Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Doubleday, 2013; Black Swan paperback, 2014

Why?

Having belatedly watched the 2022 BBC adaptation, I was intrigued to know how the story played out in print. Also, I've never got around to reading Kate Atkinson so this seemed like a good opportunity.

Enjoyment factor

Loved it. It's rare to find a novelist whose prose sucks you in on several levels. At the heart of it, this novel offers the comfort of a multi-generational family saga set in the golden age of the early twentieth century - punctuated and emphasised by the wars - whilst at the same time offering plenty of food for thought about the degree of predestination in one's own life.

It left me thinking ....

The ultimate sliding-doors novel, Life After Life relates multiple versions of its main character's life, each dependent on different decisions or circumstances at various inflexion points. This conceit is particularly heightened by war, which forms the backbone of the novel.

Ultimately, it leaves you thinking about the various different versions of yourself which could have evolved. But it also calls into question nostalgia for what actually was - particularly so given that the childhood years of the novel are shattered by the second world war, but the concept applies universally.

All in all, a triumph - I'll be picking up a copy of Behind the Scenes at the Museum - which I'm glad I've saved for so long - asap.