Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life explored the possibility of infinite chances, as Ursula Todd lived through the turbulent events of the last century again and again.
In A God in Ruins, Atkinson turns her focus on Ursula’s beloved younger brother Teddy – would-be poet, RAF bomber pilot, husband and father – as he navigates the perils and progress of the 20th century. For all Teddy endures in battle, his greatest challenge will be to face living in a future he never expected to have.
I’m liking
If I’m pushed on the topic, I would probably declare Kate Atkinson my favourite author. She has a masterful way with words that is seldom matched. Atkinson is a writer who is fully in command of her craft and knows how to take the reader on a journey. I was absolutely gob-smacked by Life After Life and to this day, it’s the first book I think of when people ask me for recommendations. So, I was pretty darned excited about A God in Ruins.
This has very similar is style and tone to Life After Life and has the same slippery way with time. Readers really need to hang on to their hats as Atkinson has this way of sliding through time and space without you even realising where she has taken you. This is thrilling; but also a little terrifying as you never quite know where the story is going to lead.
I loved revisiting some of the characters and events from Life After Life and although this was declared a ‘companion’ as opposed to a sequel, I wished I’d reread Life After Life more recently so that I could be clearer on just how everything fitted together. One of the things I really enjoyed about A God in Ruins was the way that Ursula drifted in and out; a bit-part in this story, as opposed to the centre of it as she was in Life After Life. I suppose this, to some extent, reflects the way we are all the centre of our own stories with others the bit-parts.
As in Life After Life, the characters aren’t likeable, as such, but are very real and so fully drawn that it’s impossible not to be engaged by them.
There are some deeply thoughtful moments that will leave readers pondering (or they did me, anyway) and an unexpected (but of course, foreshadowed) twist at the end that makes everything all the more poignant.
Things that made me go hmmmm
This is not bubblegum reading and you really need to pay attention to stay on top of the plot as well as the nuances. A few tired nights, I ended up rereading sections where I had not paid significant note to make sure that I was clear on what was going on.
I’m not wild on war history so there were parts of this book that I wanted to skim through (but didn’t dare for fear of missing something).
The conclusion
It’s hard to say this but I didn’t love this book as much as I hoped I would. I *appreciated* it and I could be in awe of Atkinson’s skill as a writer but I didn’t LOVE it like I did Life After Life. Maybe I’d built it up too much… anyway, I’ll still be eagerly awaiting whatever comes next from Atkinson 🙂
A God in Ruins is published by Doubleday and has a RRP of $37.99
