

Life after Life is the kind of book you should probably read in a real cold climate the snowy, dark and sometimes bleakness of the novel seems to call for it. I wonder if Kate Atkinson was trying something different and experimental where she could play with the character’s death and life, explore the concept of life’s choices and their consequences but because there were no real penalty to Ursula’s life I wonder if it really worked? Do you ever have déjà vu? (I don’t think so, but I could check with the kitchen) Life after Life just seems to repeat the same scenes, some readers might gain a sense of familiarity and for me it just felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere. This could have worked and it sounds like it worked for many people but I sadly wasn’t one of them. I did feel like Kate Atkinson did however overdo the twists and it turned out to be a roundabout way to retell the same story over and over again with different outcomes. I almost found myself not noticing a death and Ursula’s life starting again and that could have got me completely lost. I even felt like at times I was reading this book without thinking about what was happening a few times I had to stop and process before continuing. This book is getting so many rave reviews, I feel like I am a black sheep just telling people it did not work.Īs I said before, there is nothing wrong with the writing Kate Atkinson has created this lyrical narrative and I did find myself being swept away in the words. The book is clever, but it tries too hard to be clever and it didn’t really turn out the way it should have for me anyway. The premise of the book makes it sound really good but let’s face it it is just Groundhog Day in disguise. Sure Kate Atkinson has this trippy ability to create this bleak world while still managing to add some wit and compassion but it wasn’t the writing that was at fault.


I feel like I’m the only person on the planet that thought this book was overhyped and over rated. Life after Life tells the story of Ursula’s lives, as with each new life she makes small changes that send her on a completely different path. During that same snowstorm she was born again and lives to tell the tale again and again. Ursula Todd is born in a snowstorm in England in 1910 but dies before she can take her first breath. I feel like I’m the only person on the planet that thought this book was What if you had the chance to live your life again and again, until you finally got it right?

What if you had the chance to live your life again and again, until you finally got it right? Ursula Todd is born in a snowstorm in England in 1910 but dies before she can take her first breath. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in a variety of ways, while the young century marches on towards its second cataclysmic world war.ĭoes Ursula's apparently infinite number of lives give her the power to save the world from its inevitable destiny? And if she can - will she?. 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. She dies before she can draw her first breath. On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English banker and his wife. For as she grows, she also die What if you could live again and again, until you got it right? What if you could live again and again, until you got it right? On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English banker and his wife.
