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? (Pub Date: Sep 22, 2020)
I'm usually a big fan of Picoult but this one was a little too much. And yet, I couldn't stop reading. It's a weird feeling.
After we learn Dawn was one of the few survivors in a plane accident, we find out more about her two lives. The one where she used to be an Egyptologist and on her way to make a big discovery, but had to give up and now she goes back to Egypt despite her family to find out whether she regrets the choice. And another she's facing problems in her marriage, but still goes back to her family after escaping them.
3.5, but not that good to become a 4, with an alert for text dump and open ending.
Picoult's book usually include a trial, or maybe it is I who haven't read enough. Still, I was waiting for one and was about to feel disappointed when I noticed the main point—The Book of Two Ways depicts the path a soul takes to the Afterlife, it's like a small cheat to reach and pass the final Judgment and then move on to heaven (or what they used to call, you'll learn it all). So I believe Picoult made a trial for Dawn's choices and how it affected people surrounding her, which is actually beautiful.
But this book is long and dense, too. Still, the mystery of what's happening to the main character allied with wanting a lot to know what she'll do made me turn pages very quickly. So I have to say it's not a bad read. It's just that it had too many flaws to call it very good. Also, this was the first Picoult I didn't love.
The first problem is what everyone is saying, a lot of it feels like Introduction to Egyptology 101, another lot could as well be called Quantum Physics for Dummies (and will people just get over Schrodinger's Cat, please??? Since they found out it exists, they just conclude no one has heard of it and explains it like a big novelty. If you don't know it, you'll become very knowledgeable but millennials on should probably be familiar and also probably as tired of it as I feel). In any case, this book is theory heavy leading to very little in the plot really. I think Picoult really wanted to write some Egyptology article; she did enough research for one. I don't know anything to judge the quality but it was overwhelming. The Physics part was cute, on the other hand, but I wasn't awestruck like with the Egypt parts, it was just a lot of talk and very little result, should be wonderful in a movie where they'll shorten the parts for impact.
Once you just deal with the academic reads, there's the actual story. Dawn revisits her past and we learn about her days as a grad student in Egypt and we learn about later, when she meets her husband and chooses not to go back. In present time, we see her work as a death doula, helping people organize their lives before dying unable to organize her own family; and her identity crisis, when she decides to go back to Egypt and find again the love she'd left behind. Because we have no idea what made her life part in those two timelines, we can only pick hints here and there of how they will meet, which was what was most gripping about the book. To be honest, most of my hypotheses on that explanation were very unsatisfactory so I can say I'm glad with how it all panned out, although it could have been more.
I also have problems with a lot of specific points I can't single out without spoiling things, but that made me rethink my opinion on Picoult. One I can certainly name is the treatment of Dawn's daughter, who is overweight. She tries a redemption in the end that really didn't work for me. Along with that some key decisions Dawn made felt far-fetched too. Near the end, her husband I believe accuses her of being selfish and she argues she'd given up on things for others her whole life etc, but I really didn't buy it. For me, Dawn is one main character really hard to like or relate.
This review got too long and I still think there's a lot I wanted to discuss. For a book so well researched and structured, the main story wound up vain. If you can get past the info dump, I think you can enjoy the book but not many should really love it. I can't speak for all, of course.
Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.
Rating: 3 out of 5.
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