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readingspells 's review for:
Life After Life
by Kate Atkinson
emotional
funny
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:
Complicated
Well this was definitely a mixed bag of a book for me.
Let's start with the positive; Kate Atkinson can write passages and lines that just evoke such a visceral reaction. I could picture Fox Corner and Ursula, through all her ages and wild Isabelle and Sylvie, Hugh Teddy etc. I felt like I was there, just hovering above them watching it all. Willing them to be OK. So much of this book is so alive and real to me.
But the reincarnation part of it at times was so jarring that if I have not been reading it for Helen's book club I probably would have DNF because I found it so annoying and frustrating. In particular the influenza storyline. It resets so many times and the way out of it gets more and more farcical that I got quite irritated. Also the whole Germany time line with Hitler just felt really random and also pulled us away from all those characters we had come to be invested in. Likewise the bombing of London just seemed to go round and round. How many times did she do it? I couldn't tell you. Too many times. Was Creighton part of all of them? Who knows.
Also the ending. It just didn't feel hugely satisfactory to me. I wish it at ended with Ursula finally reaching old age and finally finding some peace in a natural death but the jumping back again, a bit more Hitler some other stuff. Frustrating.
Many years ago I read Behind the Scenes of the Museum by the same author and remember loving it. I might try it again because her writing of characters and places really is phenomenal it was just the plot that didn't work for me.
Oh but there was a dog, more than one in fact. When Lucky waits for Teddy to come back from his flight, that was when I cried. Dogs!
Let's start with the positive; Kate Atkinson can write passages and lines that just evoke such a visceral reaction. I could picture Fox Corner and Ursula, through all her ages and wild Isabelle and Sylvie, Hugh Teddy etc. I felt like I was there, just hovering above them watching it all. Willing them to be OK. So much of this book is so alive and real to me.
But the reincarnation part of it at times was so jarring that if I have not been reading it for Helen's book club I probably would have DNF because I found it so annoying and frustrating. In particular the influenza storyline. It resets so many times and the way out of it gets more and more farcical that I got quite irritated. Also the whole Germany time line with Hitler just felt really random and also pulled us away from all those characters we had come to be invested in. Likewise the bombing of London just seemed to go round and round. How many times did she do it? I couldn't tell you. Too many times. Was Creighton part of all of them? Who knows.
Also the ending. It just didn't feel hugely satisfactory to me. I wish it at ended with Ursula finally reaching old age and finally finding some peace in a natural death but the jumping back again, a bit more Hitler some other stuff. Frustrating.
Many years ago I read Behind the Scenes of the Museum by the same author and remember loving it. I might try it again because her writing of characters and places really is phenomenal it was just the plot that didn't work for me.
Oh but there was a dog, more than one in fact. When Lucky waits for Teddy to come back from his flight, that was when I cried. Dogs!