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The Other Life

by Ellen Meister (Goodreads Author)

3.36 of 5 stars 3.36 · rating details · 907 ratings · 229 reviews

Read Ellen Meister's blogs and other content on the Penguin Community.

If you could return to the road not taken, would you?

Happily married and pregnant, Quinn Braverman has an ominous secret. Every time she makes a major life decision, she knows an alternate reality exists in which she made the opposite choice-not only that, she knows how to cross over. But even in her...more

Hardcover, 320 pages

Published February 17th 2011 by Putnam Adult

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Apr 12, 2011 Amanda Hoffmann rated it 4 of 5 stars

I stepped outside my usual genres to read this contemporary novel with a paranormal twist. I'm glad I did! Quinn's circumstance is fascinating. Her major life choices lead to split realities, and she is able to visit a world in which she has made an alternate decision, experiencing the consequences.

While I was engaged by the plot, what truly captured me were the small incidents in this book that define the bittersweetness of motherhood. For example, I loved the simple passage that describes Qui...more

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Apr 10, 2013 Elvan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobooks

Fascinating study of grief and how someone handles loss following the suicide of a loved one. In this story Quinn and her husband Louis are given terrible news regarding their unborn child. The ultrasound has revealed the child has a cephaloseal or fissure in her skull and the diagnosis is poor.
There is a bit of fantasy mixed in with reality as Quinn is able to slip through a fissure (symbolism 101) in her basement and back into her life from 10 years before when she was living with her ex boyf...more

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Feb 19, 2012 Robin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: magical-realism

3-1/2 stars. I found this pretty well-written piece of chick lit compelling. I call it chick lit, but it's more like woman lit, because the protagonist is a woman in her 30s with a small child and another on the way. She wrestles with settling into the slide towards middle life using a favorite plot device of mine: the second chance. Which life should she lead, the one she has chosen or the road she didn't take? I felt for her. The author did a wonderful job constructing a complex character who...more

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Apr 20, 2011 Karolyn Sherwood rated it 4 of 5 stars

Bravo Ellen Meister. Not only did she tackle highly controversial subjects (infidelity, birth defects, abortion, suicide, homosexuality, to name a few), she handled them all well. And as a reader who has her feet firmly on the ground, I even applaud her use of "portals" into a parallel life. I kept waiting for Meister to explain them away as a dream or fantasy, but she didn't, and in the end, I was glad she let them exist as portals.

A captivating combination of character & plot driven, her w...more

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Mar 30, 2011 Tracey rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-reads, all-time-favorites, favorites-of-2011

The plot's been covered well by many a fabulous reviewer, so I'll just say that I devoured this book. So incredibly easy to read, and simply loved the characters. Such an interesting and gut-wrenching dilemma (well, several of them actually), one that is hard to imagine. Especially towards the end, you really feel the complexity of the decision to be made. Very emotional.

Would have been 5 stars had she not left me hanging with the ending!!!

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Feb 10, 2013 Amancia rated it 3 of 5 stars

I liked the concept of "what if" but couldn't get excited be ause the idea of the portals was just ridiculous.

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Dec 15, 2011 Agatha rated it 1 of 5 stars

Bleh. Skip this one. A hot jumbled mess of every “controversial” social topic you could imagine, thrown together to make a very weak story line. Let’s see: we’ve got mental illness (check!), homosexuality (check!), suicide (check!), abortion (check!), internet sex (check!), hmm, what else? Probably some more that I am missing. OH, and did I mention: ridiculous “portals” through which the main character can travel to experience what her life would have been had she not married her husband? Yeah,...more

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Dec 01, 2011 Dimity rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, fantasy-sci-fi, health-issues, listened, other-worlds, read-women-fiction, reading-women-2011, reviewed

The concept of this intriguing novel sucked me in when I read the blurb about it here on Goodreads. The concept of parallel universes fascinates me and I’ve had many a fond daydream about the various mes in different universes living out lives that diverged from mine at different decision points in my life. I like to think that at least one of those alter-mes is employed in a job that doesn’t suck and shudder to think how many of the mes are probably dead or maybe never existed at all. The main...more The concept of this intriguing novel sucked me in when I read the blurb about it here on Goodreads. The concept of parallel universes fascinates me and I’ve had many a fond daydream about the various mes in different universes living out lives that diverged from mine at different decision points in my life. I like to think that at least one of those alter-mes is employed in a job that doesn’t suck and shudder to think how many of the mes are probably dead or maybe never existed at all. The main character Quinn’s ability to pass between her universes is a concept that inspires my envy and horror in equal parts.

Quinn is a seemingly typical mid-thirties suburban mom with an elementary school aged son and another baby on the way. She loves her hardworking husband and is generally satisfied with her life but often thinks of her time before marriage, when she dated a demanding radio host and her mother was still alive. However, Quinn is very different from the other mothers carpooling the kids to soccer practice because she also knows that there are other versions of herself living in parallel worlds and she has the ability to access these other lives through various portals she senses are nearby. Quinn’s relationship with Nan, her bipolar artist mother, was complicated and she deeply mourns her loss as she mothers her son and unborn child. When Quinn gets bad news about the baby she carries, she finds the temptation of slipping into her “other life” through a portal in her basement impossible to resist. Quinn is floored when she discovers her mother is alive and well in her other life and the growing stress of a complicated pregnancy hurtles her towards making the impossible decision of which world to stay in forever; one with her husband, son and an uncertain future with the daughter she carries or one where she mothers her needy boyfriend and is mothered herself by Nan.

This rather melancholy book reminded me very much of The Time Traveler's Wife in style, fantasy inspired storyline and the lingering sense of inexplicable disappointment I felt when finishing it that it didn’t have a perfect ending. I listened to the audio version and felt it probably affected me more than reading it would have; there are several scenes relating to Quinn’s troubled pregnancy that I would have skimmed or skipped if I had been reading it because they disturbed me. The book’s deeply emotional climax happened while I was enjoying some rare time in the house to myself and it made me more anxious than books normally do. As someone still feeling out marriage and motherhood’s terrain, I deeply identified with Quinn’s struggle of loyalty between the family she created and the one she was born into. I was somewhat frustrated at the amount of celebrity name dropping in several scenes in the book. I found it distracting and unfortunate that this book anchored itself so securely to the 2010s when it tells such an interesting story that doesn’t need to be dated. Some of the secondary characters who were seemingly created to serve as foils to Quinn were hollow and redundant.

On the surface, The Other Life seems to be rather typical novel with an interesting premise but like Quinn’s shocking secret, it holds a hidden current of surprising depth. Meister incorporates a wide range of themes like loyalty, infidelity and grief into a fascinating story about one woman’s supernatural ability.
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Jan 03, 2013 Nina Guilbeau rated it 3 of 5 stars

What if you had a chance to experience life on the "road not taken"? In Ellen Meister's novel, The Other Life, Quinn Braverman, pregnant housewife and mother of six year old Isaac, has the unique ability to do just that. In Quinn's other life she is childless and living a fast pace life in a luxury Manhattan apartment with her semi-famous, live-in boyfriend Eugene. Crossing over through a "portal" between her two lives, Quinn does not have to imagine if the grass is greener on the other side, sh...more What if you had a chance to experience life on the "road not taken"? In Ellen Meister's novel, The Other Life, Quinn Braverman, pregnant housewife and mother of six year old Isaac, has the unique ability to do just that. In Quinn's other life she is childless and living a fast pace life in a luxury Manhattan apartment with her semi-famous, live-in boyfriend Eugene. Crossing over through a "portal" between her two lives, Quinn does not have to imagine if the grass is greener on the other side, she is able to live her parallel life and see for herself.

At first Quinn visits her single life out of curiosity. However, as Quinn's family life with her husband Lewis gets more stressful, it pushes her to a breaking point. Maybe leaving suburbia behind and staying in her other life, at least for awhile, would not be such a bad idea. Parting with her children would be excruciating, but her single life with Eugene had one very important thing for Quinn - her mother was alive in that life. She desperately needs to have more time with her mother, but Quinn soon discovers that she can't continue to straddle both lives. The portal is closing and she has to choose one path and leave the other life forever.

Quinn's ability to cross over into her other life, had she made different choices, is the kind of thing explored in countless sci-fi books, films and television shows. However, the author uses a more emotional vehicle, especially for women, to highlight the significance of the premise. It's not just a choice between Eugene and Lewis or the single life verses the married family life. It's maternal - your mother or your child. Some women may view this as an easy choice, but for Quinn, who had not yet healed from her mother's suicide, having the chance to spend time with her mother again was priceless.

While the book is an interesting read, there is a missing element to this story. The "why?" There is fuzziness as to why Quinn, and her mother before her, has this ability. In the back story, the author makes a small attempt to explain, but it only brings to mind more questions. The story is also a little confusing as to how many parallel lives are out there for Quinn. Besides the main two, there was at least one more life path which ended abruptly and tragically. Perhaps it would have been best to ignore the back story all together. Sometimes, like in the novel The Road by Cormac McCarthy, "the why" is not the story and so it is simply ignored.

Overall, The Other Life, is well written, easy to read and relatable to every one of us that has ever wondered about the "what ifs." In the end, Quinn Braverman makes her choice and must learn to face life as it comes, just like everyone else.(less)

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Nov 22, 2012 Tracy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

I really enjoyed Ellen Meister's book, The Other Life. In the book, Quinn is a devoted wife and stay-at-home mother with a crazy neighbor, a loving husband, and an adorable child. She deeply misses her mother, who committed suicide 7 years earlier. She also has a loving brother who has inherited their mother's bipolar disorder and has a rocky relationship with an actor in New York.

In the book, there is a "portal" that Quinn has always been aware of. She has never been inside the portal, but some...more

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Oct 18, 2012 Bonnie ZoBell rated it 5 of 5 stars

Ellen Meister's THE OTHER LIFE
& Rumors of Dorothy Parker

Imagine being able to slip through a passageway in own your laundry room and arrive in a whole different life when yours isn't going so well. Personally, I wish I'd heard of this a long time ago and will be contacting Ellen Meister immediately for tips since this is exactly what happens in her stunning novel, THE OTHER LIFE. This stellar book is full of just this kind of imagination. It's a tale that will force you to stay up way too l...more
Ellen Meister's THE OTHER LIFE
& Rumors of Dorothy Parker

Imagine being able to slip through a passageway in own your laundry room and arrive in a whole different life when yours isn't going so well. Personally, I wish I'd heard of this a long time ago and will be contacting Ellen Meister immediately for tips since this is exactly what happens in her stunning novel, THE OTHER LIFE. This stellar book is full of just this kind of imagination. It's a tale that will force you to stay up way too late at night and be cranky the next day at work because you keep thinking you'll read just another page or two, but then there goes Quinn again through that portal, and if you just read a few more pages to see what's going to happen on the other side, you'll be able to relax. Suddenly, several more hours have gone by.

Depressed by possible health issues of her unborn child, Quinn longs to talk to her deceased mother about the pregnancy, and she's always wondered whether she made the right decision in leaving her ex-husband. She discovers just such a portal and crosses over to a past chapter from her life. Now she can visit with her mother whenever she likes and enjoy the brilliant colors in her mother's paintings like she used to. Quinn learns to forgive her mother's betrayal.

But then there's that ex-husband of hers. She remembers there were plenty of good times with him, too. The two remember a little too well until the attraction is so strong Quinn has to extricate herself from some pretty seductive situations and decide just which life she's going to live—the one with her new man or her old one. Besides loving her current husband, there's her young son whom she misses desperately whenever she visits her old life.

Back and forth she goes. When tension rises in one of the worlds, she slides on back to the other, and she finds it hard to resolve all the issues at once.

A delicious read, optioned by HBO.

*

Ellen Meister's highly-anticipated novel, Farewell, Dorothy Parker, will be out on with Putnam in February 2013 and promises to be every bit as brilliant and inventive, not to mention hysterical in that dry and infamous Dorothy-Parker-kind-of way.

Violet Epps, a mousy movie critic, suddenly develops a commanding voice in the review world mainly because she learns to be a conduit for Dorothy Parker's cantankerous spirit, who refuses to leave this earth. Using her literary idol's scorching wit, Violet excels in her field but wishes deeply that she had the same kind of power over her personal life. She even visits the Algonquin Hotel to try to garner the kind of strength Dorothy Parker was celebrated for, only to get more entangled than she meant to with the literary lioness's own unique, other-worldly complications.

Can't wait to get my hands on Meister's newest! (less)

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Jul 24, 2012 Sara Strand rated it 3 of 5 stars

I think we can all say that at one point of our life or another, we've all wondered- what if. What if I hadn't gone to that college, what if I had married that first boy, what if I had moved away after school, etc. And while I don't necessarily think it's healthy to really dwell on that because as we all know, you can't change the past you can only shape the future, I do think that occasionally pondering that helps you decide what path to take for your future.

Such as the case in this book. What...more I think we can all say that at one point of our life or another, we've all wondered- what if. What if I hadn't gone to that college, what if I had married that first boy, what if I had moved away after school, etc. And while I don't necessarily think it's healthy to really dwell on that because as we all know, you can't change the past you can only shape the future, I do think that occasionally pondering that helps you decide what path to take for your future.

Such as the case in this book. What the preview doesn't say is that Quinn is pregnant with her second child who likely has a serious medical concern- a possibly life threatening disability that may cause the baby to be still born, and if the baby does survive it faces all uphill battles. Now, any of us with children who have gone through a pregnancy anxious about your baby's development can certainly understand Quinn's point of view in this book. You put the brave face on for your other child and try to be supportive of your husband.... while you are devastated, scared, and have no idea what you are going to do. In situations like this you really want your mom to tell you it's going to be ok and you will get through it. Sadly, Quinn's mother committed suicide so it's like she is grieving two things at once- overwhelming for anyone.

I really appreciated how the author portrayed Louis (the husband) because I really got the sense that a lot of husbands and expectant fathers would act similarly. I really like how Quinn's grief is described and how the author makes you feel like you are Quinn's very best friend and you're walking with her through the grief.

I will say that I got frustrated with Quinn because she discovers these portals and is going back and forth between her real life, and life that essentially could have been. I will say that I haven't lost a parent so I can't possibly know the sadness Quinn was feeling, so maybe I don't understand why she would act out selfishly by going back and forth and debating which place to stay in. To me, as a mother, staying where my kids were would be an automatic, so that kind of made me dislike Quinn for a bit.

BUT I absolutely LOVED how the book started, and then how it ended with Quinn's mom. I think it book ended the story as a whole wonderfully and it explained the portal thing perfectly.

I would say this reminds me of a Jodi Picoult story, even though I can't stand Jodi Picoult. So this is like Picoult for the non-whiners. :) I highly recommend this book because it really makes you think about your life. If you could see what your life would have been like, and you had the choice to actually be in it just to try it out... would you go back to the other life? I don't know that I would... but I guess I won't ever know. (less)

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Jul 20, 2012 Lisa Martinez rated it 5 of 5 stars

Wow is the first word that comes to mind in respect of this fabulous read by Ellen Meister. I downloaded the sample for my Kindle and I was hooked after the first sentence. I have never ordered a book so fast!

The voice of this story is the voice of every parent who has ever held their child close and smelled the top of his head. This story is a book for every person who has lost someone close to them or made a decision and wondered, "What if..."

While most of us do not have a portal into a parall...more

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May 08, 2012 Jessica Harlan rated it 3 of 5 stars

I loved the premise of this book - the idea that the protaganist could pass through different versions of her life, where decisions or major events led her on completely different paths. But ultimately I found that the device wasn't very well thought out or explained by the author. Why did Quinn cease to exist in one life if she visited the other, yet in the other version she didn't "disappear" when she left to go back to her "real" life? Why wasn't one of the main issues of the story - her moth...more

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Mar 27, 2012 Alyce (At Home With Books) rated it 3 of 5 stars

If all you are looking for is a good read with some magical realism, and don’t mind a lack of depth in the logic of the travel from one reality to the other, then you will probably like this book. Although it was an entertaining read, it didn’t have the complexity I was looking for in the story.

While I liked seeing the parallel life possibilities, I was disappointed with how Quinn experienced the parallel lives. When she moved from one reality into another she was always the same person, with th...more If all you are looking for is a good read with some magical realism, and don’t mind a lack of depth in the logic of the travel from one reality to the other, then you will probably like this book. Although it was an entertaining read, it didn’t have the complexity I was looking for in the story.

While I liked seeing the parallel life possibilities, I was disappointed with how Quinn experienced the parallel lives. When she moved from one reality into another she was always the same person, with the same memories from the original reality. Which meant that when she was in a parallel life she had no way of knowing what had happened to her in that past other than drawing conclusions from the circumstances that surrounded her.

I wish that she would have had access to the memories of her alternate self, because I believe that the choices we make have a cascading effect on the person that we become. I think that a series of alternate choices would have changed how her personality developed. Because she didn’t have any of those memories she didn’t get to see who she might have been had she lived that life; she could only see how her actions had affected others. I felt like a huge opportunity was missed by not exploring these themes. Instead the author just scratches the surface of the issues.

I’m willing to accept a lot of strangeness in fiction, especially when it comes to magical realism, so the oddness of the portals – how they seem to be in random static locations – was something I was able to accept as a facet of the story. What seemed strange to me was the manner in which the portals changed as the story progressed (I don’t want to give away anything here, so I won’t get into specifics). Again, I am willing to give a lot of leeway with magical realism, but I can’t help but think there could have been a more logical way of developing the portals within the plot.

I did enjoy the back and forth thinking and inner debate of Quinn’s ethical and personal dilemma, and was pleased by her choice in the end. If you’re like me and want a deeper, more thought-provoking book about alternate realities, I suggest reading Lionel Shriver’s The Post Birthday World.(less)

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Dec 28, 2011 Danielle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, chicklit, for-review

From the outside looking in Quinn’s life seems ideal. From her wonderful husband to her adoring son she lives comfortably in a beautiful home with her happy family and another daughter on the way. When the news comes that her daughter may be less than perfect the pieces of her life slowly crumble away reminding her of how desperately she misses the mother who committed suicide just a few years prior. Just when all hope seems lost she’s suddenly aware of an “escape route”, an alternate choice and...more From the outside looking in Quinn’s life seems ideal. From her wonderful husband to her adoring son she lives comfortably in a beautiful home with her happy family and another daughter on the way. When the news comes that her daughter may be less than perfect the pieces of her life slowly crumble away reminding her of how desperately she misses the mother who committed suicide just a few years prior. Just when all hope seems lost she’s suddenly aware of an “escape route”, an alternate choice and life that includes her living breathing mother but doesn’t include her husband and son. Will she choose to stay or venture to the other life permanently? Only her mother may be able to help.

The Other Life was to me a book about coming to terms with the death of Quinn’s mother and also choosing to live the life she had been given. Who hasn’t wondered about a choice here and there? It’s as simple as thinking about the phrase, “the grass is always greener on the other side”. The question comes down to whether it truly is greener on the other side, or in Quinn’s case her “other life”? Her choice, in my opinion, was an open and shut case in the beginning, but as the novel progressed I grew to sympathize with her struggle.

To be honest, when Quinn started talking about her life before meeting her husband Lewis I couldn’t see the appeal. Her ex-boyfriend Eugene was neurotic and borderline obsessive about her. I simply didn’t see the appeal in switching from a loving family to some guy who was basically crazy, not to mention much older than she was. Sure he had loads of money and was extremely successful, but I guess that just doesn’t work for me. It wasn’t until she discovered that in her other life her mother was still alive that things started to progress for me.

Being a mother and a daughter as well as someone who has lost a close friend to suicide it was easy to relate to Quinn & her struggles. Coming to terms with the sudden death of someone that important to you is difficult enough without also wondering why they would choose to take their own life. Suicide is never something easily explained or dealt with and Quinn’s mother Nan is no exception to this. It was interesting for me to see Quinn struggle between traveling to her “other life” and staying within her own for those very reasons. She loved her life and her family, but needed answers and comfort. Who wouldn’t want to talk with their mother one more time no matter the cause of death? As a mother now I can’t tell you how many times I’ve called my own mother for the simplest of questions and despite our differences at times I don’t know how I’d cope with things without her.

The Other Life by Ellen Meister was one of the most thought provoking novels I’ve read in a long time. Dealing with heavier issues like motherhood, suicide and mental illness were tackled easily by the addition of the magical realism Meister incorporated through the use of the portals Quinn travels through. It’s definitely a novel I’d recommend to readers who might enjoy a heavier more intense story line but still love authors like Cecelia Ahern and Sarah Addison Allen. Quinn’s relationships with her mother and her son make her travels between lives compelling and had me flipping the pages as fast as I could to see where she would end up. The Other Life is a wonderful novel that women’s fiction readers will absolutely love and I’m certain I’ll be picking up more of Ellen Meister’s books in the future because of it!

Originally reviewed and copyrighted at my site, Chick Lit Reviews and News.(less)

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Dec 08, 2011 Romancing the Book rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, fantasy

Review by Stephanie O:
When I read the blurb for this book I was struck with this question, What if? Of course I had to give the book a go and just see where it would take me. Would it take me to a happy ever after ending or an ending with nothing but regret. Once I got started with this book I fast realized that it wasn’t a book to be rushed. I would read and let things soak in. I would sit back and think to myself . . “What would I do if I were in Quinn’s shoes?” Some very touchy subjects are w...more

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Dec 06, 2011 Viviane Crystal rated it 5 of 5 stars

So many readers have pondered Robert Frost's poem where one wonders what life would have been like on "The Road Not Taken." But what if one had the opportunity to do just that, to see what life would yield if one had made a different decision about one's lover or spouse, one's job or anything else one considers of ultimate importance?

Quinn Braverman lives two lives. As a child, she learned that there were portals she could enter that would take her to another world. Her mother knows about these...more

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Dec 07, 2011 J. Cafesin rated it 3 of 5 stars

I wanted to like this work. The concept drew me in. The problem is the author never paid it off, and the writing was cumbersome-- words, even paragraphs unnecessary that slowed the flow of the story.

The main character is a stay at home mom, and rather one dimensional. I don't know, and never know, what are her passions or interests aside from her 5 yr old son, a great husband, and her clinically depressed brother. She discovers a portal to another life, the life she left behind when she married,...more

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Oct 31, 2011 Beverly Diehl rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: family, fantasy, motherhood, contemporary-womens-fiction

I really wanted to like this book. I thought the concept of being able to go back & forth between two parallel lives was intriguing, and the concept of the missing/dead mother while pregnant resonated strongly with me personally. I also really love the author's voice.

(view spoiler)...more

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May 28, 2011 Whitney V. rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Other Life, written by Ellen Meister is the story of what could have been.
It is also the story of learning to live in peace with the choices you have made and the life you have made for yourself.

The main character Quinn is living in one world, but she is beckoned by another through portals. Until now, she has been reasonably comfortable with her life. She is happily married with one son, Isaac. She lives in the suburbs. She has stability. The only thing that hurts her in this life is the lo...more The Other Life, written by Ellen Meister is the story of what could have been.
It is also the story of learning to live in peace with the choices you have made and the life you have made for yourself.

The main character Quinn is living in one world, but she is beckoned by another through portals. Until now, she has been reasonably comfortable with her life. She is happily married with one son, Isaac. She lives in the suburbs. She has stability. The only thing that hurts her in this life is the loss of her mother, but she has managed thus far. But when she finds herself shocked by her turn of events, the other side starts to lure her in. In the other life, she has chosen to be with Eugene, a semi-celebrity. She lives in Manhattan and works both as an events coordinator for a bookstore and a manager for Eugene. In her other life, she has no children. But what matters the most to her in the other life is that her mother is still alive.

The Other Life is certainly unique. It examines those moments we have all had when we find ourselves questioning the decisions we have made and wondering if in fact we made the right ones. I appreciated the way Ellen Meister took on this idea. I think that Ellen Meister tackled a hard subject with an incredible amount of creativity and a real sense of who her characters were. It is not easy to piece together parallel universes, explain why in the the world someone would have the ability to go back and forth between them in the first place and develop characters with soul. The author manages. Quinn becomes someone we know and care for. She is not perfect. In fact, she is quite fallible. She makes mistakes and thinks of herself in times of strife. She is tempted by the idea of escaping and daydreams about freeing herself from the things that feel unmanageable. Likewise; I also found myself drawn to the old soul and often illusive character of Nan, Quinn's mother.

I would recommend this book for those that have found themselves wondering "what-if?" too often or analyzing what could have been. It will give you a new perspective on trusting yourself and your choices.
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May 20, 2011 Alice Bola rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was very intrigued when I read the synopsis for this novel. I am one of those people who can't help but wonder what if? It's something I have always done. I wonder how different my life would have been if so-and-so had chosen me, if I had stayed in college, if I actually stuck to a diet , if I took that nanny job in Florida. So many questions without answers.

When I picked up this novel I was expecting a nice light run of the mill novel about what ifs. If you have already guessed that's not wha...more I was very intrigued when I read the synopsis for this novel. I am one of those people who can't help but wonder what if? It's something I have always done. I wonder how different my life would have been if so-and-so had chosen me, if I had stayed in college, if I actually stuck to a diet , if I took that nanny job in Florida. So many questions without answers.

When I picked up this novel I was expecting a nice light run of the mill novel about what ifs. If you have already guessed that's not what I got, you would be right. This novel is so much more. Yes, Quinn has the opportunity to see what her other life was like and yes, she can pass back and forth through them but it's so much more than that.

There is so much I want to tell you about this novel, but like Jenn's last review, I can't because I don't want to give too much away. I really enjoyed the time I spent with Quinn. Ms. Meister created a real, giving, well rounded character. It was very easy to feel empathy, not sympathy for Quinn. She was strong beyond her own comprehension.

My favorite character was Nan, Quinn's artist mother. Right from the beginning I felt a bond with the damaged woman who gave up everything for the sake of her family. I felt her struggles, I sat with her in that darkness, I saw the world through her eyes. She was beautifully flawed. If I had one literary wish, it would be for Ms. Meister to write Nan's story. I want to know where she began and what happened to bring her to her resolution.

If you are looking for a nice light read, this novel isn't it. If you are looking for a novel that will bring you to tears in the best way possible, this is it. There is so much good in this novel. My favorite chapters are the Quinn Deconstruction paintings. I loved the way Nan describes the paintings. I could picture them in my minds eye. I would buy one if they were real.

I leave you with this little morsel. There is a scene in the novel where a woman is crying out in anguish. Ms. Meister describes it as "It came from the place where loss met fury." Man, I loved that line. That's some good stuff. So good that I felt it too.

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Apr 09, 2011 Rhonda rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2011

Quinn is now married to Lewis, lives in the suburbs, has a young son and is expecting another baby.
HOWEVER, she once was in a relationship with neurotic Eugene, but chose Lewis over Eugene to make her mother happy with her choice... Her mother suffers from depression and commits suicide...something Quinn has a lot of difficulty dealing with.

But Quinn discovers she can pass through a portal to the life with Eugene, and her alive mother, going back and forth between the struggles with her current...more

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Mar 26, 2011 Adriana Bulgarelli rated it 5 of 5 stars

Quinn is a young mother expecting her second baby. She is happy with her husband and son until something horrible happens: her to be born baby girl's life is threatened by a rear sickness: not only she could die but in case she survives the birth she could be brain damaged. What to do?
Quinn needs her mother but she can only talk to her paintings at her father's house.
The situation is so overwhelming that leads her back to her childhood's experience of another life. Somewhere, someplace, there is...more

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Mar 20, 2011 Malcolm rated it 4 of 5 stars

Quinn Braverman gave up her life in the big city with her high-energy, neurotic boyfiend Eugene for life in the suburbs with a loving son, Isaac, a stable but undemonstrative husband Lewis and a Volvo. The Volvo is a nice touch, for it symbolizes what Quinn believes she has--a rock solid middle class life with no spark in it. Quinn has "issues." In fact, all of the characters in Ellen Meister's poignant, yet somewhat flat, "The Other Life" have issues.

Quinn's artistic mother, who suffered from...more Quinn Braverman gave up her life in the big city with her high-energy, neurotic boyfiend Eugene for life in the suburbs with a loving son, Isaac, a stable but undemonstrative husband Lewis and a Volvo. The Volvo is a nice touch, for it symbolizes what Quinn believes she has--a rock solid middle class life with no spark in it. Quinn has "issues." In fact, all of the characters in Ellen Meister's poignant, yet somewhat flat, "The Other Life" have issues.

Quinn's artistic mother, who suffered from depression, escaped her lot in life through suicide. As Quinn tries to come to grips with a difficult pregnancy, the loss of her mother and whether or not her own life is worth living in its present form, she has an escape hatch that's better than death but ultimately just as absolute.

Quinn has always known that another Quinn lives another life in an alternative universe. She is aware of portals between the here and now and that look-alike place. In the other life, she's still with Eugene, isn't carrying a daughter who might never have a life at all, and isn't driving a Volvo with all that entails. Seeking answers, if not escape, she finally steps through the portal. She likes what she sees. She feels guilty for liking it. It pulls at her like a dark undertow on a sunny beach. Yet, if she likes it too much and chooses to stay there, then Isaac and Lewis will be lost to her. Early on, she understands that she will not be able to step back and forth between these lives forever.

"The Other Life," isn't science fiction; yet some readers might appreciate additional clarity about Quinn's universe next door. While Quinn acknowledges that the other life contains another version of herself, she never meets this self, nor does she become that other self and suddenly have all of the continuity and knowledge that would bring her. One gets the impression that the universe next door exists in stasis until Quinn appears.

More importantly within the scope of the novel, however, is the reality with which Meister presents the typical, and often difficult, challenges a woman faces in marriage, balancing the needs of a husband and a child with her own creaturehood, the losses of parents, and the prospects of a heartbreaking future with a daughter who may be born retarded. There's an honesty here that we don't often see in fiction, the concept that a woman can be happily married while wondering if that marriage is really the choice she should have made.

Quinn, as all real and fictional characters, must make painful decisions. Meister’s inventive next-door universe gives Quinn a unique option even though more magic, spark and facts about how that other life works would have strengthened the novel. While Quinn herself comes across as self-centered and a bit hard for anyone, including a mother, to love, her choice is no less difficult. Her thought processes as she makes her choices about the road not yet taken are the story’s greatest strength.

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Sep 20, 2012 Heather rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book had promise, but for me it fell way short. Parts were unbelievable and there were many unanswered questions and unexplored topics:

SPOLIERS
-Even though Quinn has had the whole 'slip through the portal' ability since she was very young, she doesn't do it until age 36. Wouldn't she have tried it before then?

-At one point she actually decided to stay in the other life because her real life is taking a turn for the worse. But this means leaving her sweet 6 year old son, whom she adores. The...more

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Feb 14, 2011 Lydia Presley rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, contemporary, fiction

I devoured this book. I mean, I've been on a bit of a reading diet lately due to school and other real life nonsense but this book... this book refused to let me out of its grip.

It wasn't that it was necessarily a very different story, or unique, or strange - it was just that it was a very compelling story. A story that dealt with life and death, with decisions, with family relationships and choices that may not always be the easiest ones to live with.

Quinn is faced with a decision - the decis...more

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Mar 02, 2011 Sterlingcindysu rated it 4 of 5 stars

A great story on "what if". Besides the usual concepts of marriage and children, this story also concentrates on how one woman's decisions affect others, on how they succeed or don't. Just how much responsibilty do we have for others' lives? I really liked how another portal opened up when the heroine was facing a major decision. (copied review) If you could return to the road not taken, would you? Happily married and pregnant, Quinn Braverman has an ominous secret. Every time she makes a major...more

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Feb 12, 2011 Kelly Hager rated it 4 of 5 stars

When she was a little girl, Quinn discovered that she had another life. As in, there was an alternate reality with a different Quinn, one who made different choices. She was always a little curious about alterna-Quinn, but she never was seriously tempted to do anything about it. Until, as a grownup, she learns that her second child will likely be born with disabilities. Her other life is one where she had stayed with her other boyfriend, one where she's not married or a mom.

I devoured this book...more

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Nov 30, 2010 Susan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Warning: have the Kleenex handy before reading this one! I'm on a blog called the Girlfriends Book Club with Ellen Meister, and she's just lovely. So I knew THE OTHER LIFE was a book she'd poured her heart and soul into, and that it was a departure for her. I love books with magical realism, so I dove into the advanced copy of THE OTHER LIFE...and I read it in two days. I was so sucked in by the two lives of Quinn Braverman, and I say "two" because she's able to travel through a portal back and...more

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About Ellen Meister

I'm the author of four traditionally-published novels, FAREWELL, DOROTHY PARKER, THE OTHER LIFE, SECRET CONFESSIONS OF THE APPLEWOOD PTA and THE SMART ONE. I've also published numerous short stories and essays, do public speaking about writing-related topics, and teach creative writing at Hofstra University Continuing Ed. If you want to know more about me or my books check out my website, ellenme ...more

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