She is the middle one of five children, and not unnaturally she is closest with the sister right above her (Pamela), and the brother right below (Teddy). (“Because it’s in France,” Ursula pointed out.) He had seen enough of the continent during the Great War, he said, he couldn’t see what all the hullabaloo was about.Ītkinson excels at depicting the dynamics in Ursula’s family. Hugh was relieved that she would be spending her time “in the provinces,” where “people are, on the whole, better behaved.” (“He means duller,” Ursula said to Millie.) Hugh had completely vetoed Paris, he had a particular aversion to the city, and was hardly more keen on Nancy, which was still uncompromisingly French.

It was all exactly like this:Ĭould you drink the water in the Serpentine? Shelley’s first wife had drowned herself here but Ursula supposed that on a day like this - crowds of people enjoying the sunshine - it would be almost impossible to avoid another Mr. Maybe I just don’t know the glory that awaits me in Behind the Scenes at the Museum, but I thought the writing here was a delight: easily, lightly funny throughout. Teresa reports that the writing in Life after Life lacked the quirk she’s accustomed to experiencing in a Kate Atkinson book. The book is not linear, and there’s no reason you should be. Even if you are a linear reader, I recommend going this route. I read - and am glad I did - a physical copy of it, borrowed from the lovely Julia, which permitted me as much back-and-forth flipping as my heart desired. I am delighted, because I prefer agreeing with Teresa to not agreeing with her, and because I prefer liking things to not liking things, to have enjoyed Life after Life very much. The whole: My last foray into Kate Atkinson’s work was not a resounding success. I flipped backwards a good bit to see what was what, to no avail. The penultimate chapter is the shooting-Hitler chapter a second time, and in the final chapter, Ursula is alive after all, and so is her brother Teddy, who in earlier chapters (I flipped backwards to see) died in World War II. Surely she would just end up zapped back a few years in her timeline, with Hitler not dead at all? The end was not enlightening. The end (spoilers in this section only, so skip it if you don’t want them): I read the end because I was curious how - if she shoots Hitler in the end, and the SS officers around her shoot her right away (as they would) - how she manages to stay dead. American cover is not turning in a good effort. She does not remember her earlier go-rounds, and neither does anybody but she does, sometimes, become afflicted with vivid deja vu.Ĭover report: British cover wins.

Again and again throughout her childhood, Ursula dies, and dies, and dies again. The second time around, the doctor arrives in time to save her with a pair of surgical scissors, and she survives to live a regular life. At once we are flashed back to the day of her birth, when she dies from having the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. The beginning: In Life after Life, a woman called Ursula takes out a gun to shoot Hitler.

Life after life novel review