A God in Ruins - Hardcover

Atkinson, Kate

3.95 out of 5 stars

57,624 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0316347698 ISBN 13: 9780316347693

Publisher: Little Brown & Co, 2015

View all copies of this ISBN edition

One of the Best Books of 2015--TIME, NPR, Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, The Seattle Times, The Kansas City Star, Kirkus, Bookpage, Hudson Booksellers, AARP

The stunning companion to Kate Atkinson's #1 bestseller Life After Life, "one of the best novels I've read this century" (Gillian Flynn).

"He had been reconciled to death during the war and then suddenly the war was over and there was a next day and a next day. Part of him never adjusted to having a future."

Kate Atkinson's dazzling Life After Life explored the possibility of infinite chances and the power of choices, following Ursula Todd as she lived through the turbulent events of the last century over and over again.

A GOD IN RUINS tells the dramatic story of the 20th Century through Ursula's beloved younger brother Teddy--would-be poet, heroic pilot, husband, father, and grandfather-as he navigates the perils and progress of a rapidly changing world. After all that Teddy endures in battle, his greatest challenge is living in a future he never expected to have.

An ingenious and moving exploration of one ordinary man's path through extraordinary times, A GOD IN RUINS proves once again that Kate Atkinson is one of the finest novelists of our age.

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Review

"She also continues to write, as she did in "Life after Life," about the savagery of war in clarion prose that is graphic in detail and possessed of a singular melancholy. And whether it is the stoic Teddy, his practical wife, his unbelievably selfish daughter, or his neglected grandchildren, every one of Atkinson's characters will, at one moment or another, break readers' hearts." ""Booklist """

"If you loved Atkinson's" Life After Life, " you're in luck. If you're one of the, say, five people who didn't read it: You're still in luck--Atkinson is a master at the top of her game. A quiet, moving portrait of a guy navigating life's small pleasures and painful failures." ""Marie Claire"""

PRAISE FOR A GOD IN RUINS:
"Atkinson isn't just telling a story: she's deconstructing, taking apart the notion of how we believe stories are told. Using narrative tricks that range from the subtlest sleight of hand to direct address, she makes us feel the power of storytelling not as an intellectual conceit, but as a punch in the gut." ""Publishers Weekly"""

A "dazzling novel." ""People"""

"Transcendent." Moira Macdonald, ""The Seattle Times"""

"random, miraculous, and frightening" Helen T. Veronogos, ""The St. Louis Post-Dispatch """

"beautifully wrought, deeply felt scenes" Carolyn Kellogg, ""The Los Angeles Times """

"A sprawling, epic novel..."A God in Ruins" expresses the ways lives can be seen close up, in seemingly unconnected individual moments, or from a distance, as a series of through-lines." Tasha Robinson, "NPR.org""

"As finely crafted as "Life After Life."..Having spun one great novel out of second, third and 50th chances, she's spun another out of the fact that in reality, we get only one." Lev Grossman, ""Time """

""A God in Ruins" bills itself as a companion piece to "Life After Life," rather than a sequel. In trying this, Atkinson joins some of the most innovative and impressive authors on both sides of the pond, including Hilary Mantel, Marilynne Robinson, and Jane Smiley, who are busy constructing high-brow trilogies and ambitious spinoffs of their own. Atkinson more than lives up to the challenge and proves herself worthy of her company." Ester Bloom, "BarnesandNoble.com""