![]() She plays with expectations, shifting back and forth in time - sometimes between chapters, sometimes within a single paragraph. While this is a less showy novel than its predecessor, Atkinson doesn’t forgo trickery altogether. Carrying memories of military carnage - scenes Atkinson renders in haunting, visceral detail - and aware that he contributed to the body count with every bomb he dropped, Teddy must figure out how to create a life in the aftermath. ![]() “The whole edifice of civilization turned out to be constructed from an unstable mix of quicksand and imagination,” he realizes after the war. Teddy has faced humanity at its ugliest and most precarious. Instead, he is remade through another kind of miracle. For Teddy, there is no mystical hocus-pocus, no literal rebirths. Here, the focus is on Ursula’s younger brother, Teddy Todd, a wannabe poet, Royal Air Force pilot, husband and father. ![]() ![]() Through Ursula, Atkinson asked a powerful question: How should you live when you have endless second chances?Ī God in Ruins, the latest book from the multi-award-winning Edinburgh-based author, is described as a “companion” to Life after Life. ![]() Her protagonist, Ursula Todd, underwent a series of reincarnations, with each rebirth presenting the opportunity for a do-over. Life after Life, Kate Atkinson’s enthralling and bestselling 2013 novel, hinged on an idea that was at once irresistible and perilously gimmicky. ![]()
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