It’s a while since I read a book I didn’t want to put down, a book that made me continue reading in bed gone midnight. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson is that book. Atkinson manages the macro settings and the micro details with ease, from the petty sibling squabbles at Fox Corner to the camaraderie of the ARP wardens in the Blitz. Before I started reading Life after Life I read the phrase ‘Groundhog Day’ a few times in reviews, which belittles the intricate weaving of Ursula Todd’s lives. In the way that Logan Mountstuart’s life runs parallel to the great historical moments of the last century, Ursula’s life stories are book-ended by the approach and aftermath of the First and Second World Wars. Ursula, little bear, is an engaging character we see born and die, again and again through her own personal déjà vu. I wasn’t sure how this was going to work but once I stopped worrying about it and surrendered myself to Ursula, I was transfixed.
This is another work of art, as mesmerising as her first Behind the Scenes at the Museum. It is such an ambitious novel, that I can only guess at the intricacy of the writing process and admire her for it.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK AT AMAZON
Read my reviews of these other novels by Kate Atkinson:-
A GOD IN RUINS
BIG SKY
SHRINES OF GAIETY
TRANSCRIPTION
If you like this, try:-
‘Homeland’ by Clare Francis
‘The Aftermath’ by Rhidian Brook
‘The Translation of Love’ by Lynne Kutsukake
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I despised Groundhog Day, but it isn’t repetitive – every time it returns to her birth, the story moves on.
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🙂 SD
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Adored this book, and love the reference to Logan Mountstuart!!
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‘A God in Ruins’ is out in May, she’s one of my top 5 authors! SD
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I’d read the Groundhog Day comments a few times too. It made me worry that this book would be too “gimmicky” to enjoy. That wasn’t the case at all. I thought it was brilliant 🙂
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Perhaps the people who said that hadn’t read her previous books. I just trusted her to manage it!
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