#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of Small Great Things and A Spark of Light comes a “powerful” (The Washington Post) novel about the choices that alter the course of our lives. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY MARIE CLAIRE 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. … 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.
Dawn, miraculously, survives the crash, but so do all the doubts that have suddenly been raised. She has led a good life. Back in Boston, there is her husband, Brian, their beloved daughter, and her work as a death doula, in which she helps ease the transition between life and death for her clients.
But somewhere in Egypt is Wyatt Armstrong, who works as an archaeologist unearthing ancient burial sites, a career Dawn once studied for but was forced to abandon when life suddenly intervened. And now, when it seems that fate is offering her second chances, she is not as sure of the choice she once made.
After the crash landing, the airline ensures that the survivors are seen by a doctor, then offers transportation to wherever they want to go. The obvious destination is to fly home, but she could take another path: return to the archaeological site she left years before, reconnect with Wyatt and their unresolved history, and maybe even complete her research on The Book of Two Ways—the first known map of the afterlife.
As the story unfolds, Dawn’s two possible futures unspool side by side, as do the secrets and doubts long buried with them. Dawn must confront the questions she’s never truly asked: What does a life well lived look like? When we leave this earth, what do we leave behind? Do we make choices . . . or do our choices make us? And who would you be if you hadn’t turned out to be the person you are right now?
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Jodi Picoult’s newest book was really different from anything that I have read by her before. Instead of being a fiction book with a little bit of background history if needed, this one was more like a study of Egyptology with a story as the background. I was mired deeply into all of the facts about tombs, long names of Egyptian rulers and how to read hieroglyphics. And that wasn’t in a good way! Sometimes, I felt lost in the tombs of ancient Egypt and was ready for the story to move along. The plot was about Dawn, a death doula, and her relationship with her husband Brian and her former lover Wyatt. Most of the plot was entertaining, but again, the endless repetitive details! And the subconscious of Dawn when a plane crashes was also hard to follow what was happening. If you are a fan of Picoult, you may enjoy this book, but it wasn’t my favorite by a long shot. It seemed to be promoting her son’s interest in Egyptology instead of her readers’ interest in her usually fascinating stories. I did enjoy reading about Dawn’s occupation and how she helped people slip from life into death in the most comfortable way possible. This book is not exactly historical fiction, but it has a lot of history in it so I’m not sure how to classify it.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”
Dawn Edelstein has two men in her life: one from before and one after. The dividing line between the two times is the tragic death of her mom, the moment that everything changes. She had been a doctoral student working as an archaeologist in Egypt. She was in love with fellow archaeologist, Wyatt. After, she was forced to return home to care for her brother. This was when she found comfort in the arms of another man, Brian. She married Brian.
After she survives a plane crash, Dawn starts questioning her choices. Did she choose the right man? Did she choose the correct path in life, one that will make her life a well-lived one?
As always, Picoult’s characters are so very real. They carry us through Dawn’s life before and after. They present all of Dawn’s choices to the reader. Picoult portrays love in such an authentic and realistic way! It is oftentimes heart-breaking to read.
The Egyptology details become somewhat cumbersome to wade through, however. Most were very intriguing and sometimes the stories paralleled what was happening in Dawn’s life. However, it was oftentimes a bit too much!
This story is almost impossible to put down, nonetheless. I could not wait to reach the conclusion to find out what would happen. Sadly, I was disappointed at the very end. Still, this is a very worthwhile read, one that has value and makes you consider your own life’s choices.
I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.
Too archaeological…the book finished not even being able to assume an ending.
I really, really loved this book. I’ve always loved Egyptian mythology and the author mixes the story with the past, the present, and keeps the reader wondering what is real. Having lived through a life changing event (cancer), I felt Dawn’s struggle to figure out what I want my life to mean.
Picoult’s books are sometimes hit-or-miss with me. I can’t say I ‘loved’ The Book of Two Ways but I did really like the story-line. What was a miss for me was the detail that she went into about Egyptology—explaining all about the history of the dig sites, the hieroglyphics, and all those Egyptian people from the past. I understand that this is a deep interest for her, but I felt it really slowed the story down.
Aside from all that detail, I really liked the story-line and the characters and cared about the situations that they found themselves in. I found myself skipping over the history lessons to spend more time with Dawn in her world. This book would be perfect anyone who has an interest in Egyptology and loves Picoult’s stories—the best of both worlds!
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.
This story had an incredibly gripping prologue, that hooked me right from the start.
I knew almost nothing about the story when I picked it up beyond a line I’d read somewhere almost a year ago about the unusual and innovative structure, that, coupled with the title and an early explanation of what that title referred to, made me suspect for at least 60% of the novel that Picoult was doing one thing—which I thought was highly interesting, but could not imagine any way in which it would conclude in a satisfactory way.
The writing, of course, was wonderful, as well as the characterization, and I was so intrigued with the concept of a death doula, so I pressed on despite my fear of being disappointed with this book. However, about three to four chapters before it was clearly revealed, I started to suspect Picoult was doing something entirely different than I imagined. She pulled it off beautifully, creating a story that brings into question the choices we make, the concept of destiny, and the fact that sometimes there is no right answer, only the one we hope will leave us with the least regret.
A memorable and brilliantly written story, with exactly my favourite type of conclusion!
The inspiration for The Book of Two Ways first struck more than a decade before author Jodi Picoult actually wrote the book. Her son was majoring in Egyptology at Yale University. She happened to walk by and see him working on a translation of The Book of Two Ways, a road map to the underworld that is more than 4,000 years old. She thought to herself, “Great name for a novel.” She discovered that the text is about choices: “The deceased could take either a land route or a water route to get to the field of offerings, which is the ancient Egyptian version of heaven. No matter which path you took, you wound up where you were supposed to be.”
Picoult came up with the story of a middle-aged woman on a fateful flight. She is a death doula traveling alone while her husband, Brian, is at home in Boston. As the plane is headed for a crash landing, the woman is surprised to find that what flashes before her eyes in what she believes will be her final moments isn’t the life she has built with her husband and child. Rather, she sees the life she originally planned that never came to fruition as an Egyptologist with a different man she left behind fifteen years earlier. “She has to decide: What do I do with this information?” She scuttled the idea when a planned trip to Egypt to research her subject matter had to be canceled.
But she resurrected it some six years later as she conversed with her son’s thesis adviser, telling her she still wanted to write the book. She had always known that she “needed to write about — the construct of time, and love, and life, and death.” She took her up on her offer to travel to Egypt, and also set about learning about the work death doulas perform. Picoult is known for her meticulously-researched novels, and The Book of Two Ways is no exception. She immerses readers in Dawn’s world, especially the archaeological digs she is part of in Egypt.
Relating the story through a first-person narrative from Dawn, her protagonist, readers learn that Dawn wanted to be an Egyptologist after studying Ancient Egypt in fourth grade and falling in love with the culture. She earned a full scholarship to the University of Chicago and fifteen years ago she was a Yale graduate student working in Egypt on her third archaeological dig when she learned that her mother was dying from Stage 4 ovarian cancer. Her brother, Kieran, was only thirteen years old, and their father, a U.S. Army captain, died in a helicopter crash when their mother was carrying Kieran. Unlike their father, their mother did not die alone. Left with responsibility for Kieran, Dawn could not resume her studies at Yale, much less go back to Egypt. Instead, she got a job at the same hospice facility where her mother died, eventually earning a Masters in Social Work and becoming a hospice social worker. A decade later, she became a death doula and for the past five years has run her own business, providing the same services as midwives, but at the other end of the life spectrum. After thirteen years, Dawn believes that she knows a lot about death, but as Picoult’s story opens, she is about to learn that she is wrong. About a lot of things.
While working at the hospice, Dawn met her husband, Brian, and they welcomed a daughter, Meret. Brian, a physics professor, has always been steady, thoughtful, capable, as Dawn describes him. But now their marriage is in trouble as a result of Brian’s flirtation with his post-doctoral student, especially when he misses Meret’s birthday party. For Dawn, it was a betrayal. She is also struggling to balance the needs of her business and parent Meret, a fourteen-year-old who, unlike her thin parents, struggles with a weight problem.
After Dawn survives a plane crash, she is overcome with emotion. Impulsively, she opts not to return home. Instead, after thinking about Wyatt Armstrong, with whom she was in a serious relationship when she had to abruptly leave Egypt to care for her mother, she heads to Egypt. Theirs was a classic love story: he was arrogant, self-centered, and immensely talented, and they competed as graduate students, but eventually fell in love. When she arrives, she finds that in the intervening fifteen years, Wyatt as ascended professionally and is now the Director of Egyptology at Yale. Obviously, Wyatt is stunned to see her because Dawn didn’t just leave Egypt. She never explained why she was leaving and did not remain in contact with Wyatt. Still, when he asks why she has come back, she cannot bring herself to tell him that he is the reason she has abruptly returned. They resume both working side by side and their relationship, even though Dawn is married and Wyatt is engaged to be married to another woman.
The story is told via dual timelines. In an alternate reality, Dawn survives the plane crash and returns home to work on her marriage, and parent Meret. She takes on a new client, Win, whose son died at the age of sixteen as a result of a drug overdose. She embroils Dawn in her quest to locate her son’s father, a painter with whom she had an affair. And Dawn’s musings about the life she could have chosen are not without guilt.
The Book of Two Ways moves at a steady, but not fast pace which is appropriate for the subject matter. Picoult invites readers to join Dawn, a compellingly flawed character, on her contemplative journey of reflection about the path she did not choose and what might have happened if she had. Her desire for a second chance at being a Egyptologist, and to find out if her relationship with Wyatt could have worked out had she not left him without a word of explanation, is inspired when she is unexpectedly thrust into a crossroads in her life. Brian’s work is in quantum mechanics — the theory that parallel universes can exist and two versions of the same life be lived within them. Has Dawn been living an alternate life within a parallel universe? Is that what one of Picoult’s narratives actually means?
It all makes sense when Picoult seamlessly merges the two narratives. Secrets are revealed that require each character to come to terms with the truth. Dawn is forced to make decisions about what she really wants and how her future will unfold after she has been given an opportunity to discover how a reunion with Wyatt will play out and faced the problems in her marriage head-on. Just like the Egyptians who believed that in the afterlife they would traverse one of the paths depicted in The Book of Two Ways to the Field of Offerings to enjoy an eternal feast.
In the hands of a less skilled writer, The Book of Two Ways could have become bogged down in sentimentality, but Picoult elevates the subject matter, deftly taking Dawn on a journey of self-discovery that feels neither contrived nor heavy-handed. Rather, it is a thoughtful exploration of a middle-aged woman’s re-evaluation of her choices as she works her way through the complexities of her life in an effort to find happiness and fulfillment without hurting those she loves. Picoult always crafts thought-provoking stories that examine and meld several themes into a cohesive whole and The Book of Two Ways showcases her unique ability to do so in a believable, uncontrived, and emotionally resonant fashion. In true Picoult style, the story is related with compassion, sans judgment, and with the expectation that her readers will contemplate the questions she raises and find their own answers. In this book, Picoult takes that approach to its ultimate conclusion with an ambiguous ending that provides plenty of fodder for argument at book club meetings.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader’s Copy of the book.
Lots of interesting information, historical
Too much information on Egypt.
Great story but too much Egyptology facts.
Disappointing More like a text book in Egyptology, with a story woven in. I found most of it boring.
A completely enthralling and addictive read. I rarely read a book in one session, especially one of this length, but I absolutely could not put it down (aside from bio breaks and a few hours of light sleep). The Book of Two Way is certainly one of Picoults’ best. I highly recommend this read.
This book has a lovely love story plus a lot of Egyptian history and helping the dying in our contemporary world. I did not always love the lead female character. It was not the usual strong moral dilemma that I have come to expect from Jodi Piccoult’s books.
After finishing the book, I went back and read the first part over again, getting even more out of it. The shifting back and forth between two realities made the story a little challenging to follow, but ever-so-satisfying in the end.
Jody Picoult is simply a marvel, the way she dives into new and varied subjects for each book. In this case, it’s Egyptology.
Life is about making choices and what you have to give up in order to have what you want. Olive is a death doula who has a passion for Egyptology. A series of events leads to her facing choices she never dreamed she could make.
I am a huge fan of Jodi Picoult and this book did not disappoint!
Jodi Picoult is always an entertaining story writer. She did her research on Egyptology and kept the facts entertaining. The constant back and forth of flashbacks were a little confusing at times though.
Jodi Picoult weaves a riveting story between a former love and a present one . The author also points to us how career. paths can be put on hold in place of family obligations ,leading to roads we never anticipated .As a death doula,helping those with terminal illness plan there last months and funerals ,she asks the clients What is it you wanted to do before leaving this earth ? We are told all will die what is it you appreciate in life right now ?The author tells us often we know nothing about life until it is too late.The main character who also serves as a scholar in Ancient Egyptian history explains how their art found in the tombs stressed more important than the pursuit of knowledge in the end was the relationships we experienced with others .In the end we are left to choose !