I have had Life After Life by Kate Atkinson on my shelf for ages and I was finally able to find the time to read it. It follows the life, or lives, rather, of Ursula Todd. She is born on a snowy night in 1910 and due to complications of her birth, she dies almost immediately due to the umbilical cord being tied around her neck. Then it is that same snowy night in 1910 and she is born again, but the doctor is able to remove the cord from her neck and she lives. We watch as Ursula lives many different lives where each ending takes her back to the beginning. Ursula is plagued by overwhelming moments of deja vu and flashes of foreboding throughout her life that the reader knows are moments when she has previously died. Each time she learns a little more, gets a little further along.
This book is fascinating to read, if a bit complex. The storylines are intricately woven through time. This is certainly not something you can read with half your attention and I wouldn't recommend taking long breaks between sessions because you may forget where, and when, you are. For me, this book was very difficult to put down. Though it felt a little slow at the start, once I got going and understood the storyline, I was ravenous with reading it. How would Ursula avoid each death in the following life? Or would she?
This book asks the question:
What if we had a chance to do it again and again until we finally did get it right?
What if we did?
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