Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson




I have a fifty page rule.  Some of you may know about my fifty page rule but for those of you who don’t, I will explain.  No matter how I feel about a book I try reading fifty pages,  If by fifty pages the book does not grab my attention I put it down.  I guess it is because I feel I have so little time to read and so much I want to read that if a book takes that long to engage my attention it just isn't worth it. 

I broke my rule with this one.  I almost put the book down but I decided to give it a little more time and I am glad I did because it was a most interesting read.  There are many books on the market now that deal with near death experiences or maybe someone who has "died" and come back.  Ursula the main character appears to die only to come back to life.  And the book is almost but not quite like the movie Ground Hog Day.  That is the movie starring Bill Murray who ends up living the same day over and over until he does everything right.  Ursula lives many lives not just the same day over but I think you get my comparison.  It is like she is stuck and keeps going back and doing things over again.

On the day of Ursula's birth she dies and it will not be the last time.  What I found the most fascinating thing about the book is that with each life she leads there are subtle changes to her and the people around her.  Which makes me wonder, if I could go back and redo an event or a period in my life how would the changes I make effect me and those around me.  It sure would be interesting to find out.  Would I have a different family and friends, would I pick the same college major, would I be living in the same place, the same state? 

Then you look at the bigger world issues.  Could catastrophic events be avoided if someone came back to a place in time and made one small change on how they responded to something. Would it change the course of history? Could Ursula change the course of history in this book?

The book brings up many thought provoking issues. I finished the book a week ago and I am still thinking about it. 

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