A God in Ruins

A God in Ruins - by Kate Atkinson

While it is not absolutely necessary to read Kate Atkinson’s previous book, Life After Life, before reading this one, I would definitely recommend it.  That one was a weird book.  Brilliant, but weird.  In that book, we read about young Ursula Todd - a woman born in England a few years before the first World War.  Throughout her life, she literally keeps dying.  So a cosmological reset button is pressed, and her life starts over.  And over and over and over.  Each life being somewhat different from her last one.  In all of Ursula’s lives, she has a younger brother Teddy.  You could say that A God in Ruins is based on one of Ursula’s many lives, and Teddy, this time is the main character.

The thing I really like about Teddy is that he seems to be a somewhat normal, likable person.  This is rare in Kate Atkinson books.  Most of her characters are not pleasant people. Fathers are usually dolts, mothers are unsympathetic, no one ever believes in God, and people don’t seem to have a clue how to treat their marital partner with love and/or kindness.  Teddy is somewhat different, but sadly, his life doesn’t seem to be any better than the lives of anyone else created by Kate Atkinson.

We jump all over the place time wise in this book.  It’s definitely not a linear story. One chapter, Teddy is grown up and married.  Then, we flashback to when he was a small child.  Next, we’ve fast forwarded 60 years and he’s a grandfather.  Then, we go back 30 years and he’s a pilot during World War II.  This sort of narrative drives many bonkers, but I thought it worked out rather nicely, and actually thought it made for a better story. 

Some key characters in the book are Teddy’s daughter Viola, and her children Sunny and Bertie.  They’re definitely a warped bunch, but if you’re familiar with Atkinson, these kinds of people are par for the course.  It could be very frustrating reading about these offspring.  Fortunately, good old Teddy can deal with them a lot better than most people could.

Without going into much detail about the plot, you could argue that there really isn’t that much of a plot at all - another common occurrence for this author.  We simply read about all of these people’s day to day (miserable) lives.  What I did find somewhat fascinating is that if you read the book carefully, you discover exactly why Viola grows up into such a “wrong number”.   Children must be raised carefully.  If not, episodes can trigger unpleasant characteristics causing the person to be somewhat distressed and damaged.  So since Viola is royally messed up, she of course gets mixed up with the wrong people as she grows older, ends up having children she doesn’t really love, and then those children grow up dysfunctional, and the whole cycle begins anew.

Unlike any other Kate Atkinson book, this one tends to get too long winded when we read chapters of Teddy’s escapades during World War II.  You could argue that the aspect is somewhat necessary, but I thought the details were too drawn out, and the author could have trimmed several pages.  Fortunately, the end of the book is somewhat of a surprise.  With Atkinson bouncing around over the span of about 100 years, the ending might not be too clear for many, though.  Once you finish the book, I would search the web for the different opinions as to “what really happened”.  This in itself makes the book very worthwhile. It makes you think.

For me, after discovering Kate Atkinson, this was the first time that I’ve ever read the entire works of one author from start to finish, and I’ve immensely enjoyed her works (I’ve reviewed them all on Amazon).  Her books have the tendency to be very depressing, yet very humorous at the same time.  I read an interview with her once, where she said she didn’t feel her books featured characters that were constantly despondent.  She felt all of her characters were “normal”.  I admit that I was saddened by this.  I can’t imagine people living their life in a way that all of these characters do.  If you’re reading this review, I can assure you that it’s very possible to experience a world of joy despite major and minor setbacks.  I only hope that you find such joy.  

I would love to recommend turning to God for enlightenment, but I won’t say that, because someone reading this will think I’m being preachy.  Trust me, though, you can live a better life than a character in a Kate Atkinson book.