A God in Ruins

By: Kate Atkinson

Narrated by: Alex Jennings

Kate Atkinson’s dazzling Life After Life, one of the top-selling adult books of 2014, explored the possibility of infinite chances, as Ursula Todd lived through the turbulent events of the last century again and again.

In A God in Ruins, Atkinson turns her focus on Ursula’s beloved younger brother, Teddy - would-be poet, RAF bomber pilot, husband, and father - as he navigates the perils and progress of the 20th century. For all Teddy endures in battle, his greatest challenge will be to face living in a future he never expected to have.

A God in Ruins is a masterful companion to Life After Life and will prove once again that Kate Atkinson is one of the finest novelists of our age.

©2015 Random House (P)2015 Random House

Fabulous

Just loved it - and enjoy re-reading it. Good story - Rich and interesting characters. Must re-read Life after Life which I read some time ago.

I wasn't expecting that!

I liked the depth with which characters were drawn and explored. I also found the insights in to the bombing raids, to be fascinating. The story travelled between time frames seamlessly. The twist at the end took my breath away; it had me almost crying...
The voice of the narrator was very enjoyable and his mastery of accents is wonderful. However his actual narration, aside from dialogue, was a bit monotonous at times.

Kate Atkinson is my favourite author

Would you listen to A God In Ruins again? Why?

I think next time I will read it and not listen to it. When I read "Life after life" (to which "A God in ruins" is a squel) I sometimes had to revert to previous chapters to recapture previous events as the story is somewhat confusing in that it jumps backwards to events and then forwards in time with different characters. I found this difficult to do when "listening" as I could not "turn back pages" to previous chapters - if that makes sense!

Any additional comments?

I think one should read "Life after Life" before listening to "A God in ruins" as this will furnish the reader/listener with a background of the characters whose lives, in the latter, often reflect on events and characters in the former.