“Life After Life” by Kate Atkinson
Qquick ranking update:
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
The Overstory by Richard Powers
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon.
Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
I do not say this lightly, so here goes:
I have a new favourite author.
Not of all time. But definitely in my Top 5 as of now. I’m not going to lie. It was a Jonathan Franzen situation. I just avoided the big names of contemporary literature based on some weird, made up principle.
I know. Even I make mistakes.
I absolutely loved this book, and I highly recommend picking up anything by her if you have not done so already. And if you have, pick up more. I will read anything this woman writes.
Life After Life is a sweeping historical fiction novel, set during WW2, but with a twist. We meet Sylvie Todd, an upper-middle class mother, as she gives birth to her daughter, Ursula. Due to complications during the birth, Ursula dies, only to be reborn immediately, to the same mother on the same day. Eventually, the narrative moves away from Sylvie as we follow Ursula throughout her cycles of living and dying. Every time she dies, she is born again.
We are confronted with questions of fate, and what would we do if we could do it all over again. What can we change, and what is out of our hands? Ursula lives many lives, not all of them happy or pleasant, but throughout each one, she remains a core version of herself. As she goes through these cycles, she remembers more of her past lives, mere glimpses & fragments, and tries to change certain outcomes. But who are we to mess with fate?
I’ll keep it short, as I try to do here. But please. Pick up any of her novels. Or short stories. Really.
Pacing: Perfect. I was gripped from page one. Atkinson sets the tone and atmosphere beautifully right away. I was so interested in Sylvie as a character, but the transition to the Ursula’s narrative was seamless and also gripped me. It’s a longer book, but I could have read another 200 pages.
Language/Style: I was blown away by how much I liked Atkinson’s writing. She can destroy you with a single sentence. Her characters become your friends. She’s poetic without being bloated or pretentious. She has an ability to get inside a character’s mind that is…. unnerving. I read a review saying her characters and plot lines are “Dickensian” in their scope and I thought yeah ok. Big shoes to fill. She does. She fills ‘em right up to the big toe.
What was the aftertaste? I think about this book daily. The scenes during the Blitz in London are haunting and stay with you. As horrible as it is, you simply cannot look away. Her writing draws you in, in an almost hypnotic way. I had to take a moment after this one before moving onto anything else. It stays with you. And all the characters do as well. She wrote a sequel about one of the other characters, and I almost bought it to read right away just to be back in that world. But I practiced a modicum of self control.
Did it teach me anything? Don’t judge a book because of its author. Read the big names. Sometimes it’s worth it. There was some interesting historical tidbits in there I found interesting, but mostly it taught me that I am quickly becoming the president of the Kate Atkinson fan club.
Hope this inspires someone to read her. And as always,
Happy Reading