I borrowed the book because it promised to revisit characters (particularly Teddy) and situations (privileged country life) I’d appreciated in Atkinson’s Life after Life.
This novel is not a sequel or prequel. It flows in a parallel kind of way, taking detours and making inroads, which often are unexpected but drew me in.
Where Life after Life frustrated me because of the multiple lives characters were allowed to live/relive, A God in Ruins annoyed me with cute little direct comments about what only would happen later. Still, the focus on Teddy largely satisfied, though it was a challenge to accept that someone so courageous would be reduced to passivity over time. Plus his daughter Viola was overdrawn, too much a diva, so that her redemption at the end of the book was hardly credible. 6.5/10
A God in Ruins Kate Atkinson, 2015
I borrowed the book because it promised to revisit characters (particularly Teddy) and situations (privileged country life) I’d appreciated in Atkinson’s Life after Life.
This novel is not a sequel or prequel. It flows in a parallel kind of way, taking detours and making inroads, which often are unexpected but drew me in.
Where Life after Life frustrated me because of the multiple lives characters were allowed to live/relive, A God in Ruins annoyed me with cute little direct comments about what only would happen later. Still, the focus on Teddy largely satisfied, though it was a challenge to accept that someone so courageous would be reduced to passivity over time. Plus his daughter Viola was overdrawn, too much a diva, so that her redemption at the end of the book was hardly credible. 6.5/10
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