All these possibilities arise, and all take the story in different directions, as if to say: We scarcely know ourselves, so what do we know of the lives of those who came before us, including our own parents and-in this instance-our unconventional grandmother? And all these possibilities sometimes entwine, near to the point of confusion. Call it a more learned version of Groundhog Day, but that character can die at birth, or she can flourish and blossom she can be wealthy, or she can be a fugitive she can be the victim of rape, or she can choose her sexual destiny. But Atkinson isn’t being lazy, not in the least: Her protagonist’s encounter with der Führer is just one of several possible futures. If you could travel back in time and kill Hitler, would you? Of course you would.Ītkinson’s ( Started Early, Took My Dog, 2011, etc.) latest opens with that conceit, a hoary what-if of college dorm discussions and, for that matter, of other published yarns (including one, mutatis mutandis, by no less an eminence than George Steiner).
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