Life After Life (The Todd Family #1) by Kate Atkinson

"Though this was an extremely interesting and unique premise, of one woman getting a chance to live her life again and again, make different choices and eventually try to change the course of history, overall it went on for far too long and I skimmed the last 100+ pages."

⭐️⭐️

Pros: It was definitely a very interesting concept and Atkinson handled the repeating timelines well/Ursula is intelligent, independent and driven/Her repeated lives help her learn from her mistakes.

Cons:There were a number of characters who were mentioned repeatedly but they just didn’t quite stick in my head/Though I liked Ursula, I found her a bit detached emotionally, though that could have been simply the culture of 1930s/40s England/This book went on for far, far, far too long.

Full Review

Ursula is born but never draws breath, the umbilical cord wrapped around her throat. The doctor was caught in the snow storm and never made it in time.

Ursula is born again and this time, the Doctor makes it and he manages to save her.

Thus begins the repeating story of Ursula Todd. She's the third child of an upper middle-class English family. We watch through Ursula's eyes as the world around her changes and how these changes affect her and her loved ones. Each time she dies, she is born again and though she doesn't remember her past lives verbatim, she is often overcome with a feeling of dread when she reaches the climactic point of one of her previous lives, thus allowing her to make different choices.

We are shown the horrors of WWII, how in some of her lives, she is living in Germany at the time war is announced and is, in fact, friends with Eva Braun, the mistress of Hitler. She can see the writing on the wall, as can her family but she doesn't manage to flee the country in time. In some lives, she finds happiness, or at least, a fleeting version of it. In some lives she's married, has children and endures the struggles that everyone does, life, death, the eternal ballet we're all part of.

This was definitely a very interesting and unique premise and Atkinson handled it well but the book itself could have easily ended 100+ pages sooner. I liked Ursula, she was an easy character to root for and I liked that she was able to learn from her mistakes and basically given multiple second chances.

I was excited to read this book and had been meaning to for ages and though I give Atkinson props for managing to write a compelling and very detailed account of WWII and the horrors that Great Britain endured, in the end, the book was far too long and I skimmed the last parts of it.

Comments

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"Though dark, disturbing and at times, truly disgusting, Blakemore has created an unforgettable character in Tarare and his sad, sordid tale. This is a book that will stay with me for a long time for many different reasons and to me, that's a sign of a great read." ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐ Pros: Tarare wasn't a monster, it just seemed that the world was against him/I liked Lozeau and his strange band of misfits/Dr. Dupuis seemed like a genuinely good person, or at least, he had his moments. Cons: Some of the timeline/people of the French Revolution were just white noise to me/Courville was a despicable man. Full Review: The Bottomless man, the Glutton of Lyon, Tarare the Terrible. The man who has many titles but who's name is simply, Tarare, is dying in a hospital in Versailles. Citizen Doctor Tissier has written to his friend, Dupuis, in hopes that he'll be able to cure this mysterious illness that plagues Tarare. For now though, he lays, chained to his bed and waits for...

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