TCCDM Dig and Flip: "Life After Life" by Kate Atkinson (2013)

"Life After Life"...Kate Atkinson (2013)
525 pages

NO SPOILERS:
This book is truly an ambitious sumbeach.  The story is very unique in the telling and must have been extremely challenging to write.  And Kate Atkinson almost succeeds in the attempt.

In this novel, the main character keeps being reincarnated over and over again.  Her birth is always on the same day and year leading up to WWII.  And each one of her numerous life journeys may vary in length from only a few days to a few decades.  Each one ending in her death.

As the number of her do-overs accumulate, she begins to remember small moments from her past lives and tries to change or divert incidents yet to come.  Destiny and free will and consequences.  The story is clever and fascinating...and falls just a little bit flat.

The story is okay, but I never felt that “connection" I need to really care about any of the characters.  So midway through the pages, I wasn't so much looking forward to my "reading time” as I was just looking forward to finishing the book.

Maybe I was just over-expecting.  That is the dearth of all pleasures.  But dang it!  I really wanted to love "Life After Life" instead, I only just...liked it.  As I said, this story is ambitious.  ”Missed it by that much!”

 "What Is Life" - George Harrison / "All Things Must Pass" (1970)


Good stuff.

 Casey Chambers
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