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Life after life kate Atkinson

65 replies

Gumnast2014 · 29/01/2015 06:21

Argghhh confused, restarted it twice.

Just can't get into it?

Keep going or give up?

Can anyone help with who is how? Honestly I'm lost.

OP posts:
HappydaysArehere · 29/01/2015 15:07

Well written but all that dying got on my nerves. It didn't engage me despite the continual literary references which are my"cup of tea" and I found the overall idea quite boring. Could just be the mood I was in!

CoteDAzur · 29/01/2015 14:45

Don't feel that you have to finish this book. It doesn't get much better the more you go on.

Yes, she dies in a variety of ways and and gets reborn to live the same life again. I think the moral of the story is to show the reader how each of us could be a respectable housewife, a spinster, an alcoholic, etc if some little thing happened to us when it should/shouldn't have.

Why the author has decided to tell us about a woman who has lived the most boring life imaginable is anyone's guess, though. Maybe the moral of the story is that God is cruel, and that if you are bad, he will make you live the same unbelievably mundane life over and over again.

strongandlong · 29/01/2015 14:29

The concept is a bit 'sliding doors' exploring the impact of sometimes minor decisions and events on the course of a life.

strongandlong · 29/01/2015 14:26

I absolutely loved it. Beautifully written and cleverly structured.

FaFoutis · 29/01/2015 14:21

I couldn't read it. I was told it got better after the first 50 pages but I couldn't get that far.

LeonardWentToTheOffice · 29/01/2015 14:19

fun of Blush

LeonardWentToTheOffice · 29/01/2015 14:18

I loved it - like the bits where it seemed to be making fun off itself...page 144 'Darkness, and so on.'

I may have to read it again now - I did love it so!

linalool · 29/01/2015 13:39

I gave up on it.

MrsSquirrel · 29/01/2015 13:31

I loved this book! Don't worry about feeling lost, just keep going Grin As Sootgremlin says, it's more obvious what is happening the further you get into it.

It is difficult to read because it doesn't have a conventional plot, but so worth it IMO.

Cedar03 · 29/01/2015 13:12

This is a brilliant book. Just accept that she'll keep dying and then spot the differences in the early versions of her life. Each one has a different consequence.

Numpty99 · 29/01/2015 10:01

I was lent this by a friend who recommended it. Took a long time to get into it but worth sticking with. Once you get used to continually jumping back in time it's a pretty good story. Persevere!!

areyoutheregoditsmemargaret · 29/01/2015 09:45

Why thank you Grin, though a name change to UrsulaTodd should really be on the cards

Sootgremlin · 29/01/2015 09:36

areyoutheregoditsmemargaret Great name, love Judy Blume Grin

areyoutheregoditsmemargaret · 29/01/2015 08:22

I absolutely loved this book, my favourite in years. I don't remember the beginning so well but you probably do have to persevere, it's Ursula being born, the events around her birth including her parents and the household staff.She dies as a baby and then is born again and dies of something else a little later. And then is born again ... Quite quickly, she's an adult having avoided all the childhood things that might have bumped her off and she ends up doing all sorts of interesting things in her different lives. Give it another go, but obviously it may not be for everyone

Sootgremlin · 29/01/2015 08:08

I really loved this, but, yes, at the beginning you sort of have to keep reading through the confusion until you start to get the hang of it. I think restarting it probably doesn't help in this case, I found the more of it I read the clearer it became what was going on, and it was worth the early confusion.

It is focused on the life of Ursula Todd, lived over and over in different ways, so the first bits are concentrated on her parents and the time of her birth, then as it progresses she gets further into her childhood and the adulthood and it's more obvious what is happening the further you get into it.

Hope that's helped without being too spoilery (it's sort of in the title anyway)