How else will we read the world? Think of it as a constant. What you reading? Always be reading something, he said. While Daniel – a collector of ‘arty art’ - has awakened Elisabeth’s sensibility to art and honed her skills of critical thinking, encouraging her to be a girl ‘reading the world’, Elisabeth now spends hours next to his bed while he dozes off in a care home, reading Shakespeare and Huxley to him. From flashbacks and dreams, we learn from their childhood and past. Both soulmates are bruised - Elisabeth is fatherless and Daniel is alone. Since primary school, Elisabeth, now 32 and an art history lecturer, and her next-door neighbour, Daniel Gluck, about 70 years her senior, are close friends. Set right here, right now, the story time-travels back and forth between the past and the present. Awaiting, anticipating, wondering about the next episodes to come – which characters would return, which artists Ali Smith would spotlight - was an integral part of the marvellous and exhilarating experience that was reading the entire cycle in order of appearance.Īutumn is a playful, multi-layered and at times delectably subversive novel on the floating of time, aging, identity, art, love and friendship, grounded knee-deep in the grim realities of today’s post-truth politics, against the backdrop of the aftermath of the Brexit-vote. Triggered to read it by the title – autumn is my favourite season – this first episode was a wondrous introduction to Smith’s writing for me. Awaiting, anticipating, wondering about the next episodes to come – which characters would return, which artists Ali Smith would spotlight - was an integral part of the marvellous an This is EnglandĪutumn is the first instalment of Ali Smith’s ‘seasonal quartet’ - a cycle ‘exploring the subjective experience of time, questioning the nature of time itself'. This is England Autumn is the first instalment of Ali Smith’s ‘seasonal quartet’ - a cycle ‘exploring the subjective experience of time, questioning the nature of time itself'. The author spent half the book writing about some strange collages of a Pop Art painter with all the details included, so I can do whatever I want with my review. Cat pictures for a serious book shortlisted to the Booker Prize. I have the impression she enjoyed it more than I did. To make up for it will post the visual opinion of my cat on this novel.
Most likely, I am not the right person to read Ali Smith. There were good parts, I even smiled once or twice but I cannot say I enjoyed the experience.
I get it, I appreciate the originality and all.
Something about a sexual scandal.Īs you can see, I cannot write a coherent review because I did not think the book was coherent either. There were other stuff that I did not care for or had any idea what they meant. There were dreams, death dreams There were quotations from books. There were jumps from one time line to another. There were some interesting parts and some parts that I could not get, no matter how much I was frowning at the page. There were also a few weird, moderately fun, post office conversations. But it also talks about a strange friendship between a little girl (presently grown up) and an old man. What was I supposed to get from this book, what was the purpose? Was it a Brexit novel? I don’t think so. There were some interesting part I don’t know.
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