There was a giant thunderclap, a great cracking noise as the wall of hell suddenly split open and let all the demons out and then the tremendous suction and compression, as if her insides, her lungs, her heart and stomach, even her eyeballs were being sucked from her body. Salute the last and everlasting day. This is it, she thought. This is how I die.
(from Life After Life, page 287)
Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life depicts the many lives of Ursula Todd, who is born on February 11, 1910, during a blizzard, dies shortly after, and is immediately born again. Ursula will experience the falling darkness of death and be reborn on that same snowy night more than a dozen times over the course of the novel. From illness to accidents to war and more, Ursula fumbles through life and death, plagued by nagging feelings of impending doom, déjà vu, and the knowledge that she must somehow do something different this time.
Every time Ursula is reborn, more layers are added to her character, and readers can assemble a clearer picture of her parents, her relationships with her siblings, and her kinship with Aunt Izzy, the black sheep of the family. Atkinson brilliantly sets the novel during the World Wars, providing a backdrop of social upheaval, grief, and severe hardship for many. She takes readers to London during the Blitz, to Germany during Hitler’s rise to power, and to a desolate, hopeless Berlin as World War II draws to a close. Ursula lives ordinary lives, and she lives extraordinary ones, too, socializing with Eva Braun in Hitler’s Berghof or working tirelessly during the bombing raids in London.
Like most people, Ursula experiences moments of great happiness and great pain, but Ursula is unique in carrying the heavy burden of many lifetimes of past mistakes and even moments of inaction that changed the course of her life and the lives of those she loves. Atkinson makes readers think about whether getting to do it all over again (and again) would be a blessing or a curse, whether such power could (or should) be used to change the course of history, and whether we’d just keep making the same mistakes without end.
Life After Life is a beautifully crafted novel whose impact on me has not lessened in the weeks since I finished it. Atkinson has created an amazing character in Ursula — someone so ordinary and so endearing yet called to something too big for us to wrap our minds around. If I hadn’t grown to care for her, to cheer her on every time she struggled through another life, and if Atkinson had not set the book in such a fascinating time period, it might have grown as tedious as the title sounds. But in Atkinson’s skilled hands, Ursula and her story (gift? plight?) will not be easily forgotten. Life After Life is a powerful, brilliant novel about how seemingly insignificant events can change the course of your life, and because being given a second (or third or fourth) chance doesn’t mean we’d get it right (whatever “right” means), we can only live the best way we can in the here and now.
Disclosure: Life After Life is from my personal library.
© 2013 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.
This was one of my favorite audiobooks of the year….I never wanted it to end!
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It ended up being my favorite book for the year! 🙂
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That book sounds really wonderful and also a little complicated. I’ve wanted to read it ever since I spotted it on the Women’s Fiction Prize Longlist.
I’ve never read anything by Kate Atkinson before but from what you’ve got to say about “Life After Life” I bet it’d be good fun and really meaningful at the same time.
Cheers, Kaz 🙂
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This was my first Atkinson book, and I’d definitely read more by her in the future. It was complicated but worth working through it for sure.
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Thanks for your review, this book does sound wonderful. I do like books with many layers…
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You’re welcome! I suspect I only scratched the surface of this book.
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I’ve heard great things about this novel, glad to hear it lives up to the hype.
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You need to read it!
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I read this book and almost forgot how wonderful it was. It’s definitely on top of my list of books i read this year.It’s so unique–definitely a break from the same old formula books many authors churn out.
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It was certainly a breath of fresh air when it comes to novels set during the world wars.
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I’ve yet to read this, but everyone who has read it has raved about it. Amazing review Anna; thank you
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Thanks, Diane!
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I have this on my radar. The premise sounds fascinating and I loved reading your take on how it was written and how it affected you. Great review!
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Thanks, Laura!
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It took me a little while to figure out what was going on when I read this book but once I did, I was wowed. Fantastic review of a fantastic book.
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Thanks, Kathy! I even took notes to keep track of everything, but it was worth it.
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Anna, I read this last night on my phone and tried to leave a comment, but it gave me an error message, so I’m back today.
Life after Life sounds incredibly thought-provoking. Ursula’s story sounds compelling and worth reading. Excellent review as always, Anna!
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Oops–that should be Life After Life! I try to get the titles right. 🙂
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I sometimes have problems leaving comments via phone, too. Hope you give this one a try.
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I was hoping for a little more explanation of why or a hint at how this was happening to Ursula, but the author left it up to the reader to decide.
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I see what you mean, but it didn’t bother me as much as I expected it to. Probably because I’d read about that in another review, so I expected it.
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Life After Life is on my wish list. I have to read it. Great review.
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Thanks, Naida! I’m looking forward to your thoughts on it.
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If I just read a synopsis of this book, I’m quite sure I’d pass it up. But, thanks to great reviews from people whose opinion I trust, I’m quite sure now that I’ll pick it up.
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I had no intention of reading it at first, then I read a review that mentioned that it was set during the world wars, and of course, I was sold at that point. 😉
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[…] of Sugarman Swamp)61. Becky (Found In Him)62. Anna @ Diary of an Eccentric (The Lavender Garden)63. Anna @ Diary of an Eccentric (Life After Life)64. Harvee@Book Dilettante (The Pieces We […]
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I loved this book! I read it on a whim earlier in the year and was so happy I did. 🙂
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Glad to hear it!
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I am guilty of having this on my shelf for most of this year! I need to get busy.
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Yes, don’t let this book collect dust!
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[…] Life After Life by Kate Atkinson […]
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