I enjoyed this wonderful book immensely, and would recommend it enthusiastically to all my British family and friends -- except that all my British friends have already read it! My only hesitation in an American context is that people who have not grown up in postwar Britain as Kate Atkinson (and I) did might not get her dense texture of forgotten brand-names and vanished social customs. In this, she is pitch-perfect, recalling not only the lost era of her own chilhood but also the England of her grandparents and parents. I can see why there is a Reader's Guide on the market, for Atkinson's museum contains an almost archaeological treasure that, though sometimes needing annotation, is always authentic.
But her factual authenticity is nothing compared to her authenticity as a person. For the story of the growth of her narrator-heroine Ruby Lennox from conception into young womanhood is that of a life not so much described as LIVED. I assume that the book is largely autobiographical, but it does not read as that either, since Ruby (who always speaks in a voice older than her years, and can be marvelously funny) is so much alive that she leaps off the page as an independent creation, clearly informed by the author's love-hate relationship with the other members of her extended family, but by no means following her footsteps. It is almost a pity at the end when she comes of age, and the provocative double focus of adult/child merges into one.
The various chapters of Ruby's story, told chronologically, are interspersed with long "footnotes" investigating different episodes in the lives of her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother (this is a feminist book without making a fetish of it), their siblings, and the various men who affect their lives. These stretch back into the late 19th century, spanning two world wars, and show (as other readers have pointed out) how much the lives of women have changed in the past century. I found that many of the most moving parts of the book, some of which brought tears to my eyes, were contained in these sections. But they are told out of chronological order and feature a large cast of characters; I wish I had thought to jot down a timeline and family tree as I was reading.
Various reviews quoted in the paperback edition compare Atkinson to Dickens. Although her voice is quite different, there are certain similarities: both authors enjoy mystery and belated revelations, both have a fondness for highly colored characters, both share a comic vision, and both tend towards the melodramatic. There is more than the average amount of tragedy in this book, and few of their lives follow predictable paths. But Atkinson's characters do not lose reality because of this but seem more vigorously alive. Given Atkinson's infectious voice and grasp on life, the overall effect of this book is wonderfully exhilarating.
[For another magnificently authentic account of life in Britain in the years around WW2, I recommend Andrea Levy's recent
SMALL ISLAND
. And for a book that attempts a somewhat similar family saga to Atkinson's, but in an American context, I suggest Carol Shields' modern classic
THE STONE DIARIES
. Both these books are among the best I have read in 2006; BEHIND THE SCENES will make a third.]
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Popular Highlights in this book
‘The past is what you leave behind in life, Ruby,’ she says with the smile of a reincarnated lama. ‘Nonsense, Patricia,’ I tell her as I climb on board my train. ‘The past’s what you take with you.’Highlighted by 143 Kindle readers- In the end, it is my belief, words are the only things that can construct a world that makes sense.Highlighted by 114 Kindle readers
- The past is a cupboard full of light and all you have to do is find the key that opens the door.Highlighted by 87 Kindle readers
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Top reviews from other countries
A .M. Halstrom
She is a writer of magical prose !
Reviewed in Canada on December 14, 2016janice aldridge
I fell in love with Ruby Lennox immediately.
Reviewed in Australia on March 25, 2020