Life After Life (Todd Family, #1) in Amazon's 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime

Jan 07, 2021 Amber rated it liked it

Overall, there were parts of this book that I absolutely LOVED. The premise first of all is intriguing. I will put here that there are some trigger warnings. There is rape, abortion, spousal abuse, adultery, and maybe others I'm forgetting so beware if those are a no-go for you.

So the first half to three-quarters of this book I loved SO MUCH. Even the life that all the terrible things happened to Ursula. I loved her birth, the type of child she was, how she interacted with her family. The relat Overall, there were parts of this book that I absolutely LOVED. The premise first of all is intriguing. I will put here that there are some trigger warnings. There is rape, abortion, spousal abuse, adultery, and maybe others I'm forgetting so beware if those are a no-go for you.

So the first half to three-quarters of this book I loved SO MUCH. Even the life that all the terrible things happened to Ursula. I loved her birth, the type of child she was, how she interacted with her family. The relationships are so real and tangible. How something would go wrong in one life and the next go-round she seemed to be able to fix that issue and move on. Weirdly I kept looking forward to how her life would end and then where would I get thrown into the next one.

I will start with the things I loved. I loved all of the growing up of Ursula and her family. One of my favorite scenarios was when and how she would survive the Spanish Flu her housekeeper kept bringing home to the family. She would travel to London for a celebration and come back not knowing she was sick and infect the family. In so many different ways she was killing one or more of the family members. Each time after the initial infection that killed her, Ursula didn't KNOW what would happen, she just knew something terrible WOULD happen if Bridget went to London so she had to try and figure out ways to stop it. I really enjoyed this part of the story. Also, the way through most of her lives she could always rely on her aunt Izzy to go to when anything happened to her. Their friendship and the way Izzy was a rock to Ursula through so many things was so good.
The life where she actually got married to a German I enjoyed as well. In many ways, I felt like this was her most fulfilling life because she was truly able to connect and love another human being outside of her mother, father, and siblings.

My big problem with this book though is I feel about 3/4 of the way through it started to drag.
Her life as a bomb rescuer (someone who pulls people out of buildings after they have been bombed during German air raids) got too long and drawn out. I still enjoyed this part of her life and the fact that she did it. But I felt like ultimately it kept going on and on and ON. It took too long.

My biggest problem with this book though is the lack of life Ursula seemed to lead over and over and over. I didn't find her lives as interesting about halfway through, and her character kind of turned more into a sad human being. Sometimes she was in relationships, but they were always surface deep. She loved her family to her core but didn't seem to be able to connect well to others outside of her immediate family. Maybe that was the point, but after most of the book, I just started feeling really sad for her. She seemed to live so many lives but never finding anything real or substantial. It honestly made me pretty tired. I feel like the author kind of lost her way. Mild spoilers ahead: There was a scenario where she killed Hitler, it went black and nothing. Then it skips to her brother who had been missing for years...it explains nothing. None of that life. But we get pages and pages before this one of her being sad, cold, hungry, living in a crappy apartment after the war, family members dead, on and on. But nothing of this story that I would be SO MUCH MORE INTERESTED IN. Then skips to the last scene that honestly confused me so much I had to look up who the character was. I didn't remember her.

I feel like the ending was supposed to be something deep and philosophical. I don't mind that it wasn't neat and tidy, but there were things, especially one major plot point (someone who kept murdering young girls) that never got resolved and felt they could have. It really bothered me. Also, the things I listed above about Ursula really never seeming to have a full complete life full of loving relationships. For the first 3/4 of the book, I'd give 5 stars. The last 1/4 I would give 2 stars. So that's how I arrived at a 3 star read for this one. I wouldn't put people off reading it, just know it probably won't end the way you'd like it to, but there are some HIGHLY enjoyable parts along the way. ...more

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