"‘Life after Life’ by Kate Atkinson" by Eugenia Williamson | April 06, 2013
Google the phrase “go back in time and,” and the search engine will suggest completing the phrase with a simple directive: “kill Hitler.” The appeal of murdering the Nazi dictator is so great that it has its own subgenre within speculative fiction, a trope known as “Hitler’s murder paradox” in which a time traveler journeys back far enough to nip the leader — and World War II — in the bud, typically with unexpected consequences.
So now assassination is nipping.
And I'm surprised that Google doesn't return "save JFK" with that phrase, aren't you?
Related: Sunday Globe Special: Easter Insults
They never stop coming, folks.
Kate Atkinson, the very talented English novelist, is the most recent writer to try her hand at offing the führer. The result, “Life After Life,” is a thoroughly entertaining, periodically moving read, and a wholly unique addition to that canon....
I think I'll pass.
Who reads books (or newspapers, for that matter) anymore?
The premise shares some elements with those of the Bill Murray vehicle “Groundhog Day,” as well as Ashton Kutcher’s “The Butterfly Effect,” with all of the sweetness of the first and none of the stupidity of the second....
You didn't hook me.
--more--"
Related:
Sunday Globe Special: Book Review
Sunday Globe Special: Lynching Lindbergh
I'm really detecting an agenda-pushing pattern there. You need to read some other kind of books, Globe. Why don't you try my list of favorites on the right?
