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Reviewed by:
  • In Some Other Life by Jessica Brody
  • Deborah Stevenson, Editor
Brody, Jessica In Some Other Life. Farrar, 2017 [464p]
Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-374-38076-2 $17.99
E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-374-30737-0 $9.99
Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 7-10

After discovering her boyfriend Austin and her best friend making out, Kennedy Rhodes bitterly regrets having stayed in the public high school three years ago to be with Austin rather than attending Windsor, the posh private school she won a place at. When she blacks out from a bad fall, she wakes up in the life she’d have if she made a different choice; here she’s Kennedy “Crusher” Rhodes, Windsor’s star senior who abjures dating and plans to study economics, whereas the public school Kennedy was a diehard journalist. Her road not taken isn’t as idyllic as it seems, though; her family existence is strained, the focus on achievement above all has its costs, and she can’t suppress her journalistic instincts, which lead her to explore a cheating scandal that may involve people close to her. Brody writes with peppy style, and there are some bold touches in Kennedy’s parallel existences—her best friend is actually better off for never knowing her, and the financial impact of private school tuition is significant. However, the life-switch plot is a familiar one and the tropes well worn, and ultimately this is less about the grass always being greener than private school always being a bad and shallow plan. Still, the “what if” concept is perennially appealing, and readers may enjoy considering how Kennedy could have pulled off the best of both worlds. [End Page 7]

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