This month's book club selection was Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson. You may have read some of Kate Atkinson's mystery novels, such as Case Histories, One Good Turn. This book is not a mystery and it takes more for concept so often examined in science fiction literature (and many incarnations of Star Trek) of the same person's life several alternative timelines.
Here's the blurb from the back of the back of the book:
What if you had the chance to live your life again and again, until you finally got it right?
During a snowstorm in England in 1910, a baby is born and dies before she can take her first breath.
During a snowstorm in England in 1910, the same baby is born and lives to tell the tale.
What if there were second chances? And third chances? In fact an infinite number of chances to live your life? Would you eventually be able to save the world from its own inevitable destiny? And would you even want to?
Life After Life follows Ursula Todd as she lives through the turbulent events of the last century again and again. With wit and compassion, Kate Atkinson finds warmth even in life’s bleakest moments, and shows an extraordinary ability to evoke the past. Here she is at her most profound and inventive, in a novel that celebrates the best and worst of ourselves.
As far as book club selections go this one was moderately successful. There is plenty to discuss and it made for a lively meeting, although some members found it hard to get into and some didn't want to finish the book. At more than 500 pages it was a little longer than our usual picks. At least one member of the club absolutely loved the book.
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