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Review: Life After Life by Kate Atkinson


Book: Life After Life

Author: Kate Atkinson

Pages: 544

I Read: The paperback copy pictured above

I Read It In: 8 hours (over two days)

Plot Summary: On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born, the third child of a wealthy English banker and his wife. Sadly, she dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in any number of ways. Clearly history (and Kate Atkinson) have plans for her: In Ursula rests nothing less than the fate of civilization.

 What I Liked: This is a fantastic book! It starts in 1910 and goes all the way upto the early 50s and takes the reader through the tumultuous War years and the gap between the Wars. In bullets then...

  • The premise of the book is so delicious! Who among us has not wondered what they would do if they could live x years of their lives over? Or just live one crucial day in their life over? Or just want some sort of erase-and-rewind thing going on in their lives? I think about it sometimes! I want to go re-live my college/uni life because they were so wonderful and I want to extract more, more, more and more out of them. Sigh. So, anyway, Ursula Todd gets to live her life over and over again; as she does, she changes the destinies of those around her as well as herself. 
  • The writing is gorgeous! 
  • The scenarios- each and every single one of them as Ursula lives and dies and is re-born- are interesting and well-crafted. The book never gets boring even though we live through the same period over and over again. 
  • The characters are also well-crafted. The Todd family, Ursula's friends- in her many avatars, so to speak- and sundry other people in her life have depth and make for interesting reading. 
  • The depictions of the War- both of them- were different. During World War I, the focus was on the Todd family and their lives in rural England. The impact of the War was seen through their daily lives and ups-and-downs. World War II was more action-oriented.. the Blitz in London, end-of-the-War Germany.. and even some Swiss Alpine resort type place told those stories. Very interesting. 
There was nothing I didn't like in this book. It is amazing and I highly recommend it! I always assumed Kate Atkinson wrote crime fiction- I have read a few books by her- When Will There Be Good News?- and also saw its TV version starring Jason Issacs (the actor who plays Lucius Malfoy in the Potter films). I was quite surprised to see this book at Crossword and picked it up because I had enjoyed her crime fiction! 

I digress! So, anyway, read this book. It is AMAZING! 

Rating: 5/5 
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