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A review by bklassen
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Absolute gorgeous novel that explores the depths of one character: Ursula Todd. You see her in a multitude of lives (as every time she dies, she is reborn as the same baby, but an alternate timeline, and extremely limited awareness of the other timelines that shows up as déjà vu or the sense that something could have gone wrong in another lifetime.
I loved the exploration of Ursula as a character, as it was an in-depth look into who she was and how she both changed and stayed the same across her different iterations. It was also an excellent portrayal of war and how it changes people.
Admittedly, it’s been a fair amount of time between finishing the book and writing the review (a month and a half – life got busy), so I have lost some of the details, but I will not forget the characters and Ursula’s deep connection with her family, her brave and harrowing involvement in World War II, and how her various past lives both inform and deepen her choices that she makes.
It’s a fascinating concept with gorgeous prose, and although it’s not quite the same, I would offer this as an alternative to The Midnight Library, which I found repetitive and shallow. Life After Life has a similar concept, but offers a much greater and deeper examination of character and despite repeating life situations, it always felt like it offered new information about the world or Ursula herself.
There is a sequel about everyone’s favorite secondary character, Teddy, and I will certainly be reading that.
I loved the exploration of Ursula as a character, as it was an in-depth look into who she was and how she both changed and stayed the same across her different iterations. It was also an excellent portrayal of war and how it changes people.
Admittedly, it’s been a fair amount of time between finishing the book and writing the review (a month and a half – life got busy), so I have lost some of the details, but I will not forget the characters and Ursula’s deep connection with her family, her brave and harrowing involvement in World War II, and how her various past lives both inform and deepen her choices that she makes.
It’s a fascinating concept with gorgeous prose, and although it’s not quite the same, I would offer this as an alternative to The Midnight Library, which I found repetitive and shallow. Life After Life has a similar concept, but offers a much greater and deeper examination of character and despite repeating life situations, it always felt like it offered new information about the world or Ursula herself.
There is a sequel about everyone’s favorite secondary character, Teddy, and I will certainly be reading that.