5.44k reviews for:

Life After Life

Kate Atkinson

3.81 AVERAGE

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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: Complicated

I found this to be a slow start but when I finally got into the rhythm and fully grasped what the author was doing I really enjoyed it. Although her telling and retelling of the more gruesome aspects of the London blitz seemed overdone at times. Bottom-line; it left me wondering about my own life and how many different ways it could have turned out. Truly a well-written and original story.
challenging emotional informative inspiring mysterious tense

Es fällt mir nicht leicht, dieses Buch in Worte zu fassen. Im Grunde geht es um Ursula – ein Mädchen, das 1910 in England geboren wird. Sehr oft. Denn nach der Geburt geht die Geschichte weiter, und in jeder Geschichte ändert sich etwas, manchmal eine Kleinigkeit, manchmal etwas Großes, und plötzlich verläuft Ursulas Leben anders. Manchmal nur ein bisschen, manchmal komplett anders. Und wenn sie stirbt, beginnt die Geschichte wieder 1910 in England, wo Ursula geboren wird. Und sich wieder etwas ein wenig ändert, damit sie dieses Mal nicht bei der Geburt erstickt oder als Kind ertrinkt oder in London während des 2. Weltkriegs im Blitz stirbt. 
Das Buch ist unfassbar clever geschrieben. Es war zwar anstrengend, den unterschiedlichen Varianten immer zu folgen, zu erkennen, wann sich etwas verändert hat in der Geschichte und wozu das dann führte. (Manchmal war es nur die Sprache des Buchs, das Ursula als Kind las, und plötzlich wurde sie Jahre später enge Freundin von Eva Braun.) Das geschichtliche Hintergrundwissen der Autorin muss enorm sein. 
Kein leichtes Buch, aber ein geniales. 

I really enjoyed this - though it wasn't a book that makes me want to run out and get others to read it too. But it was a neat concept executed well and I liked and rooted for the characters. I will still be thinking about it and am interested to see what my book club thinks of it.

Well, I got halfway through the book before giving up. It did start to get interesting for a bit around page 125, but then it went nowhere. Not enough happened in this book, and it ticked me off that they called it reincarnation. That's when you die and come back in another time as another person, which is not what happens in this book.

Wow, get past the muddy beginning and a seventh-inning stretch and there's a hell of a novel here. Epic! A good balance to all the fluff I've been reading lately :)

interesting concept, more or less an interesting story. tedious to relive over and over.
challenging emotional funny reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Depressing. Couldn't get past the anxiety this caused me of how could I or my kids could die next. Maybe not at this season in my life. I could have taken some of it to set the stage of a greater "sliding doors"philosophy but it never seemed to get there.

jamesfitz3's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 33%

I thought the book was fine but I’m just so fucking tired of
EVERY historical fiction book having rape and unwanted pregnancy. As soon as I saw her being like omg why am I gaining weight?? I was out.
I’m over it!!!!! I get that it’s a thing that happens but it doesn’t have to happen in every fucking book