Simply stunning and so beautifully written, Life After Life will leave you wondering "what if..." the next time you have déjà vu. I couldn't put this one down, even though I never wanted it to end. Such a lovely story. I highly recommend the audio book; Fenella Woolgar's voice is captivating. ( )

Wow.

This is a unique novel. I’ve read about people being reborn or trying out different lives before, but never like this. Ursula is born in 1910. She dies. She is born again. She dies again… She is born again. The author replays the same events for us in different ways, from different perspectives, over and over again. Sometimes there is a new twist, a new thing happens and Ursula’s life twists in turn. The reader also sees characters from an unexpected angle. And the book is unputdownable. This takes skill. This takes courage, and complete trust in your readers.

It made me think about how fragile the path of an individual fate is, how small things can have enormous consequences.

The characters have life, colour, love, kindness, humour, resilience, bravery, nastiness, awfulness, cruelty. There is so much tragedy. I have spent this week not really living my life, even when I wasn’t reading – I was reliving the Blitz over and over again. I was in Berlin in 1945. This is what good historical fiction, should do, pull you on, giving you a sense of time and place. I feel wrung out.

This book somehow made me a different (better?) person – like a gear inside me, moving slightly. Click.

The ending is precious.

I adored the writing. It’s remarkably humane. Some quotes:

“Hugh blinked at such blunt terminology falling from the lips of his recently virginal bride. (One presumed. One hoped.)”

“A little whimsy never hurt anyone.”
“Strictly speaking though,” Hugh said, “can a house be a corner? Isn’t it at one?”
So this is marriage, Sylvie thought.

”Bridget seemed to spend a lot of time trying to cheer Clarence up. Ursula supposed she was rehearsing for marriage.”

“You should go home, dear,” he said, “the rain’s stopped,” as though it were the rain that had spoiled her night and not the Luftwaffe. ( )

I could say so much about this novel, but I'll just say I think it's a masterpiece. A time travel story for people who like literary fiction and historical fiction. It's not cheerful, though! Also by a cosmically lucky coincidence, my library has just abolished overdue fines which I would otherwise have--this book is a doorstop. I would love to hear everything the author had to say about the origins of this story and her process. I am amazed to learn there is another book about one of the important characters because it doesn't seem as though that would be possible. ( )

I really enjoyed the writing in this book. I tend to go back and forth between trashy romance books and well-written novels and I was ready for some good writing.

The stories within the novel are engrossing and I felt a part of the Todd family. The book doesn't follow a "normal" story arch, but makes you reflect as you go and fill in the blanks.

A worthy read. ( )

The title of this made me think "life after death", like what comes after this life. But it's just a repetition of the same life, after same life, after same life. It's beautifully written and occasionally the repeated experiences bring new developments, but I think this needed to be shorter and tighter so the differences were more pronounced. ( )