I recently saw the movie Quartet, which takes place in a home for retired musicians. Like the characters in Life after Life, the characters in Quartet are all in some ways in reduced circumstances. Most of them had been well-known, and some had even been famous, but now they live in their own rooms and share much of their lives. Like the characters in Life after Life, many of the characters in Quartet are in various stages of mental and physical decline; some are flamboyantly in their dotage and others struggle to hide what they've become. But even as their bodies and minds fail them, they find joy and sort out sorrow. They make peace with their pasts and resolve old differences.
A big difference between Quartet and Life after Life is that the book takes us into the characters’ minds and hearts. We learn what they're thinking, and we learn something about what made them the people they've become. We see beyond what others can only observe. In fact, we learn what most of the characters spend most of their lives trying to hide. For me, that's when I feel that I’ve really come to know them. I’m touched by the vulnerability that’s at the heart of all of us, no matter what our facades indicate. But that’s too much information for some of us, and it makes us uncomfortable.
Do you feel like you know more than you want to know about the characters in Life after Life?
On a lighter note, seeing Quartet made me think about who might play the characters in Life after Life the movie.
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