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jolineliest's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Abortion, Animal death, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Suicide, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, War, Domestic abuse, Gore, Blood, and Grief
Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Body shaming, Genocide, Antisemitism, Cursing, Excrement, Deportation, Drug use, Fatphobia, Mental illness, and Sexual content
elliott_the_clementine's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Racism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Rape, Genocide, Death, Sexism, War, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, and Child death
Moderate: Racial slurs, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Vomit, and Blood
Minor: Suicide and Suicidal thoughts
courtneyreadsometimes's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Death, War, Gore, Genocide, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Murder, Mental illness, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child death, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Rape, Misogyny, and Gun violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Vomit, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Child death, and Death of parent
emtees's review
- 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
4.5
In the second chapter, Ursula is born in 1910 and dies almost immediately. In the third chapter, she is born again, but this time, rather than being stuck in a snowstorm, the doctor arrives in time to save her life. But tragedy strikes again a few years later, and then Urusla is born for a third time, and lives and dies, and so on, for over a dozen different lives. The lives she lives are all a little different, but there are common notes; a few times she manages to veer off in an entirely new direction, such as the two lives in which she marries and her husbands take her off to very different, tragic ends, but for the most part Ursula grows up in the English countryside in a large, typical family and then, if she survives her childhood, she goes to London and lives through the Blitz. At first, these lives seem unconnected from each other, different variations on the same woman’s life, but as the book progresses it slowly becomes clear that Ursula is living these lives one after the other, and while she doesn’t really remember her previous lives, the buried memories of them begin to effect her. In one stretch of the book, she dies in a nearly identical way for several lives in a row, and with each new life she becomes more aware of the danger and more desperate to stop it, even if she doesn’t fully understand where that premonition of danger comes from. Her family sees her as afflicted with deja vu, something that gets worse in each subsequent life, as Ursula encounters more and more reflections of events that have already happened. Eventually she begins to take action directly based on these premonitions, not only to stop her own deaths but to help others, culminating in the event from the first chapter.
The plot wasn’t really the strength of the book for me. The idea of reincarnation over and over into the same life, and the possibility of actually changing things, is interesting, but I wasn’t totally satisfied with how it ended up and I found the end of the book a little confusing. (I think I figured out what happened in the final lives, but at was based on some leading questions in the author’s note at the end of the book; otherwise I would have been totally lost.). But the strength of the book was really in the themes and characters. The theme of the book is “what if you could live your life over and over until you got it right?” But the book questions what “getting it right” would look like. Ursula is happier in some lives than in others; she accomplishes more good in some than others; there are lives where things don’t work out great for Ursula but circumstances are better for her loved ones. The life in which she dies the most miserable death, and make the worst decisions, is also arguably the one where she experiences the greatest love. Which of these lives is the one where she “gets it right?” As Ursula becomes more aware of what is happening to her, she has more opportunities to make conscious choices about how to live her life, but how is she supposed to know which choices are the right ones? Who defines right?
With each life, the story revisits the same mundane circumstances of Ursula’s usually very ordinary life, and so we get to see it over and over from different angles. I came to really appreciate Ursula’s family after seeing them through so many lives. Relationships get examined from different angles because the circumstances change slightly from life to life. Meanwhile, Ursula herself seems to change from the experience of reincarnation. A great part of the book is seeing the subtle ways her experiences in one life shape her in the next; an event that traumatizes her one time around is faced with strength in the next and bemused equanimity in the one after. The Ursula of the early chapters is a bit of a blank slate but by her last life she is bold, decisive and fearless.
Graphic: War, Domestic abuse, Child death, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Rape, Abortion, Suicide, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Antisemitism and Sexism
The plot deals heavily with the Blitz and is explicit in depicting the violence of war. A character is in an abusive relationship andshibaunited's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Abortion, Antisemitism, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, Misogyny, Gun violence, Genocide, Deportation, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Medical content, Death of parent, Death, Suicide, Excrement, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, War, Violence, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Blood, and Animal death
tyrannosaurus_lex's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Child death, Death, and War
Moderate: Animal death, Rape, Domestic abuse, Murder, Sexual assault, and Suicide
Minor: Sexism
ecstaticlistening's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Abortion, Colonisation, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Blood, Death, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Vomit, Animal death, Child death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Murder, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Rape, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, and War
jowmy4's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Antisemitism, Death of parent, Genocide, Hate crime, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Xenophobia
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Excrement, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, and Vomit
Parts of this book are set during the Spanish flu, the London Blitz, the Bombing of Berlin and the German Third Reich, and feature the expected horrors of each setting. However, I think part of the point of the book is to say that tragedies, horrors and other malign things happen all the time, even outside of these big events and even in seemingly-idyllic and safe locations.