Saturday 26 July 2014

Life After Life - Kate Atkinson

I adored this slightly insane tale of multiple alternative versions of one woman's life, which made me want to grab a pen and start charting the many decision points and their consequences, an urge I haven't felt since trying to untangle the many connections and chance encounters in the same author's One Good Turn. The sections on life in World War II (from the German as well as British perspectives) were horribly compelling, and I loved the way that many details echoed through Ursula's different lives, and some events seemed to have a force of their own, finding a way to happen despite choices that 'should' have stopped them, like water flowing downstream around an obstacle, requiring more and more dramatic actions to be taken to prevent them...