The Book of Two Ways Paperback – 1 Jan. 1900

Interesting story whilst dipping into the intriguing history of Egyptology. Another great Jodi Picoult book.

Like many other reviewers, I am a staunch Jodie Picoult fan. Like many others I was initially disappointed by this book. I agree that the first pages read very much like a text book. I love history but ironically, have never felt drawn to Egyptian history. I couldn't be bothered with the hieroglyphs, I couldn't pronounce the names and I began to let all of this get in the way of trying to understand the story! Ultimately, I did enjoy the book but I also found that at times I became confused with it - which time slot was I in? Was this the present or the past? Sometimes I found it just slipped from one time to another with no clear delineation. Perhaps that was just me! I thought long and hard about the rating to give. I couldn't score it 2 or 3 stars because the writing is so good. I couldn't justify 5 stars - it certainly isn't up there with the best of JP. so I settled for a generous 4 stars. I can confidently state that it won't be a re-read in the near future.

I loved this book , it kept me on edge the whole way through but I was dissapointed with the end, is there a sequel?

I downloaded this book as I enjoy Egyptian history and love this author's other books. The plot and storyline are excellent and the characters are strong. Whilst it is probably fairly key to the plot, I found that the moving around of the sequencing of what was happening distracted me. I struggled to understand the direction of the story until I was 75% of the way through and I nearly gave up all together. The ending was equally frustrating. A well written story but extremely frustrating to read.

I had forgotten why I love reading books written by Jodi, as I haven’t read one for a couple of years. Then I saw this. From the moment I read the first page, I remembered. Not only do you learn something interesting from this book (in fact loads of interesting things) but she really makes you think about life. Your life and other people’s.This book absolutely captivated me and has left me with loads of “life, the universe and everything” thoughts which I know will stay with me for a very long time.Thank you to Jodi Picoult for another amazing book.

Very very difficult to do a critique for this as there are many levels to the book in breadth and depth. But I will try. First, on a visceral level, did I love it. Honestly, no, I didnt. Why? Well, while there is absolutely no doubt of the immense amount of research, that went into the book, I fully recognize this and it's awesome, but knowing so much about Egyptology, putting all those stories and so much of that vast knowledge into the book, doesn't make for me, a wonderful story, there is far too much information which I accept the writer wants to impart to the readers but it felt like a text book admittedly on subjects, Egyptology and quantum physics that I only have a passing interest in. Can Jodi Picoult write ? No doubts at all. She is a wonderful writer She can write wonderfully well... and draw us into her characters. But here it's too heavy with academic research that for me detractedfrom the story. it's thought provoking and raised many questions about life and death and missed moments and whether we can ever go back in life and rewrite our history. "There's really no such thing as a wrong choice, we don't make decisions. Our decisions make us.". Do they? I don't know. Lucky Dawn, I thought, to find two different but equally amazing men to love and adore her. What the book implies is that love comes at a cost, and people whatever our choices get hurt. It's a long book, and, for me, doesn't take off until about 22 percent in but it did make me reflect on my life and choices, it's a bit Sliding Doors meets Egyptian history, and the focus on death and live in so many forms doesn't make it a lighthearted read. Heavy, slow by turns and an inconclusive ending but well written and makes you think. Not everyone s cup of tea, but a challenging, .... For me .... Read.

What a beautiful learning experience as well as a whirlwind of emotion!! Such perspective and food for thought!!! It is an amazing read and will that will stay with me for a good long time!!!! Thanks for the adventure x

With all the reviews indicating that this book was meant to be well written and "stunning" I was looking forward to a good read, despite that I usually avoid anything that might be described as "Chic lit". Only my inability to not finish any book I start (I know, it's mad) kept me reading on this one. The lead character is impossible to like, being entirely self centred and hysterical, the action impossibly unlikely, and the characters paper thin stereoptypes. I challenge any man to read this book and believe any of the male characters. They seem to be either sad souls with no self esteem who are the slaves of their selfish faithless women, or in the case of the main "love interest" a swashbuckling idiot whose dialogue comes straight out of Mills and Boone. Honestly! The story is very confusing, with no indication how the threads are meant to come together, and the end..... well that was the worst. I had read that some people found the extensive information on archaeology and quantum physics to be annoying, for me these were the only interest in this book.

I read this first before my mother died. She was suffering a long, brutal illness and when I started it I gave her a copy and we read them together across the miles. I remember being simultaneously transfixed and skewered; we had talked endlessly about the death she wanted but here was a book addressing all the same issues—PLUS an Ancient Egyptian plot line AND two romances AND an Irish twist. It was too real to read but I couldn’t put it down. In retrospect, the bravest reader was really my mom. A series of coincidences led me to re-read it now, nearly two years after I sat with her while she died, and the power of it came right back and smacked me in the heart. I couldn’t pause—I read it straight through. I loved it even more the second time, and I think as I continue to age and experience more death (and practice seeing the beauty in it) I will repeatedly earn myself a re-read. It’s a fantastic book with no shortage of glorious eye-opening moments that keep on giving. Thanks for writing this.

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。

one of her best..love the way it draws you into seeing your own life and how different paths you could of taken might have led you to a different life for yourself...i identified so much with the main character ..i also have been passionate about egyptian history...this novel was super clever in portraying it's title The book of two ways...on a personal note i am glad of my path when two ways crossed

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.