Owen In Elsewhere By Gabrielle Zevin

Elsewhere is an award-winning book by Gabrielle Zevin, it was written in 2005 and is set on Earth and ‘Elsewhere’ in present day. It is about a young girl called Liz who has a fatal accident and experiences what life after death is like. The book follows Liz as she learns about her new surroundings. I chose this book because it looked interesting but right for my age and reading ability. I expected this book to show me an alternate view and provide exciting reading. In this essay I am going to focus on the character Owen and how his character develops throughout the book.

The main character Liz is 15 when she is involved in a car accident. She dies before she reaches the hospital and she is taken to ‘Elsewhere’, which in the book is a place like Heaven. In Elsewhere everyone ages backwards and she meets her Grandma who is
At the beginning of the book he is made to appear as an antagonistic character. We can see this when he catches Liz at the well. “As soon as she hits the deck, the man begins to speak in a stern voice.” This shows how our first impression of Owen is he is a strict person who does not particularly like Liz. I feel strongly towards Owen as I think he is a relatable character because he wants to be forgiven for how he first appeared and everyone makes mistakes. Owen later apologises for how he first came across to Liz and he quickly becomes a likeable character.

In the middle of the book Owen has developed as a character as his personality has softened. We can see this as he has grown to be a character we like and respect and he is much kinder towards Liz. A good example of this is when he contacts Liz’s brother to apologise. “When he (Owen) met a person like Liz, he was particularly ashamed. In his opinion, she legitimately wanted to move on and he hindered her in that process. Owen felt he needed to make amends.” This shows how Owen regrets his actions and tries to put right the