"Don’t you wonder sometimes,” Ursula said. “If just one small thing had been changed, in the past, I mean. If Hitler had died at birth, or if someone had kidnapped him as a baby and brought him up in---I don’t know, say, a Quaker household—surely things would be different.” Kate Atkinson, author of eight previous novels, including four Jackson Brodie crime books, has come up with a nifty notion for a story. Kill off your heroine, early and often, while offering a look at the history of Englan...

“What if we had a chance to do it again and again, until we finally did get it right? Wouldn't that be wonderful?” Life After Life (Todd Family, #1) is a novel I probably wouldn't have chosen for myself. And how sad it is to think that I might have passed this novel over and never known these characters and relationships. It often seems like I am the only person in the world who hasn't watched Downton Abbey (definitely the only Brit who hasn't) but the favorable comparisons I keep seeing betw...

I really wanted to love "Life After Life (Todd Family, #1)". I truly wished I could enjoy it. I bought it with such enthusiasm, and couldn't wait to dive in. But, alas, I sensed almost immediately that it wasn't going to be a happy reading experience – a feeling that was definitely confirmed by the time I reached the middle of the book. The length, the repetitive scenes, the frankly ridiculous number of times Ursula dies and is reborn, all become tedious and a real torment to get through. About...

I'm giving "Life After Life (Todd Family, #1)" by Kate Atkinson two stars, and that's only on a technicality...because technically speaking, this book kinda sucks. Ursula Todd is a nobody born in England. She's part of a big, rich family, but there's not much that makes her stand out. She's close to a sibling or two, but mostly she's got a pretty meek personality and stays invisible for most of her life – except “most of her life” for Ursula actually means “most of her *lives*” because this wom...

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!Clearly, I'm on a different planet than all the other reviewers here, but no matter how hard I tried, I simply had to give up on page 265... and call it quits.The concept of constant rebirths and lives was promising, but sadly, for me, the events throughout *Life After Life (Todd Family, #1)* by Kate Atkinson were so tame and uninspired, and the characters who popped into Ursula's lives were so boring, I'm afraid the whole thing felt like watching paint dry.Rem...

Ursula Todd is born in the middle of a blizzard in 1910, not just once, but countless times throughout her existence – living only to die and be reborn again and again, navigating numerous paths until she finally lives the life she was meant to live. Kate Atkinson's writing is, as always, superb, and so lyrical that it carried me all the way to the end of **Life After Life (Todd Family, #1)**. However, the plot left me struggling for weeks, desperately trying to claw my way to the finish of thi...

I'm a sucker for books about characters reliving their lives, and Life After Life by Kate Atkinson definitely didn't disappoint!This time it's historical fiction, and finally features a strong female lead. I especially loved the first half, but if you're generally into World War II historical fiction, you'll absolutely enjoy this book.It was a slow-burn kind of read, totally captivating, but I have to say, the ending left me wanting more! If you're looking for compelling historical fiction, Kate...

DECEMBER 2013Paul Bryant had really only just started driving back home, was still trying with his left hand to jam the seat belt buckle into its lock, and – multitasking like mad - he was thinking about how to review Life After Life, and probably getting too caught up in the various amusing ways it could be done, so that he simply didn’t notice the car poking far too far out of the side street. When finally he did, he had to swerve like crazy, right into the oncoming traffic. What with his seat...

What if you had the chance to live your life again and again, until you finally got it right?Ursula Todd is born in a snowstorm in England in 1910 but dies before she can take her first breath. During that same snowstorm she was born again and lives to tell the tale; again and again. Life After Life tells the story of Ursula’s lives, as with each new life she makes small changes that send her on a completely different path.I feel like I’m the only person on the planet who thought Kate Atkinson's...

Kate Atkinson has written a lovely, accordion-fold of a novel here.This isn't a Jackson Brodie novel, which are always much better than your typical detective novels (even though I haven't read the last one yet – merp), but this one is just so much more ambitious in scope and style than even those gems. It is sublime.At its most simplistic, it's about Ursula, a character who will be born and die all in the first two pages (excluding what I am considering to be a prologue), and then again, and ag...