If at first you don't succeed, try, try again

I read Kate Atkinson's Life After Life for a book club I just joined.  I read it as an audiobook, which I think was a mistake.  The book jumps around in time so often and references side characters and events quite often and I'm sure I missed quite a bit.  This is a book that requires flipping from one section back to previous ones and forward to new ones as Ursula basically lives a Choose Your Own Adventure.  But it's a long book and I knew I wouldn't get through it in time for the meeting unless I was reading it on my commute, and one of my new years resolutions for 2015 is to get out more and meet new people, so I really wanted to do well for my first book club, so audiobook it was!

The book is about Ursula Todd, a girl born in 1910 who then goes onto live several different versions of her life.  Once, she died at birth.  Another time, she died by drowning.  Another time, she fell off a roof.  Eventually, she manages to grow out of childhood, really coming into her own during WWII.  Sometimes, she lives in Germany during the war.  Sometimes, she lives in London.  In one life (not a spoiler as this is the very beginning of the book), she shoots Hitler but it's unclear what happens after this.  This annoyed me as the book is quite long and it would be nice to know how that life ended...


I enjoyed many things about this book.  First, the opportunity live your life several times and become a stronger, more confident person each time, is something that appeals to all of us.  One of Ursula's lives was just horrible, and it was painful to get through, and the only reason I was really able to get through the pain and abuse was because I knew that she would get to try it again and be better, but it made me sad that most people believe you only get one go at life, and that there are people out there who do not have happy outcomes.  It's nice to think that you can start again with a clean slate.  And it was so fascinating to see the way Ursula reacted to different situations.  She really is a very intelligent, pragmatic woman, and I loved spending time with her.

Second, I really enjoyed Atkinson's charming wit.  She has some great lines in this book that I can't quote because I read it on audio, but the light and playful way that Ursula talks with her father and interacts with her siblings is just wonderful.  I love authors who can write family dynamics well, and I think Atkinson was spot-on here.  The way Ursula fights with her oldest brother, Maurice, and loves her wonderful father, Hugh, and grows up with loyal siblings Pamela and Teddy - it's excellent.

Atkinson brought WWII vividly to life for me.  I don't know if that was really necessary as I am of the opinion that WWII literature already abounds out in the world, but I appreciated that Atkinson showed readers the suffering on both the English and the German sides.  I vastly preferred reading Atkinson's descriptions of the Blitz to, say, Connie Willis', because Atkinson did not focus so much of her time on telling us how difficult transportation was.

I think the only reason this book wasn't a HUGE success for me is because I read it on audiobook and therefore had some trouble with the timelines and what fit where and what was going on, especially towards the ends, when I got confused about which turning-off point turned Ursula in one direction vs another.  I highly recommend reading this book in a physical form instead of in an audiobook one.

Question for people who have read the book before:  Was anyone else extremely disappointed that there was never a life in which Ursula called up the guy sitting next to her on the train who said she was good at crosswords and wanted to give her a job?  I kept hoping that she would go work at Bletchley Park with those awesome women from The Bletchley Circle or, better yet, Alan Turing.