Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Title: Life After Life
Author: Kate Atkinson
Publisher: Reagan Arthur Books
Genre: Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction
Year of Publication: 2013
Date of Publication: April 2, 2013
Pages: 529
ISBN-10: 0316176486
ISBN-13: 978-0316176484

Our Rating of This Book

Summary of Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Life After Life is a novel that explores the concept of multiple lives and second chances. The story follows Ursula Todd.

Ursula was born in 1910 but in this story she lives and dies repeatedly. Each life presents Ursula with new opportunities to alter her fate and those of the people around her.

Ursula lives through pivotal moments in 20th-century history. In each of her lives, we are shown how choices can impact a person existence and how fragile life is.

Main Themes

The themes of the novel are free will, and how lives are connected to each other. It is about the impact of small decisions on larger outcomes and the cyclical nature of history. Atkinson also adds themes of resilience, sacrifice, and the human desire to find meaning amidst chaos.

Writing Style

Kate Atkinson’s writing seamlessly shift between timelines and explores alternate realities.

Atkinson masterfully adds historical events into Ursula’s personal struggles, which adds to the authenticity of the story. For example, at the beginning of the book, Ursula has an encounter with Hitler.

While the novel’s structure offers a fresh take on storytelling, there are however a lot of characters in the book and a lot of repetitions.

Impact of Life After Life

The novel has a very original concept i.e. exploration of life’s possibilities. While there have been other books that highlight living in different timelines or returning to a life previously lived, this one provided a slightly different take on it.

Some other books that have explored alternative lives and timelines include The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub.

Life After Life sparks discussions about the nature of time, memory, and destiny. It won the Costa Book Award in 2013.