July Book: Life after Life by Kate Atkinson

I wavered between a 3 and a 4 on this book. I really wish I could do the 3.5 stars. I would give some sections of the book a 2 and some a 5 so it balanced out for me. The premise is that Ursula Todd keeps dying and gets to live her life over again. It wasn't really reincarnation since she always came back as herself. She also had deja vu about her previous lives so she was able to make different decisions and thus change the outcome of her life. 

The story is set in England. Ursula is born in 1910 over and over again. I thought the book started out very gimmicky. I got very irritated with the baby deaths and then the child deaths. Once the book focused on the adult Ursula it was a fantastic read. Both World Wars are covered in this novel. World War II is more captivating because it takes place during Ursula's adult lifetime.

Not only did Ursula's life change in each of her "lives", but so did the lives of those around her including family members, lovers and friends. The detail of the bombings in London were difficult to read because they were so realistic. The horror of war was brought to the forefront.

Spoilers: The section of her life where she marries a German could have been tossed. The section where she shoots Hitler was a complete waste of time and was sadly used as the teaser for the book. So happy that was a very short, unimportant part of Ursula's life.

It also ends as it began. That was rather a simplistic way to end this novel.

I also got confused by who some of the characters were. My favorite parts were when Ursula interacted with her family. The characters were the most developed.

Overall I would recommend the book.