Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
I selected this book as somewhat of a novelty. Another book by a different author with the same title was released on the same day. That's an unusual event in the publishing world. I felt it only fair if I was reading one to also read the other. I loved Life After Life by Jill McCorkle and posted a review of it earlier. I didn't enjoy Life After Life by Kate Atkinson quite so much.
Ursula Todd is born with her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. The midwife is stopped at the local pub due to a driving snowstorm and unable to make it to Sylvie Todd's bedside. Each time we think the worst has happened to this baby, the author rewinds the tape, leading the reader down a different path where the doctor does make it through the snow, or the servant uses the kitchen shears to cut the cord to give Ursula another chance at life.
At pivotal points in a young girl's life, Ursula's choices are simply undone and her path reset to something different. The new path didn't necessarily lead Ursula to a better place, only a different one. Each turn became more tedious than the last. As a reader I often found myself lost and confused as to where I was supposed to be in the story. There was an awful lot of rehashing of the same conversations and events. Boring!
I think this is an interesting concept for a story, however I began to feel like it was Groundhog Day, repeating itself over and over again. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more if Ursula had been a likeable character, but she wasn't. Maybe if her mother, brothers and sister had been more appealing I would have enjoyed the book, but they weren't. I'm not one to stop reading once I start, but I'll admit I skipped alot of the middle hoping the end would bring redemption. Unfortunately, it didn't.
I selected this book as somewhat of a novelty. Another book by a different author with the same title was released on the same day. That's an unusual event in the publishing world. I felt it only fair if I was reading one to also read the other. I loved Life After Life by Jill McCorkle and posted a review of it earlier. I didn't enjoy Life After Life by Kate Atkinson quite so much.
Ursula Todd is born with her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. The midwife is stopped at the local pub due to a driving snowstorm and unable to make it to Sylvie Todd's bedside. Each time we think the worst has happened to this baby, the author rewinds the tape, leading the reader down a different path where the doctor does make it through the snow, or the servant uses the kitchen shears to cut the cord to give Ursula another chance at life.
At pivotal points in a young girl's life, Ursula's choices are simply undone and her path reset to something different. The new path didn't necessarily lead Ursula to a better place, only a different one. Each turn became more tedious than the last. As a reader I often found myself lost and confused as to where I was supposed to be in the story. There was an awful lot of rehashing of the same conversations and events. Boring!
I think this is an interesting concept for a story, however I began to feel like it was Groundhog Day, repeating itself over and over again. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more if Ursula had been a likeable character, but she wasn't. Maybe if her mother, brothers and sister had been more appealing I would have enjoyed the book, but they weren't. I'm not one to stop reading once I start, but I'll admit I skipped alot of the middle hoping the end would bring redemption. Unfortunately, it didn't.
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