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frankilou_reader 's review for:
Life After Life
by Kate Atkinson
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
At first I found this book jarring and was frustrated by the repeated deaths and stop start nature, but then that is the whole premise of the book so you get used to it. Just as you felt you were getting into the story it came to a juddering holt and rewind. I quickly got to the point of groaning out loud as I could see that something was leading to danger and she was facing another death. However, as Ursula grows up she dies less often and the story is allowed to progress further, enabling us to get more invested in the character and situations she finds herself in. I felt the book was cleverly mapped out with small changes in behaviour resulting in different scenarios in Ursula's life. Other characters ran alongside her life, playing bigger or smaller parts depending on the turns it was taking. I thought it was clever how these characters were woven into the different stories. I really enjoyed the historical fiction aspect of the book with some of the descriptions transporting me back to those times. I did at times question whether Ursula's character was solid or a bit flakey as some of the different actions she took rubbed with me more than others and didn't necessarily feel consistent, but then again as she experienced different things in her different lives I felt that was probably to be expected to some extent. I found the German part more difficult to get through and felt it was possibly put into the story to make a point but didn't gel as nicely as the other scenarios did. Towards the end of the book I was quite addicted and wanted to get to the end. Overall, I did enjoy it but I felt it was a bit of a clunky read in places and didn't work quite as well as I hoped it would. For me it was the historic context that made this enjoyable more than the main plot concept of the repeated lives.