Life After Life is a spectacular novel by Kate Atkinson I am reading for the Goodwin Bookies discussion this week. I am not going to review the book here; I want to think about it for a while. The novel’s premise is set by quotations at the very beginning. Here is one of them:
“What if we had a chance to do it again and again, until we finally did get it right? Wouldn’t that be wonderful?” —Edward Beresford Todd
Life After Life is not Groundhog Day. It is much more complex and layered–a story told from different viewpoints in which the outcomes change due to changes in important elements. You might think of those elements as “inciting incidents.”
Readers, I have a question for you: If you could change a key incident in your life, a situation in which you took one path rather than another, what would it be?And why? What do you imagine the outcome of a different choice would have been? Over time, has your opinion on choices you’ve made changed?
If you care to share your opinions, send me a note at: alexis@alexisrankinpopik.com and, with your permission, I’ll put them in my next blog.
And if you’re going to be snowed in for the next couple of days, why not curl up with a paperback or Kindle version of KISS ME OVER THE GARDEN GATE. Just click here for a copy.