Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Remember the movie Groundhog Day with Bill Murray? I loved that movie. Well, take that premise, of reliving the same day over and over again until you get it right, and then turn it around a bit. Life After Life is about a girl who gets to start over - and over again. It's a book that's really like no other.

Ursula is born on a terrible, snowy night in 1910. Or is she? Yes, she is. And each time she is born, she gets a little bit further in her life before a tragedy strikes to take it all, and she starts all over again. Does anyone notice this strange reliving? Well, Ursula finally does. She comes to think of herself as sort of clairvoyant, experiencing deja vu when in a situation that requires a judgement, a decision. If she can just make the right choice or avoid the tragedy she feels is coming, she will probably live her life a little longer - before it begins again. While this may seem a little too weird, a little too redundant, Atkinson makes it extremely readable and the characters extremely real.

I found myself holding my breath at each turn Ursula must make, thinking, "Oh, please let her live past this this time." It was also a revelation learning how each turn, each decision could mean so much, life or death. How many decisions in our own lives mean the difference between a good, happy, long life and a sad one or a tragically short one. It's probably good we don't know these things in reality, but it was very entertaining to find out in the fantasy with Ursula.