Ali Smith

Autumn. Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. Two old friends—Daniel, a centenarian, and Elisabeth, born in 1984—look to both the future and the past as the United Kingdom stands divided by a historic, once-in-a-generation summer. Love is won, love is lost. Hope is hand-in-hand with hopelessness. The seasons roll round, as ever.
 
A luminous meditation on the meaning of richness and harvest and worth, Autumn is the first installment of Ali Smith’s Seasonal Quartet, and it casts an eye over our own time: Who are we? What are we made of? Shakespearean jeu d’esprit, Keatsian melancholy, the sheer bright energy of 1960s pop art. Autumn is wide-ranging in time-scale and light-footed through histories.

Autumn

karina

It’s alright to forget, you know, he said. It’s good to. In fact, we have to forget things sometimes. Forgetting it is important. We do it on purpose. It means we get a bit of rest. Are you listening? We have to forget. Or we’d never sleep ever again. 

ang ིྀ 

It's the only responsibility memory has, he said. But, of course, memory and responsibility are strangers. They're foreign to each other. Memory always goes its own way quite regardless.

The pauses are a precise language, more a language than actual language is, Elisabeth thinks.

No. To be more exact. As I've already said. As I’ve already made clear. I’m all the leaves.

So, have you fallen? Are you still waiting to fall? In the autumn? In the summer if it’s stormy?

 you mean, you’re last year’s leaves?

You’re all the old long-gone leaves of all the years? And all the leaves to come?

Yes, yes. Obviously. Christ almighty. I’m the leaves. I’m all the leaves. Okay?

We have to hope, Daniel was saying, that the people who love us and who know us a little bit will in the end have seen us truly. In the end, not much else matters.

darby

“We have to hope,” Daniel was saying, “that the people who love us and know us a little bit will in the end have seen us truly. In the end, not much else matters.”

Things just happened. Then they were over. Time just passed. Partly it felt unpleasant, to think like that, rude even. Partly it felt good. It was a kind of relief. 

“Always be reading something,” he said. “Even when we’re not physically reading. How else will we read the world? Think of it as a constant.”

audrey 🪐

SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2017 SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER 'In a country apparently divided against itself, a writer such as Smith is more valuable than a whole parliament of politicians' Financial Times 'Undoubtedly Smith at her best. Puckish, yet elegant; angry, but comforting' The Times 'A beautiful, poignant symphony of memories, dreams and transient realities... The first post-Brexit novel' Guardian breathtakingly inventive new novel from the Man Booker-shortlisted and Baileys Prize-winning author of How to be both Daniel is a century old. Elisabeth, born in 1984, has her eye on the future. The United Kingdom is in pieces, divided by a historic once-in-a-generation summer. Love is won, love is lost. Hope is hand in hand with hopelessness. The seasons roll round, as ever . . . 'Terrific, extraordinary, playful... There is an awful lot to lift the soul' Daily Mail 'Bold and brilliant' Observer

SHORTLISTED for the Man Booker Prize 2017

Smith’s use of symbolism and metaphor are superb and help make poignant comments about the political climate and interpersonal relationships. Some very enjoyable and witty dialogue too. A very enjoyable read.

Liam Collins

some (if not most) of my favorite stories revolve about friendship and the love that can be found in it. i liked autumn for precisely this reason — elisabeth and daniel’s friendship, despite time, despite the years in between (and the whimsical way smith captures it all) made for a lovely story, and one that felt simple/poignant/mundane/extraordinary all at once. like life. 

sidebar: i try my best to read (and write reviews for) stories before i read other people’s opinions on them, because i find that i am easily influenced — this time i did it out of order just because of ali smith’s unique storytelling in this book and because it wasn’t anything like i’d read/experienced before. perhaps this contributed to me being more receptive to her style and thus, liking it a lot more.

some (if not most) of my favorite stories revolve about friendship and the love that can be found in it. i liked autumn for precisely this reason — elisabeth and daniel’s friendship, despite time, despite the years in between (and the whimsical way smith captures it all) made for a lovely story, and one that felt simple/poignant/mundane/extraordinary all at once. like life. 

sidebar: i try my best to read (and write reviews for) stories before i read other people’s opinions on them, because i find that i am easily influenced — this time i did it out of order just because of ali smith’s unique storytelling in this book and because it wasn’t anything like i’d read/experienced before. perhaps this contributed to me being more receptive to her style and thus, liking it a lot more.

A very creatively, artistically written book. Sometimes a bit hard to follow (though that might also be a foreign language problem). Required quite a lot of concentration and the right mood for me. But it was a nice story and interesting characters. It was very British, so not every reference was clear to me.

Sometimes the words seemed to be randomly put together. But nevertheless, it emanated a feeling of frustration, reminiscence and rebellion, while sprinkling in hope and chaos/craziness (the good kind), randomness, creativity.

Alisa 

A very creatively, artistically written book. Sometimes a bit hard to follow (though that might also be a foreign language problem). Required quite a lot of concentration and the right mood for me. But it was a nice story and interesting characters. It was very British, so not every reference was clear to me.

Sometimes the words seemed to be randomly put together. But nevertheless, it emanated a feeling of frustration, reminiscence and rebellion, while sprinkling in hope and chaos/craziness (the good kind), randomness, creativity.

Im Buch geht es um die Freundschaft zwischen Elisabeth, einer jungen Frau, und Daniel, einem alten Mann. Wir erleben Elisabeths Alltag als Erwachsene und parallel dazu ihre Kindheit, die sie gerne mit Daniel verbrachte. Die Handlung springt immer wieder von der Gegenwart in die Vergangenheit, aber auch in Daniels Träume, da er in einen tiefen Schlaf verfällt. Dach Buch behandelt unter anderem die Punkte Rassismus, Feminismus, Liebe, Kritik an der modernen Welt und ihren Zerfall.

Meiner Meinung nach springt das Buch von einem Thema zum nächsten und hat keinen konstanten roten Faden. All die Themen, die das Buch anspricht, werden nur oberflächlich herausgearbeitet. Mir fehlt auch die Herbststimmung – diese Jahreszeit kommt meiner Meinung nach gar nicht zur Geltung, oder vielleicht habe ich einfach etwas anderes von dem Buch erwartet. Ich fand die Figuren blass und ohne besonders hervorstechenden Charakter. Alles in allem hat mir das Buch überhaupt nicht gefallen.

Zainab 

Im Buch geht es um die Freundschaft zwischen Elisabeth, einer jungen Frau, und Daniel, einem alten Mann. Wir erleben Elisabeths Alltag als Erwachsene und parallel dazu ihre Kindheit, die sie gerne mit Daniel verbrachte. Die Handlung springt immer wieder von der Gegenwart in die Vergangenheit, aber auch in Daniels Träume, da er in einen tiefen Schlaf verfällt. Dach Buch behandelt unter anderem die Punkte Rassismus, Feminismus, Liebe, Kritik an der modernen Welt und ihren Zerfall.

Meiner Meinung nach springt das Buch von einem Thema zum nächsten und hat keinen konstanten roten Faden. All die Themen, die das Buch anspricht, werden nur oberflächlich herausgearbeitet. Mir fehlt auch die Herbststimmung – diese Jahreszeit kommt meiner Meinung nach gar nicht zur Geltung, oder vielleicht habe ich einfach etwas anderes von dem Buch erwartet. Ich fand die Figuren blass und ohne besonders hervorstechenden Charakter. Alles in allem hat mir das Buch überhaupt nicht gefallen.

This was really thoughtful and a great read to kick off the start of fall. The friendship between Elisabeth and Daniel is poignantly written.

"Originally published in hardcover in Great Britain by Hamish Hamilton, an imprint of Penguin Books Ltd., a division of Penguin Random House Ltd., London, in 2017"--Copyright page.

Winter

Ryan Mateyk

Once again, incredible! (See review of Autumn for more of me gushing). Another beautiful piece of writing on love, family, time and Shakespeare.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2017 SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER 'In a country apparently divided against itself, a writer such as Smith is more valuable than a whole parliament of politicians' Financial Times 'Undoubtedly Smith at her best. Puckish, yet elegant; angry, but comforting' The Times 'A beautiful, poignant symphony of memories, dreams and transient realities... The first post-Brexit novel' Guardian A breathtakingly inventive new novel from the Man Booker-shortlisted and Baileys Prize-winning author of How to be both Daniel is a century old. Elisabeth, born in 1984, has her eye on the future. The United Kingdom is in pieces, divided by a historic once-in-a-generation summer. Love is won, love is lost. Hope is hand in hand with hopelessness. The seasons roll round, as ever . . . 'Terrific, extraordinary, playful... There is an awful lot to lift the soul' Daily Mail 'Bold and brilliant' Observer

Teresa Bonifácio

I really don’t know what to write. What is this book about? It’s about a story of an old man and a young girl. A kid. About how she idolizes him. About how the stories he tells her makes of her who she is when she grows. 
It’s also about everything and nothing. I guess Brexit is somewhere in there. Or something like Brexit. 
It made me want to read the other three (winter, spring and summer). And Ali is more than a writer. She’s a poet.

Winter? Bleak. Earth as iron, water as stone, so the old song goes. But winter makes things visible. And Christmas is a time for family reunions, unexpected guests and evergreen truths. It's December in Cornwall and Art's mother is seeing things. Art has problems too. His girlfriend has left so he's paying Lux, a young immigrant he found on the street, to impersonate her - but Lux has no intention of sticking to the script. And Iris, Art's prodigal aunt, septuagenarian CND-er and black sheep of the family, is about to arrive with a car full of food and a throat full of protest songs. Four people, strangers and family, in a fifteen-bedroom house for Christmas - will there be enough room for everyone? Wintercasts a merry eye over a bleak post-truth era with a story rooted in history, art, love and memory, protest and survival.

I really enjoyed more Winter than I did Autumn. The storyline was more appealing to me. I can see the connection between both books and am planning on reading Spring and Summer next!

Sonia Grgas

Reading this book was like reading a dream that I very frequently I didn't want to wake up from.

Shortlisted for the British Book Award - Fiction Book of the Year and the Orwell Prize for Political Writing The second novel in the Man Booker Prize-nominated author's Seasonal cycle; the much-anticipated follow-up to Autumn (a New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, Financial Times, The Guardian, Southern Living, and Kirkus Reviews best book of the year). Winter. Bleak. Frosty wind, earth as iron, water as stone, so the old song goes. And now Art's mother is seeing things. Come to think of it, Art's seeing things himself. When four people, strangers and family, converge on a fifteen-bedroom house in Cornwall for Christmas, will there be enough room for everyone? Winter. It makes things visible. Ali Smith's shapeshifting Winter casts a warm, wise, merry and uncompromising eye over a post-truth era in a story rooted in history and memory and with a taproot deep in the evergreens, art and love.

chloe rae

“He thinks about how, whatever being alive is, with all its pasts and presents and futures, it is most itself in the moments when you surface from a depth of numbness or forgetfulness that you didn’t even know you were at”

This book was absolutely stunning. It was radiant and warm and cold and harsh; just how winter actually is. It always takes me a moment to settle myself into an Ali Smith novel but once I’m in, I am IN. 

She has such a unique way of storytelling. The reader is constantly shifting between here and then and there but in a dreamlike way, without ever feeling manipulated. So many themes blend into the other and weave all through this timeline effortlessly: motherhood, sisterly love, politics, finding yourself, etc. It was just exquisite. And nothing felt forced or overly political, it was just quietly impactful. 

This is my favorite of the Seasonal Quarter by far. Very excited to continue on with her work.

Winter? Bleak. Frosty wind, earth as iron, water as stone, so the old song goes. The shortest days, the longest nights. The trees are bare and shivering. The summer's leaves? Dead litter. The world shrinks; the sap sinks. But winter makes things visible. And if there's ice, there'll be fire. In Ali Smith's Winter, lifeforce matches up to the toughest of the seasons. In this second novel in her acclaimed Seasonalcycle, the follow-up to her sensational Autumn, Smith's shape-shifting quartet of novels casts a merry eye over a bleak post-truth era with a story rooted in history, memory and warmth, its taproot deep in the evergreens- art, love, laughter. It's the season that teaches us survival. Here comes Winter.

why do i have to rate the books i read!!!!!! i simply want to read my books in peace and then say this was good or this was bad and then go on with my day!!! i do not know how to rate things!!!!!!!1 so ignore this rating! i love everything ali smith writes tho

Julia Lundberg 

postmodern, Arty Art, Pauline Boty, immigrants, General Love

tara  (she/her)

Bilge Ince

It was the worst of times, it was the worst of times. Again. That's the thing about things. They fall apart, always have, always will, it's in their nature. So an old man washes up on the shore. He looks like a punctured football with its stitching split, the leather kind that people kicked a hundred years ago.

 …then a little THE on the side then huge in red SEX KITTEN. Take my photo looking at this, please, Mike, she said. She came right up to the side of the building as if she were coming round its corner and simply sort of reading the sign because that's what she was, a girl reading the world. 

I have a deep admiration for Autumn and can speak about it for hours. It resonated with me on a personal level, and the beautiful love story between Mr. Gluck and Elisabeth Demand touched me deeply, opening doors in the heart that one cannot easily imagine. I felt many things at the same time laughed, wanted to cry, saddened by the cruel fact about the world we’re living in it. Oh so many emotions I can blabber about for days…
It is unfortunate that some people categorized this story as a Brexit tale, when there was all the laugh a witty mind’s product, when there was all the love and caring a loving heart’s outcome.

 Time travel is real, Daniel said. We do it all the time. Moment to moment, minute to minute.

heleen de boever

Ah damn, Ali. First time I'm not on board.

Anyaconda

Dnf

What the heck is this book?
It's just so boring and I can't deal with the writing style at all. It's super short, but I'm not torturing myself when I can read any other book than this one.

What was the purpose of this? Why does this book even exist?
Sorry 😐 not sorry. I won't be picking up any more Ali Smith. Thank God I found this in a thrift shop for a dollar.

Joana da Silva

This was my first experience with Ali Smith and all I can say is: I want to read everything this woman ever wrote. Give me her shopping list and I'll have a ball with it. In the beginning, I was having a hard time understanding her writing but once I got on with it, this was quite a ride. What a beautiful story and written in a fascinating way. It's a complex story shown through bits of simple storytelling, and it's so worth it. Do not sleep on this book.

Meghan Navoy

could not finish this book. I really wanted to like it but I just couldn't get into it.

Jesse Morley

Refreshing to read a novel that feels so energetically modern. The timeless problems of family, relationship, and loneliness, are woven poetically and inseparably into the fabric of modernity and of the lives we find ourselves living now, in the age of Google and Trump.

I hoped this book would make me feel more and I feel like it could have but it didn't. I liked the friendship between Elisabeth and Mr Gluck and would have enjoyed reading more of it. Didn't really care for the art parts, which I think were supposed to be the important thing about the book. I still consider myself an Ali Smith fan though, and might read one of her other books before returning to the Seasonal Quartet.

Diba

Alexandra Sklar

Unusual prose. Once my mind snapped into it, I was carried away.

Megan Paterson

Although at times I was unsure of what was going on, I adored this book purely for Smith's prose style. She writes so amazingly, it is like stream of consciousness but to perfection. A great picture of how our lives intertwine with others.

Katie Chua

i loved this. i haven't even read autumn but i read this first because it's more timely. i would give it five except for the attempts to bring in modern-day references to brexit and trump. i get it, but i think i personally would have loved the book even more if they weren't included. 

i love the theme of winter in general (slowness, darkness, a moment before spring and rebirth), but i also loved how smith engaged with it. i liked all the characters (surprisingly. they grew on me) and it gave me a certain kind of peace that i didn't expect, but i will embrace

this book is the kind of book that is so fantastic it makes you stand still for a moment - once, twice, many times. it is a book about many things - current political affairs, history, art, love, time (as many have said) - and perhaps that's why it struck me with how well it captures the current zeitgeist.

i don't think any form of media has quite managed to capture pre-covid post-brexit britain quite like this, and doubt it ever will. it is the monumentality of the times put into the perspective of the relationship between two people; that in spite of everything we continue to exist and our lives do not stop.

much like its predecessor, 'winter' is an intelligent commentary on the present and the past. it, once again, discussed time and art and politics and (in the centre of it all) human relationships.

for me, where the book is particularly interesting it how it explore similar topics to the first book but through a different setting and characters while still managing to feel like a continuation of the first novel through the techniques utilised throughout. what an excellent example of literature.

Autumn

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