Life After Life (Todd Family, #1) in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Aug 26, 2013 Graceann rated it it was amazing

Shelves: general-fiction, audio

This was a DNF for me back in 2014, and for some reason, I felt called to give it another chance. I’m very glad I did.

As a person who constantly wishes for do-overs on some life events, this spoke to me on a cellular level. I was deeply confused by the ending, but apparently, I’m not alone. Perhaps A God in Ruins will answer some questions.

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Jun 11, 2013 Joanna rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, fantasy-sci-fi, rws-2014-winter, 2014-read

The conceit of the book is that Ursula continues to be reborn (Groundhog Day-style) into the same life, but slight differences change the outcomes. She has vague deja vu memories of previous incarnations, but not perfect recollection (i.e., not quite like Groundhog Day). The writing was quite lyrical and managed to both be the most evocative descriptions of the London blitz that I've read but also witty and quirky characters. I loved the way the stories fit together and the author managed to mak ...more

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Jul 25, 2020 Cari rated it really liked it

Shelves: popsugar-2020

I really enjoyed this book. It took me 20 pages to get into the ebb and flow of the different lives, but I liked the subtext commentary on "fate" and how individual choices and moments can change our trajectories significantly.

Popsugar Reading Challenge - A book with an upside-down image on the cover ...more

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May 29, 2013 Sara rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2013-reads

All of the reviews for this book were excellent and people keep talking about how amazing it is. Maybe I'm missing something, because I did NOT feel the same way. The concept intrigued me - the main character dying and getting to relive her life again and again. The actual book did not intrigue me. I felt it was dense and boring at times. The concept was also very vaguely developed and was sometimes hard to follow. There was a lot of development of Ursula's character and yet I never felt that I ...more

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Mar 24, 2013 Gabrielle S rated it it was amazing

I loved this book. The idea that one small thing can change the outcome of your life is what is addressed here. How long Ursula lives and what her experiences are depend on certain incidents. Sometimes this means she doesn't survive childhood but she is always born again. Later on as her lives progress she sometimes remembers snippets of her past lives.

This is one of those books I was sad to leave. ...more

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Mar 04, 2018 Kristin rated it really liked it

I loved the concept of this book, that Ursula Todd lives her life over and over again, giving her opportunity to right the wrongs that eventually lead to her death each time. Early on, she has little control, as she dies at birth and as a young child, but as her awareness grows, she gets feelings of foreboding when she approaches the scenes of her previous deaths. Born in England in 1910, Ursula lives through both World Wars, plus the aftermath of each, and readers are taken along on the various ...more

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Jun 21, 2014 Amy Ellis rated it liked it

This book lost me 348 pages in! Ack! I couldn't finish it, because I didn't like the turn it took. The premise is interesting, though...a girl who gets reborn over and over but only has a little déjà vu. Good writing but rambling. ...more

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Jan 11, 2015 Beth Given marked it as shelved

Such an interesting premise for a story, and SO well executed, too!

But.

The whole thing had kind of a dark, melancholy tone that just didn't sit well with me. About halfway through, there was a rape, then some grisly violence (both domestic and war-related), then quite a bit of casual infidelity. The last straw was a string of four or five f-bombs, 80 or 90% of the way into the book -- there hadn't been a whole lot of swearing up until that point so this kind of shocked me, I guess. So even thoug ...more

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Dec 07, 2013 Leslie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-books, 2015-reads

This is one of those books that raises more questions than it answers, though that's not a bad thing. Trying to puzzle it out leaves me thinking about it for much longer than if it had handed me the answers. I enjoy it when "literary" authors play with sci-fi-esque concepts, but sometimes it can get frustrating because more literary novels often don't really establish rules in the way that a pure sci fi novel would. I kept trying to apply an internal logic to Ursula's experience, but I finally h ...more

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