Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

31 reviews

sauvageloup's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

A very compelling, if strange, book

pros:
- the prose and imagery is definitely it's strongest point. as one of the reviewers says, the scenes from the blitz in London are very vivid in my mind, as well as Ursula's awful time in london. and made me realise how truly awful it was for everyone - anyone who compares covid to the world wars has no idea. 
- the characters were also wonderfully done, they were all imperfect but well rounded and unique, especially Sylvie, Ursula herself and the rest of the family. 
- the idea itself is brilliant, and very well executed, with Ursula's slow realisation of what was happening and how the plots all came together. 
- though many references went over my head, I did enjoy the classical and cultural nods where I recognised them. 

cons:
-there were a lot of characters and storylines and it was confusing at times, especially because I had a break in the middle. but that added the palimpsest it was creating. 
- I found the ending strange and unpoignant, though Atkinson's note at the end helped with this. 

overall, very vivid and moving and I want to read more books by her in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Abortion, Grief, Vomit, Body horror, Death, Gore, War, Violence, Suicide, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, and Rape

tyrannosaurus_lex's review

adventurous emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• 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

An epic spanning across one person’s many lifetimes that explores the question of choice vs. destiny. 

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Content Warnings

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

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

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

academic_mama's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Genocide, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Child death, Death, Sexual violence, and Rape

Minor: Abortion

loosea23's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and War

Moderate: Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Suicide

fmjenn's review

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Suicide

forsan's review

emotional

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Ursula Todd, born in the decade before World War I, dies repeatedly as she grows up.  Each time she dies, her life begins again, and she accumulates an increasing sense of deja vu that can steer her to avoid previous deadly situations.  As she grows up, small choices can cause her different lives to diverge wildly.

Another one of my recent list of library recommendations, and again, I'm pleased with this one.  It had been on my radar for a while, and I had expected to like it, so I'm not surprised that it did.  I like repeating-life tropes, and so I had fairly high expectations for it.  There were some really sad parts (sad in ways that I hadn't expected--I knew this was a book about war).  The reflections on mortality were touching, and I found it really interesting to see the repercussions of Ursula's actions at different times.  I found the book really captivating, though there were a couple timelines that I think could have been shortened a little.

----

While I'm sure that no one really cares about this, it was interesting to me that the German in this book (and there's a decent amount) is not exactly excellent.  Occasionally there are German-involving allusions that are <b>stellar</b> (

"They willed Frieda to live and she did. Triumph des Willens--just wow!  Triumph des Willens ('Triumph of the Will') was a famous Nazi propaganda film, and the use of the phrase is so creative here.).  But sometimes there are things that just seem really out of place.  Notably,

"Ach so, mein Freund, für sie der Krieg ist zu ende" [all stet], intended: "...for you the war is over"

.  This is emphatically ungrammatical German that reads like an overly-direct English translation--the proper version would be something like

für Sie ist der Krieg zu Ende

.  Obviously the point of this book isn't the German, but I'm a little curious as to how things like these (and there were a number!) didn't get caught, for a book that involves a decent amount of German.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Suicide, and Rape

Moderate: Animal cruelty

mrising1's review

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This story is beautiful.  Even with the elements of nihilism and hopelessness there is something so stunning about the unending perseverance. Ursula's life is like a repeating refrain as a song fades out. This is such a unique way to approach topics that can feel oversaturated. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Grief, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, and Child death

Moderate: Animal death, Genocide, and Medical trauma

This novel is graphic and heartbreaking in so many areas. This piece is done excellently, but it's best not to read this if you're in a low place.

superbowl's review

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Abortion

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Child death, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

jowmy4's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

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.