Monday, March 9, 2015

Rec. #367: Life After Life


What: Kate Atkinson's newest book, A God in Ruins, is a companion novel to  Life After Life, which swept all kinds of "best of" lists in 2013 (including mine). A God in Ruins is due to be published in the U.S. in May, so you've got a couple of months to catch up.

For a book that mainly takes place in the English countryside during the first half of the twentieth century, Life After Life takes a surprising number of cues from video games, as Ursula Todd keeps dying and leveling up, life after life.

Comparable to: This is the Atkinson version of Connie Willis's Blackout/All Clear, basically.

You might not like it if: The main character, Ursula Todd, dies a lot. And then there are the depressing parts.

On the bright side, the novel opens with her shooting Hitler! So, that's fun.

How to get it: Widely available across formats and languages.

Connections to previous Wreckage: Mentioned above, Connie Willis's Blackout/All Clear was Rec. #355.

Also, Kate Atkinson is one of my favorite living writers, so of course she's been mentioned on The Daily Wreck before. A lot.

Rec. #3: Case Histories
Rec. #69: One Good Turn
Rec. #137: Human Croquet
Rec. #192: When Will There Be Good News?
Rec. #270: Started Early, Took My Dog
Rec. #282: Emotionally Weird
Rec. #301: Not the End of the World: Stories

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