Review: Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

 

Title: Life After Life

Author: Kate Atkinson

Published: Doubleday/Random House March 2013

Status: Read from March 14 to 16, 2013 {Courtesy TheReadingRoom/ Random House}

My Thoughts:

Life After Life is an extraordinary, elegant novel of fate, love and redemption. Though initially I struggled to make sense of Atkinson’s structure I was quickly captivated by this unique novel.

Set during the first half of the 20th century in Britain, against the backdrop of enormous social and political change, fate twists capriciously for one girl born on a snowy evening in February, 1910.

For Ursula Todd, death is not the end, instead it is the beginning, another chance to get it right. Ursula does not remember her previous lives but instead is driven by a distorted echo that compels her to to sidestep the events that previously led to her demise. In one instance it takes several incarnations, and determined action, before Ursula is able to avoid succumbing to influenza. In another, significant change is effected simply by protesting against the unwanted attentions of a family friend. Details matter, a seemingly innocuous decision can lead to tragedy for herself or her loved ones, or avert it.
Ursula becomes many things, a secretary, a mistress, a battered wife, an air raid warden, a mother but she remains recognisably Ursula. That the string of fates Ursula experiences are wholly possible for a girl born into the genteel middle class in 1910, is what ensures the credibility of the story.

I am in awe that the author is able to so deftly manipulate the construct of time and reality without the concept falling into a muddled farce. Though it does help to pay close attention to the dates that head each chapter, the narrative moves smoothly between one timeline and another and becomes easier to follow as you gain familiarity with the structure.

Beautifully crafted, Life After Life is so much more than what the blurb promises, or than I can articulate. I found it a compelling, thought provoking and extraordinary tale.

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