Elsewhere

by Gabrielle Zevin

What a waste, she thinks, to spend one’s dreams asleep.

Can't recall if I've ever dreamt of me sleeping...

She could remember feeling reckless, happy, and doomed, all at the same time. She could remember thinking, I am above gravity.

Since she had died, everything she was doing on Earth had seemed entirely meaningless.

That makes one stop and think

People die. People are born. People die again. Each birth and death is a little circle,

Population growth?

her daily routine at the Observation Decks had become less and less satisfying: each day blending into the one before it, bleary images that seemed to become blearier and blearier, her eyes strained,

Pretty much like any obsession I'd imagine

I am wasting my death, Owen says to himself. I am like one of those people who spend all their lives watching TV instead of having real relationships.

might be a good start to adopt a dog, he thinks.

HOORAY!!

Who the hell dies of the flu except really old people?

Well, not quite

for brand-new suitcases transporting you to strange new people in strange new lands.

Love that!

In the year Liz will turn thirteen again, she whispers in Betty’s ear, ‘Happiness is a choice.’

Liz is a younger Seneca

‘Message in a bottle,’ Owen answers. ‘It’s one of the few ways to get mail from Earth to Elsewhere. No one knows exactly why it works, but it does.’

Always loved the idea of messages in bottles

you should drop by the wedding. The boy’s name is Paul, and he smells good, and he has nice forearms.

Pretty basic requirements

‘A life isn’t measured in hours and minutes. It’s the quality, not the length.

I believe good things happen even when bad things happen.

True that, you wouldnt believe how many good things have happened to me since I was deemed to be very, very sick :-)