The Book of Two Ways: A Novel

This book contained so many interesting thoughts, topics and characters. I would have given it five stars, but for the ending.It feels very incomplete. I know it’s a literary tool and “there are two ways hahaha it’s a physics problem get it?” but still.

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. 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?My Thoughts: Immediately we are thrust into the past for Dawn Edelstein, in The Book of Two Ways. She returns to the past as she revisits the Egyptian site where she first felt the passion of studying burial sites with Wyatt Armstrong. Back in Boston, her husband Brian waits, not understanding what has happened. And her daughter Meret is struggling.I could relate to the need to explore unfinished journeys, and even the road not taken. But is Dawn risking her present life for one that might have been?The story flips between the past and the present, and I soon found myself not enjoying the journey into the past and wishing Dawn would stay focused on what she has in the here and now. Like this moment she experiences with a client who is dying: “Her portrait of death lives in shadows. It’s midnight blue and dusky violet and violent black, but if you stare at it hard enough, you can make out two faint profiles, a breath apart, unable to complete that kiss for eternity.”But in parallel universes, we watch the characters flash back and forth, and the destinies that unfold are fascinating. We are kept on tenterhooks, wondering what will finally happen for them. While I often found myself preferring parts of the story more than others, in the end I couldn’t stop pushing through to the ultimate answers that might take the characters to places they should be.A book that held me captive until the end, I soon forgot about the parts I didn’t like much…and concluded that the work was unforgettable and had earned 4.5 stars.

This book by popular author Jodi Picoult was published in 2019 so I doubt my opinion will have any effect on current readership. Suffice it to say, I have mixed feelings about this novel which is only right for a book titled The Book of Two Ways.The book deals with Egyptology and the study of the burial customs of Ancient Egypt. I took two undergraduate courses in Egyptology so I expected I would find that interesting. To be honest, however, I thought the study went too deep for the layman and I found myself skimming parts of it. I think I could have accepted that, however, if the narrator hadn’t been such a pill.The storyline jumps between present day and 15 years ago when Dawn was a graduate student working on an excavation in Egypt. She clashes with a golden haired grad student from England, heir to a title and the inevitable sparks fly. The romance is brought to a screeching halt when news of her mother’s terminal illness reaches her and she departs without a word to become the self-sacrificing caretaker of her dying mother and then the guardian of her young brother. She abandons her own dreams and soon marries an engineer she met while they were both pulling hospice duty. Her job is now Death Dula and involves total attention to her dying clients.A wake up call sends her back to Egypt where apparently her old love has been holding his breath and her place in his heart for 15 years.Meanwhile she is torn between love and loyalty for her husband and daughter and the hot passion just lurking beneath the surface for Wyatt. Somehow she is able to juggle these two feelings by connecting them to the philosophy of Ancient Egypt which asserted Man is allotted multiple lives based on the different choices you make. She is further able to delude herself because Wyatt the Egyptologist and her husband the quantum physicist can also entertain a similar philosophy.Thus Dawn convinces herself she has spent her life in sacrifice to others while actually emotionally jerking around the important people in her life.And worst of all is her manipulation of the reader at the conclusion of the book.My only excuse for reading this was the bargain price offered by Amazon. I promise to do better.

This is a book that takes the lessons learned in the science of Egyptology and shows it can apply to modern day life. Birth, life, and death are three things that have not changed since the beginning of time. And just for fun quantum physics is thrown in and is there a parallel universe. However, this is a book that can teach anyone and make the reader think about life and choices made.

First, I would not recommend anyone read this book like I did. Due to health and travels, it was read in fits and spurts. This book requires a more consistent reading schedule. I plan to read it again and suspect it will become a five star book for me.While complex, this story is very interesting. Viewing the Traveling King Tut exhibit in San Francisco when in the sixth grade is how my fascination with Egyptian history began. Traveling to Egypt became a Bucket List trip that never seemed to happen. Until January 2023 (ironically, while reading this book! )In addition to Egyptian history, many other relevant and interesting topics are discussed. Path(s) not chosen. Death. What is selfishness? Complete joy and complete sorrow. Family. The list goes on. Big topics. Answers aren’t given, just possibilities to consider.Do not expect an easy read. But do expect an interesting one!

I have not been so moved and entertained by a book since I read A.S. Byatt’s “Possession” in college. And that was a long time ago. This is a book that will insult no one’s intelligence. Highly crafted without feeling clunky, all characters drawn deeply. Brava.

This is a book with Egypt, history, caring, meaning, death, reconection and truth. I read all of her books and I this one enchanted me like when I read the first one.

エジプト学者になることを断念し終末期の病人の世話人（医者でも看護師でもケアマネージャーでもない）になった女性のお話。古代エジプトの"The Book of Two Ways"、主人公の夢と現実、元カレと現在の夫、夫の専門であるパラレルユニバースと、幾つものtwo waysが異なる対立軸として描かれ作品に奥行きを与えています。前段の設定披露はテンポ良く進みましたが、後半は作者の癖で必要以上に時間を前後してストーリーが飛ぶので読み辛いです。クライマックス近くにお約束の爆弾が炸裂しますが、話が散らかっており余り効きません。主人公は作者の作品に度々登場する悩みながらも自分に正直に生きている個人主義＝自己中心的な女性です。お陰で周りは全員えらい迷惑なのですが、そこをポジティブに捉えられるかどうかが本作の評価、果ては西洋と東洋の分かれ目です。

Really struggled with this so bored only got to chapter 2.Paid £9.99 on kindle.Very over priced.Looking forward to this too.Usually love her books.Too much detail about egypt, felt more like a history lesson than a novel.Not happy I wasted £10 to end up deleting after 2 chapters.Do amazon really need to charge so expensive for kindle downloads.I know it's a new release but it's not a hard copy.I wish I would have download a sample of book first,But I pre ordered it on the back of authors other amazing books.Her books are usually fantastic.But this one wasnt for me.Sorry jodi. X

Having read everything Jodi Picoult has written, I was so excited when this arrived. I was actually even more excited when I saw that it contained elements of Egypt too.However. There are substantial sections of the long chapters that are taken up with information you would learn on a course about Egyptology. Reading the authors notes it is clear that this book was written for her son, who has studied Egyptology in depth, so nice touch.The thing is I totally understand the need to show that you have done your research, but this element of the book comes across as too educational and moves away from the story. It can feel a bit lazy when an author does this too. "I have a story, it needs some meat on the bones, what can I do...ooh I know I will educate my readers with a history lesson and some cool pictures" It doesn't work.The story in this book is actually fascinating, I really bought into the the two story lines, I liked the relationship that the man character has for the two men in her life, with the twists and turns that go with it. The overdoes of history just distracts too much.Dial it back a bit on the history and just give us the amazing stories covering the great subjects moving forward.

A real letdown. I’m a huge fan of Jodi Picoult and I’ve read all her books until this one. I dislike the characters, the story is more an encyclopaedia of Egyptian history and quantum physics. If I want to study those subjects then I’ll enrol on a course, but I found that by the time I’d trawled through the lectures I had lost total interest in what the story was about. There’s no question, Jodi definitely did her research. However, I stopped reading halfway through because I just thought ‘Life’s too short ‘!I will normally persevere with a book, especially when I spend £10 on it, but this time I’ve abandoned it. I was so disappointed as I’d been so looking forward to reading this book. Next time I will download a trial before I buy it.