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Tim O'Brien

333. Kate Atkinson - A God In Ruins


As it is a library book, due back 5 September, I thought worth another read.

It is actually quite an old fashioned novel, reminded me at the time of Elizabeth Jane Howard, about the fortunes of a middle class English family over a period of nearly 100 years.

Teddy apart, who possibly dies just short of 100 near the end, the characters come and go and there are lots of deaths, fewer entrances.

Lots of course of war dead, Nancy, Teddy’s wife who dies tragically early of cancer, one at least of Viola’s partners, who trips in both senses under a train, and by the end most of Teddies and Nancy’s many siblings.

The main survivors are Teddy, being shunted by the dreadful Viola from own home to sheltered accommodation to care home, her son Sunny who finds some redemption as a yoga teacher and daughter Bertie who may be a little idealised but is the nicest character, Teddy apart in the book.

Not one I have found easy to write about.


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