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On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born, the third child of a wealthy English banker and his wife. Sadly, she dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual.
For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in any number of ways. Clearly history (and Kate Atkinson) have plans for her: In Ursula rests nothing less than the fate of civilization.
Since this was the first book which I have finished in a long time (maybe a year?), I decided to do a review of it. This is basically an edited, and more detailed (hence more spoilers), review of the one I did on Goodreads.
The book talks about this girl Ursula who manages to keep coming back to life. The book summary makes it rather misleading by sounding as if Ursula is fully aware of her unique abilities, but this only happens very late into the book. And only at times I think. Initially, I thought that this part was disappointing because I was really excited to see how Ursula would get into action and blow Hitler off his head. However, this wasn't exactly what happened. Rather, very little was described about her little secret mission. Only the part where Ursula shoots Hitler is described in detail. It actually happens in the first chapter. I was slightly disappointed, but after finishing the book, reading some online reviews, reflecting on it, I realised that Atkinson probably did this with reason.
She wanted to focus on how sometimes, we cannot control how life plays out. How can we know one action is 'right' or 'wrong'? Take how, when WW2 still happens, but Teddy manages to come back alive. At the same time, Nancy is alive. It seems impossible, as Ursula's previous lives have shown. But I guess this particular scenario shows how not everything is confirmed, or predicated. As how Ursula used to believe. Rather, life is also based on chance, luck and coincidence. It seems to show that there's something that's bigger than us out there; that we cannot completely control how everything goes. But at the same time, it also shows how there is always hope. Just like how Teddy didn't die. It's all about chance. There was a 10% chance of Teddy surviving, and Ursula has managed to land herself in a life where Teddy is part of the 10% that survives. I guess it's somewhat similar to the theory about parallel worlds and lives, in which out there, there is going to be a Teddy that survived even with WW2.
Also, what this book did do right is to make me sympathise with Ursula, something which books seem to lack recently. In particular, the first half of the book, where she 1) got raped, 2) sexually harassed, 3) abused by her psychotic husband, was one where I literally teared when she finally died. It has been so long since I felt genuine pity for a book character. I felt as if death was a relief for her then. Reading those chapters literally got me rooting for her and hoping that she would 'get it right' the next time.
Furthermore, the first half and second half of the book focussed on different issues, I felt. The first half was focussed on the status of the women. The discussions (or even non-discussions) in the book about rape, abortion, sexual harassment and housewivery proved how there was a stereotype and stigma against women during the 1900s. Meanwhile, the second half was focussed on the effects of war, and ultimately the loss that comes with it. Deaths are very sudden (I mean it. You grow to like a character, and a few sentences later, they are dead.) Both are very vital issues which I thought was good for a book to bring up.
I also liked how it dealt with relationships. The relationship between Ursula and Sylvie (Ursula's mother) was particularly interesting as I watched how it differed (or deterioriated??) as Ursula grew up. It was a rather surprising development because Sylvie was shown to have loved Ursula a lot when she was born, not least because Ursula nearly died during her birth. Instead, the rising indifference that Sylvie has towards Ursula and her life choices as she grew old made me wonder what was going on in Sylvie's mind. Especially given how I am pretty sure that Sylvie herself was being hypocritical with her side affair.
It might get really confusing reading the book due to its style of suddenly switching timelines. (Like, I am not always sure that Ursula has died and restarted.) Also, when jumping straight into another life of Ursula's the narrator has the tendency to also explain about past events, which made the whole reading experience rather confusing for me at times. One would also have to have great deduction abilities to know who each new character was, especially with new timelines introduced. I was very confused; I think there are at least 50 character names in the book.
Overall, I thought that the book proved to be a very interesting ride that taught about war, humanity, family and hope. Seeing how Ursula always strived to create the best possible outcome for herself, and the people around her, warmed my heart. Because, I mean, anyone could have just cared about herself and just focussed on making herself really wealthy and famous. But no, for Ursula, it was always about family and friends. Saving Bridget, saving Nancy, saving Teddy... Reading these kind of books once in a while is good for the heart haha.
On a side note, I wonder if Ursula will ever truly die. I mean, having to keep on relive your life again and again, although they might be slightly different, is going to have to suck. Especially when you are always having to relive WW1 and WW2. Even if Ursula kills Hitler, she is probably going to die in the process of that. So, she is never going to be able to enjoy life without Hitler. How does she even know for sure that the people in the world where she kills Hitler are continuing their lives? Without bearing witness to it, that life and reality cannot be confirmed. (Yeap, something I learnt in my Philosophy class about alternate realities and simulations. See the brain in a vat.)
Anyway, this book is a good read to get your brain moving. And your heart as well. With the various repetitions though, one might get bored 3/4 into the book.
Rating: 4/5
