how that could be off putting to some, but I found that it built the world for me, and rather than being a break point, made me more interested to keep going. I haven't read a Jodi Picoult novel before but I have since found out that this sort of level of research isn't unusual for her, so perhaps the regular reader will know what they're getting, I found it refreshing that in what is ostensibly a romance novel, we get some deep information of the ancient Egyptians. The description of Wyatt and Dawn's relationship is amusing and touching and feels quite real.

After this section we move to Boston and the now, and see Dawn's husband Brian and her daughter Meret. This strand of the narrative is, at heart, a domestic drama about married life and how difficult it can be, with the added difficult of raising a teenager and going about your daily job at the same time. Brian is a quantum physicist, and once again we get a deluge of information about quantum mechanics, electrons and how they move, a discourse on the quantum system etc. It's similar information heavy, but it's cleverly as it ties neatly into the title of the novel and the themes of the book, the idea of alternate timelines and death (Schrodinger's Cat) and of whether we can change.

We also learn about Dawn's job as a Death Doula.(sort of like a reverse midwife - assisting with death instead of birth) there's a neat line near the beginning of the novel that says "After thirteen years of this work, I thought I knew a lot about death, I was wrong" That's a neat summation of what the rest of this novel is about. We get an involved story of how Dawn started the job she did whilst visiting her mother in a hospice and how she has now ended up helping a woman called Win come to terms with her death.

A lot of this section is pretty bleak, though with some lovely writing - "An emotion like grief spills over the confines of those five letters". It's also a bit too close to home in these particular times - "Death is scary and confusing and painful, and facing it alone shouldn't be the norm".

These 3 narratives all come together at the end, neatly turning the alternative timeline trope on it's head by knitting the three together and giving a satisfying but still open ending.

There's a lot that's good in this novel. The characterisation of the main characters is strong, there is some lovely writing; particularly around the difficult subject of death and how hard it is to talk about it, and it's good to see a book that digs deep into it's subject matter with such detail. It takes the alternate timeline idea, and does something different with it, asking the reader to examine themselves in terms of their own choices. It is fiction that makes you think and that is always a sign of a good novel.

However it's not without it's problems either, the three strands of the books whilst all good on their own, don't link together quite as they should. It feels that each could have been a story in it's own right (particularly the section with Win) and at the end there is a rush to fit them all together which loses some of the realism that had been built to this point and we have to suspend our belief a little at character's actions. It feels like there are so many ideas going on here that they couldn't all be kept in play, and a couple of the looser ends fall away as we approach the denouement. Some of the characterisation too is lacking, whilst the main cast is strong and relatable, the support particularly in the Egypt section seems tacked on and weak, ciphers to move the novel along. Unfortunately also whilst there is some very solid writing here, there is some cheesier writing too (perhaps par for the course in a romance novel) and it is here that the book falls into predictable territory at times and is worse off for it.

That being said, this is still an enjoyable, and surprising novel which dares to take on a difficult subject and treats it with great delicacy and care, whilst weaving a narrative around it. At one point Dawn says "I once read that every story is a love story, Love of a person, a country, a way of life. Which means, of course, that all tragedies are about losing what you love". This is a book about how death and tragedy can lead to a reevaluation of what life should be and how we should live it, and for that reason if nothing else, it is a book that people should read.

'You have the luxury of time, until you don't - and then it becomes clear what's most important.'

Dawn has a good life: a fulfilling job as a death doula, a beautiful daughter (albeit one who is struggling through her teen years), and a successful marriage of 15 years with Brian. But Dawn's life could have been very different. Because 15 years ago, she left a burgeoning career as an Egyptologist when a family emergency called her home, and dragged her away from both her work on The Book of Two Ways and her relationship with the first love of her life, Wyatt. Dawn has never regretted her decision, or the direction her life has taken as a result of it, until she's on a plane about to crash. And the only thing she can think of is Wyatt, the man she left behind all those years ago. So when the airline offers to fly Dawn anywhere she needs to do, Dawn has a decision to make. What follows is an exploration of the two paths Dawn could choose to follow - water or land, Boston or Egypt, Wyatt or Brian...

This is a very tricky one to review. On the one hand, I'm a die hard Picoult fan, and I've never given one of her books less than 5 stars. On the other hand, this one is very different to any of her previous works, and it did take me a fair while to work my way through.

Obviously, the writing is beautiful, and there are some really incredibly poignant moments, relating largely to Dawn's career as a death doula, something I've never heard of before but am now absolutely fascinated by. In fact, a book just about the experiences of a death doula would have been more than enough, although the sections set in Egypt were interesting.

My main issue with it is just how much information there is in it. Obviously, there's a lot of philosophy relating to life and death that is referenced, and that is to be expected. As is a having a lot of information about Egyptology and archeology. However, there is a hell of a lot of the information about Egyptology that was a bit unnecessary, and I did end up skipping parts of it as it felt a bit irrelevant. Plus, Dawn's husband is a physicist, so there was so much information about quantum physics, and the multiverse theory, and other physics stuff that I couldn't even begin to understand. It just felt very dense at times, and it was like there were whole sections that could be taken out without affecting the story at all.

The main heart of the book - Dawn, her family life, and the decision she has to make between her past and her present - was as good as you would expect from a Picoult novel. The sections relating to Dawn's work as a death doula were heartbreaking, poignant, and beautiful, serving as reminders of how we should all embrace whatever time we have left and strive to live a life we're proud of. However, the information heavy element of the novel meant that I did struggle a bit to get into this. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the book, but I felt like the high level of academic information contained within this book did lessen the intensity of the emotional aspects of the novel. It was almost like two books combined into one - the actual novel, and then a more textbook like accompaniment! All in all, not my favourite of her work, but I would definitely read her next book, and there are many who would enjoy this book if there already have a good knowledge of the subject area.

3.5 rounded up to 4.

Disclaimer - I recieved an advance reading from NetGalley and the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way, and all opinions are my own.

When Dawn survives a plane crash she decides to revisit the life in Egypt she left fifteen years before. She now has to decide which of her two lives to live:: her family life in Boston or the love she left behind while working as an Egyptologist in Cairo.
This is her book of two ways: as Picoult explains, her novel is about ‘the construct of time, and love, and life, and death.’
Dawn works as a death doula - someone who is with a person to support them as they are dying. But which of her lives will she let go?
I’ve read several Picoult novels and this is a bit different. Picoult’s son is an Egyptologist and her interest in this area is passionate.
I found the historical detail a bit much, but it’s also an ambitious and touching novel that runs deeper than some of her others, and definitely feels more personal.

I love Jodi Picoult and have read everything she's ever written so I was over the moon to bag an advance review copy of her latest offering. "The Book Of The Ways" has various themes. It shines a light on life and death, relationships, choices and the complications of love. It also touches on parenting children who fall outside of what is considered "the norm", art, time and quantum physics. The section on the science of tears is fascinating! There are passages within Picoult's pages that took my breath away with their beautiful construction. Despite all of this, I struggled a bit. I'm not particularly interested in Egyptology so some sections I found a bit dry and my attention wandered. However, it really is extremely well-written and I did enjoy it for the most part.

I have never read a Jodi Picoult novel before which is why I was intrigued to try this one out. And I’m really glad I did, because this is a magnificent novel exploring ‘what if’. What if I had made different choices in my life? And a wonderful dose of ancient Egypt on the side.

It follows Dawn McDowell, who used to be an Egyptologist working on the coffin texts of the Middle Kingdom, one of which, ‘The Book of Two Ways’, is an ancient Egyptian map of the underworld, she was especially interested in - it shows two paths, one over land and one over water, separated by a lake of fire. Fast forward to the present, Dawn is a ‘death doula’, otherwise known as a death midwife, a job which entails helping the terminally ill prepare for death. She left behind Egyptology - and an intense romance with her fellow Egyptologist, Wyatt, in order to go home and look after her mother, who was dying. From there, Dawn fell into another life from the one she had been expecting - we follow both Dawn in Boston and Dawn in Egypt, her two paths and possibly two destinies. The book deals with ideas of missed opportunities, choices and fate: Dawn must consider whether she is on the right path, and if it’s too late to change; with a little bit of parallel universe theory as Dawn contemplates these issues. The end was intense, I may need a few days to recover! I’m not sure if I liked the ultimate ending but I have come away feeling that this was a terrific read, regardless.

I really enjoyed the parts set in Egypt where Dawn was doing work in newly discovered tombs, it was a fascinating blend of history alongside romance, and a philosophical exploration of the choices we make. I think that readers who enjoyed The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak would also enjoy this novel, as it reminded me a little of that in terms of the themes being explored.

My thanks to @Hodderbooks and #netgalley for the arc to review.

Dawn is one of 36 survivors in a plane crash. When she's asked 'can we fly you anywhere?', she has a decision to make. Does she return to her life in Boston or return to Egypt where she left unfinished business over fifteen years ago.

The Book Of Two Ways is a stunning novel that kept me guessing and gasping until the end. Jodi manages to take you on a journey of first love, what ifs and death that keeps you gripped all the way through. I was desperately rooting for Dawn to finish what she started in Egypt. The twists and turns in this novel had me going right back to the start to read it again. Extraordinary!

As always Jodi Picoult has researched her topics in depth and that is clearly evident in her latest book, ‘The Book of Two Ways’ – here we have a story about a death doula named Dawn who experiences her own brush with death and if faced with the ultimate ‘What if… ?’ decision.

At the time of the crash, Dawn is on a work trip which has the benefit of providing her with some time away from her beloved husband and daughter. I say ‘beloved’ as Dawn does clearly love Brian, their relationship is currently suffering and they both need to work out how to support each other.
When the airline offers, all survivors a free flight, Dawn opts to have the chance to follow the life and dreams that she abandoned she many years ago in Egypt – the ‘sliding doors’ scenario.
I gather that many reviewers disliked the sections of the story set in Egypt with Wyatt due to the many of exposition devoted to Egyptology. However as a former history student, this is one of my favourite aspects of the book. I loved learning about the Rosetta Stone, hieroglyphs and how Wyatt learned to translate those hieroglyphs, along with the facts of genuine expeditions. As the history of Egypt serves as both a background to the relationship between Wyatt and Dawn, along with revealing aspects of their individual characters, it is difficult to skip over any such sections of the book, so I would not recommend this book if you are not a history fan. However, for anyone who enjoys a love story, or the opportunity to learn then this book is an absolute must.

Read it and enjoy.
Thank you to Netgalley and Ballantine for the ARC is return for an honest review.

I really wanted to enjoy this book - on the surface it has so many things I enjoy reading about: Egypt, romance, family, life/death. But I think this book was just trying to achieve too much with the dual story lines of experiences as a death doula, Egypt setting and family setting. I wish there had been more of the flight as this is what made me think it was going to be a really gripping read. The Egyptology, archaeology and physics section read a little like a textbook, and made it quite dull to read through. I don't think the level of detail gone into in the length of some of the passages was necessary to progress the story.

This is very different from Picoults usual books. It had a great deal of information about Ancient Egypt and I felt there was a small bit of information overload, I thought it was good just not up to the usual standards from Picoult.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton for a digital copy of this book. I haven’t read a Jodi Picoult book in some time and was really looking forward to this one. Dawn almost dies in a plane crash and the near death experience leaves her questioning the choices she has made in her life. As a death doula she helps many people prepare for their death and make peace with their life but Dawn is conflicted about her own. Significant relationships with her mother and brother, her daughter and the two men in her life are placed under the microscope. Two endings are contemplated - Egypt and excavation with Wyatt or Boston with Brian and her daughter. There’s a lot to like in this book - the considerable discussion of death is neither macabre or maudlin, rather very peaceful, as Dawn helps her clients to find ‘a way to leave a shadow in the world, even when you’re not in it’. Dawn’s relationship with her teenage daughter, Meret, is beautifully observed as Dawn tries to help her be big in a thin world. The chemistry between Dawn and both men is vividly realised, as is the conflict she feels in trying to choose between them. Like other readers I struggled with the long passages about Egyptology - I felt a little stressed in trying to absorb all the information presented as though I might not understand the story without it. There are several stories within this book and some clever twists but for me too many for an entirely smooth read.

WOW!! I really enjoyed and loved reading this book which took me all the way to Egypt. It is about love, life and death, weaved with Egyptology and Egyptian history with a dash of physics. Along with a love story, it explores complex human emotions and unravel multiple layers of life which gets affected by the choices we make. The author describes the fragility of life and beauty of death. I, particularly, found this part very insightful. The plot is well-researched and quite rich with details that makes the writing extremely lively but because of the same it may not interest to readers who are not into history or architectural details. But if you’re even a little bit interested in either of them, I would highly recommend this book to read.
Many thanks to Jodi Picoult for bringing Dawn and Wyatt (even though they’re imaginary) into our lives. And I’m grateful to Hodder and stoughton and Netgalley for providing an ARC to review. Thank you!

Thank you to Netgalley, Hodder &.Stoughton and Jodi Picoult for this advanced reader's copy in return for my honest review. Even though I've loads on my TBR pile as soon as I received this ARC, I.dived straight in. To say that I'm a massive Jodi Picoult fan is an understatement. Although different from a lot of her other books which focus on a moral issue, this book was enjoyable, well written and well researched. It took me back to the days of Songs of the Humpback Whale, which in itself was a beautiful book.

This is a good Jodi Picoult book. I liked the fact that it wasn’t based around a big topic. The ending was fairly predictable but I enjoyed how all the story lines interwove.

Jodi Picoult's latest novel is a fascinating exploration of life, love, Egyptology and Egyptian history, and Physics, regrets and wondering how life might have turned out if different life choices had been made. It has some commonalities with a book I recently read, Matt Haig's The Midnight Library, such as what makes life worth living, what really matters, and the need to focus on living, as life is short. Fortunately, reading this book was made easier as I already had an interest and some familiarity with Egyptology and the aspects of Physics which Picoult goes into some detail in the book with her indepth research, without this, I can imagine many readers finding this a much more frustrating experience.

It begins with Dawn Edelstein, living in Boston, married to Brian with a beloved daughter, Meret, on a plane that is plummeting, and her thoughts are not on the life she has, but drifting back to her past as an Egyptologist, and Wyatt Armstrong, a life that was torn asunder when a dying mother and family responsibilities claimed her instead. Fortunately, Dawn survives, and the narrative shifts locations and time to go down two possible paths for Dawn, and the ancient Egyptian beliefs and text of The Book of Two Ways on the path towards reaching the afterlife. She is beset with regrets on the one hand and what could have been with Wyatt, and a marriage which is under pressure, raising the issues of what constitutes a 'love affair' and infidelity. Dawn works as a death doula, helping her terminal clients prepare for death with compassion and love, and supporting grieving families, clients such as Win, whose issues resonate so strongly with Dawn too.

Picoult writes of the complexities of being human, the choices we make, the people that matter in her story of life, love and death, and extolling the need to live life now through her central protagonist, Dawn. She excels in her characterisation of Dawn and the painful, messy complications that life so often comprises of, with her reflections on what could have been, her sense of identity and who exactly she is. This is richly descriptive and heavily detailed, multilayered storytelling, thoughtful, insightful and well written on life's deepest questions but will not be for everyone. An emotionally satisfying and touching novel that I recommend highly to others. Many thanks to Hodder and Stoughton for an ARC.

Jodi picoult usually delivers such excellent books with legal twists and a battle in the courtroom.
I was in so much anticipation of this book having read all of her other novels and not disliking one

Unfortunately this book did not read like a Jodi picoult novel. It was a textbook about ancient Egypt. There was far too much informative information for this to read as a novel.

I had to reread the pages a couple of times to try and see what the book and storyline was about as all I could focus on was the mummies and the history lesson