Teddy
Todd was the favorite child of mother, father and aunt. Sweet-natured and
accommodating, his favorite boyhood activity was walking through the
countryside near his home. He loved his pets, literature and Nancy, the girl
next door. As an adult he maintained the same accommodating nature and was
rather apathetic about adult endeavors, particularly employment. Before World
War II, for want of any other interest, he followed his father and older
brother into banking. After the war, he worked for local magazines and
newspapers and married Nancy just because it seemed to be the thing to do. He
lived and died as his wife, and later his daughter, wanted him to. But during
World War II, he was different. War inspired him to join the RAF, become a
leader of men and fly bombing raids over Germany. The gentle man who loved
flowers and animals and poetry found his calling in raining down destruction on
civilian populations. In years to come, he, like many other war veterans, found
that later generations (represented by his self-absorbed, unlikeable daughter,
Viola) did not appreciate, and even disparaged, his service and
accomplishments.
A God in Ruins is a companion piece to Kate
Atkinson’s award winning book, Life After Life but also a contrast,
particularly in the aspects of wartime bombing. In Life After Life, Atkinson
skillfully and with horrifying detail created a London suffering through a
ferocious effort to bomb its populace into submission. A God in Ruins examines
war from the perspective of the young men who, in the face of great personal
danger, flew many times over enemy territory, bombing its cities.
Much
of the appeal of this book lies in the author’s great descriptive abilities.
Whether it is fear and camaraderie in the fuselage of a British bomber,
contentment in walking through the countryside, the comfort of huddling around
the warm stove in a cold kitchen, revulsion at the horror of war casualties,
grief for the dead, or annoyance and irritation caused by many people and
situations, Atkinson easily puts the reader in the psyche and physical space of
her characters.
