Title: Life After Life
Author: Kate Atkinson
Pages: 531
Finished: January 9, 2017
First Sentence: A fug of tobacco smoke and damp clammy air hit her as she entered the cafe.
Summary: Ursula Todd walks into a cafe in Germany and shoots Hitler. She dies. Years earlier, Ursula Todd is born, but dies due to strangulation from the umbilical cord. Ursula Todd is born and survives because the doctor arrived this time. Ursula Todd dies at the age of four from drowning in the ocean. Don't worry, she's reborn. In fact, she's born again and again, and dies again and again. Each life is different. Sometimes greatly so, other times not so much. And it seems she's doomed to live this life over and over.
Thoughts: Woah. I read this for part of a challenge at work. The adult winter reading theme was Expand Your Reading Comfort Zone. We filled out a form of our typical reading styles, and then the adult services librarians picked a book for us that was outside of our comfort zone.
I don't typically read a ton of historical fiction, and I tend to be a pretty linear person, but I found myself hooked on this book. I found it interesting how Ursula changed in each iteration. People have compared this to the movie Groundhog Day, but I find that a bit unfair. In Groundhog Day, Bill Murray's character knew exactly what was happening each day. Ursula was only vaguely aware that things were happening again. She fumbled through each life with plenty of trial and error.
Sylvie was the character who confused me the most. When we first met her, I actually quite liked her. She seemed very bright and vivacious. Intelligent and ready to give Hugh a run for his money. And then she just got worse and worse. I know I'm reading the book with 21st century sensibilities, but her way of handling Ursula's rape and subsequent abortion was very unfeeling and very... wrong.
The chapters regarding London during the Blitz were quite difficult to read. The detail of the bodies was quite gruesome. Don't read while eating. It reminded me a lot of Foyle's War, a television series set in WWII.
In the end, I'm really glad I read this. I feel like it needs a second read to be digested properly, though that will obviously have to wait for another time.
I don't typically read a ton of historical fiction, and I tend to be a pretty linear person, but I found myself hooked on this book. I found it interesting how Ursula changed in each iteration. People have compared this to the movie Groundhog Day, but I find that a bit unfair. In Groundhog Day, Bill Murray's character knew exactly what was happening each day. Ursula was only vaguely aware that things were happening again. She fumbled through each life with plenty of trial and error.
Sylvie was the character who confused me the most. When we first met her, I actually quite liked her. She seemed very bright and vivacious. Intelligent and ready to give Hugh a run for his money. And then she just got worse and worse. I know I'm reading the book with 21st century sensibilities, but her way of handling Ursula's rape and subsequent abortion was very unfeeling and very... wrong.
The chapters regarding London during the Blitz were quite difficult to read. The detail of the bodies was quite gruesome. Don't read while eating. It reminded me a lot of Foyle's War, a television series set in WWII.
In the end, I'm really glad I read this. I feel like it needs a second read to be digested properly, though that will obviously have to wait for another time.
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