not sure how i feel about this one. at first i thought we were mistaken, ursula didn't die in the first chapter - but quickly realized that whenever she died, the story started again. but by the time the book ended, it seemed that other characters could restart life as well with mixed results (teddy happily reunited with nancy, but sylvia takes her own life as if she cannot endure another repeat)

i also thought it would end when ursula 'learned' from her mistakes, and killed hitler - but it didn't. and that confused me. all the talk of reincarnation with her psychiatrist, and the horrors of war, and even the prologue indicated that was the climax - to stop it. but the fact that life restarted after that ending made the whole thing seem inconsequential. and rather depressing.

since finishing the book, i've read a reviewer compare it to a video game - one where the influenza epidemic, and the blitz, are the harder 'bosses'. how true.