Reviews

How to Be Both by Ali Smith

molly9900's review against another edition

challenging funny hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

connorstory's review against another edition

“Beauty in its most completeness is never found in a single body but is something shared instead between more than one body.”

I would be so surprised if Ali Smith’s mother was alive when she wrote this book.

khorswe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

lulumoss's review against another edition

1.0

I liked the first half, sort of. I didn’t love it. A girl, her artsy mother, a 500 year old Italian painting. Then the second half, about the painter. Screech to a halt. Free verse, poetic imagery. Sorry. Not for me. I like a clear narrative and a plot. Am I a monster, a philistine? Probably. And I’m ok with that.

thehancam's review against another edition

5.0

Maybe it's stupid to acknowledge that you can only read something for the first time once, but since reading How To Be Both, it's a revelation that I've been caught up on. Although I've finished this book, it seems to be both something I've read and something I haven't read. How To Be Both is comprised of two parts-- Eyes, which follows a 15th century Italian artist, and Camera, which follows a daughter coping with the loss of her mother. The stories are intertwined, but not dependent on each other, so that the book can be read with either part first. In fact, half of the physical books were printed in the order of Camera-Eyes and the other half in the order of Eyes-Camera. The edition I happened to read was Camera-Eyes, which means that first I met George, who is dealing with the loss of her mother, and then I met Francesco, the Renaissance painter George's mother loved. Which brings me back to my current dilemma; despite the fact that I can physically reread the book in the reverse order, it will never quite be the same experience as it would have been if I had, for the first time, met Francesco prior to meeting George. Although I have read it cover to cover, there is another book out there that upon first glance is the same as the one I read, that I will never be able to experience. Is one way better than the other? Who can say. How To Be Both is a book that makes you fall in love with reading; it is two stories that will forever be both read and not read, but maybe that is what makes it so remarkable.

dotirene's review against another edition

Just awful, pretentious rubbish, layered with descriptions of art

irenelpynn's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexism

Minor: Terminal illness

frenchos's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

5, 10, 15, 1000, tutte le stelle del firmamento.
Non ho mai letto un libro del genere. Sono davvero senza parole.
Avrei potuto sottolineare ogni singola frase in ogni singola pagina. Non l’ho fatto, ma ci sono arrivata vicino e infatti il mio libro è pieno di orecchie.
La passione, la dedizione, la ricerca che ci sono dietro questo libro… incredibile.
Faccio molta fatica a comprendere le critiche riservate a questo libro che io ho trovato davvero perfetto.
Ho amato entrambe le parti e mi ha davvero colpito il radicale cambiamento di voce e, di conseguenza, di scrittura.
Eppure la narrazione è rimasta sempre potente, fortissima, ammaliante e ipnotica.
È un libro da leggere, rileggere, a cui pensare senza mai stancarsi.
Pura poesia. Bellissimo.
Questo libro è un’opera d’arte.

heidilmj's review against another edition

5.0

I really loved this book.

imdillionen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

OK, this was my first Ali Smith and, sadly, it did not blow my mind. I tried reading this years ago, but gave up after a hundred pages. And my copy’s the easy way round (George first, can’t imagine how difficult Francescho would be to get into without George first). I’ve always assumed I would love Smith, as all the good boys in my life do.
What is it then? It’s quite difficult. Maybe the level of impenetrability if just too much for me (says a PhD in Virginia Woolf). Maybe the sentence rhythm just isn’t my fit. Don’t know.
Sure, there was that one bit about siblings that would have made any amount of reading worthwhile, but somehow I just generally speaking wasn’t gripped. It’s beautiful writing, witty, funny, clever. Especially Francescho had me lose focus quite a few times. I wonder what I will remember in a year: that they liked their horse and painted whores? 
I’ll probably read more Smith, but this didn’t smash me like say Cusk or Nelson.