There are both similarities and differences when compared to Life After Life, to which A God in Ruins is a 'companion' piece rather than a sequel as such, although it does take up a version of Teddy Todd's life and flesh it out forwards through time from his return from the POW camp at the end of the ultimate story from Life After Life, with Ursula slipping in and out, many others from the previous book in the margins (including Teddy's aunt Izzie in a crucial framing role), and Sylvie and Nancy prominent, along with two new generations through Viola, Bertie and Sunny.
I liked the way it represented time and consciousness, slipping easily between time horizons - past and future - and between points of view within the spaces of paragraphs and lines. More than a formal trick, it felt true - a reflection of how lives, histories and worlds really are experienced, and consonant with Atkinson's perspective on all of the above. And I think it added to, rather than detracting from, the emotional effects - quiet and more dramatic - of the little sadnesses and incompletenesses, as well as the moments of kindness and connection, of all of the characters' lives - including the final formal turn when the 'last flight' in 1944 is revisited at the end. Atkinson has always been a writer who could make me feel both happy and sad at once, who seemed able to capture something of what it is to be anything at all, and her gift has only matured over time.
I liked the way it represented time and consciousness, slipping easily between time horizons - past and future - and between points of view within the spaces of paragraphs and lines. More than a formal trick, it felt true - a reflection of how lives, histories and worlds really are experienced, and consonant with Atkinson's perspective on all of the above. And I think it added to, rather than detracting from, the emotional effects - quiet and more dramatic - of the little sadnesses and incompletenesses, as well as the moments of kindness and connection, of all of the characters' lives - including the final formal turn when the 'last flight' in 1944 is revisited at the end. Atkinson has always been a writer who could make me feel both happy and sad at once, who seemed able to capture something of what it is to be anything at all, and her gift has only matured over time.
