Hachette Book Group

Review – Life After Life

~ Hanna ~ 4 Comments

Hello there,

I’ve just finished what could become my personal book of the year 2013. I’m practically speechless, but I should write a review here, so I’ll see what I can come up with 😉 Oh, I almost forgot. The book I’m talking about is Life After Life by Kate Atkinson which was shortlisted for the 2013 Women’s Prize for Fiction.

Lifeafterlife
Image provided by Hachette Book Group¹
Summary quoted from Hachette Book Group¹:

What if you could live again and again, until you got it right?
On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English banker and his wife. 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 a variety of ways, while the young century marches on towards its second cataclysmic world war.
Does Ursula’s apparently infinite number of lives give her the power to save the world from its inevitable destiny? And if she can — will she?

My Thoughts:

Life after Life is mainly set in 20th century England and boy does Ms. Atkinson know how to create setting. I lay there in the grass, looking up at the sky. I breathed sun-filled air as well as gas. I saw the clear skies on the mountains and the darkness of muggy cellars. And then I went to war and found myself on top of a collapsed building, searching for survivors, while bombers were still dropping their deadly cargo all over London.

As you can see, Ms. Atkinson not only did a great job describing the setting, she also created a main character that I could easily identify with. This main character is Ursula and I loved to follow her through her many lives. Although follow seems to be the wrong word, as I often became one with Ursula. We simply merged. I seldom thought that one of her decisions was the wrong one. There are many other characters in Life After Life. Each of them is unique. I like how Ursula has a stronger bond with some and a weaker with others. Just like in real life.

I have never read a story like Life After Life and I think it is brilliant. In the beginning, I had no idea how the story is going to work out. The only thing I knew was that Ursula was able to live her life over and over again. I like where Ms. Atkinson takes her and how she let the story end. I love that this book offers so many emotions. Throughout the story there is love, loss, pain, hope, sorrow and happiness. You get the whole package. Life After Life is a book that shows you how much can change by deciding to do something different. I fully recommend this book to everyone!

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¹https://www.hachettebookgroup.biz/titles/kate-atkinson/life-after-life/9780316176484/

Review – Dewey

~ Hanna ~ Leave a comment

It’s Friday and the weekend is near!

Today you’ll get a review of a book I’ve been wanting to read for a long time: Dewey by Vicki Myron and Bret Witter. I love cats and when I heard about Dewey’s story, I knew I had to read this book.

dewey
Image provided by Hachette Book Group¹
Summary quoted from Hachette Book Group¹:
How much of an impact can an animal have? How many lives can one cat touch? How is it possible for an abandoned kitten to transform a small library, save a classic American town, and eventually become famous around the world? You can’t even begin to answer those questions until you hear the charming story of Dewey Readmore Books, the beloved library cat of Spencer, Iowa. – See more at: http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/vicki-myron/dewey/9780446407410/#sthash.94H83mTs.dpuf
How much of an impact can an animal have? How many lives can one cat touch? How is it possible for an abandoned kitten to transform a small library, save a classic American town, and eventually become famous around the world? You can’t even begin to answer those questions until you hear the charming story of Dewey Readmore Books, the beloved library cat of Spencer, Iowa.
My Thoughts:
Dewey is a biography, a non-fictional book, so this review will be a little different. The book was written by Dewey’s “mom” Vicki Myron and you can feel her love for Dewey throughout the book. This gives a nice touch to the book and it is probably the reason why it is so popular. At times, the book tells Dewey’s story so lively that I thought I was there myself.
We also get to know a lot about Ms. Myron’s personal life. For some that might be interesting, for others not so much. It didn’t bother me. For my taste, it was just the right amount, so that was okay.
Ms. Myron co-wrote Dewey with Mr. Witter who is an experienced biography writer. I don’t know which parts of the book he wrote, but I can imagine that he might have written the parts about the history of Iowa or Spencer. But it doesn’t really matter who wrote them. They were perfectly written, but still, for me, they just didn’t fit. I understand why these parts were put into the book and I think this is an interesting topic, but all I wanted was to read more about Dewey and not about another downfall of Spencer.
Other than that, Dewey is a heartwarming biography of a very lucky cat. It is great book for cat-lovers, or people who like a special story.
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¹ https://www.hachettebookgroup.biz/titles/none/dewey/9780446407427/