Reviews

How to Be Both by Ali Smith

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charliphillipps's review

4.5

Really enjoyed this book, had a bit of trouble following the second half but if I was to re-read I think reading with more detail and time may have helped

shimmery's review against another edition

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5.0

I adore Ali Smith’s writing and always tell people this is my favourite of her books when asked, but I read it so many years ago that I’d mostly forgotten it and decided to reread it.

Reading the first half of the book I was enjoying it but curious as to why it has stayed with me as being my favourite of Smith’s books after all these years (especially as all her books are so good). When I got to the second half I immediately saw why. It’s just so full of joy. What I value so much about Ali Smith’s writing is her perspective and optimism for the world that makes everything even dark and sad things seem part of a beautiful whole. She manages to create hope with her writing.

The first half of the book follows George, a teenage girl who is grieving for her mother who has recently died and is feeling lost and angry and sad because of that. The second half we view George’s life through the eyes of a renaissance artist who painted one of George’s late mother’s favourite pictures. It’s so original and fun. Nobody does it like Ali Smith.

‘Cause nobody’s the slightest idea who we are, or who we were, not even ourselves
— except, that is, in the glimmer of a moment of fair business between strangers, or the nod of knowing and agreement between friends.
Other than these, we go out anonymous into the insect air and all we are is the dust of colour, brief engineering of wings towards a glint of light on a blade of grass or a leaf in a summer dark.’

withlivjones's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

This is a real stream-of-consciousness novel with some beautiful prose and a real no-plot-just-vibes feel. Half historical fiction, half contemporary literary fiction, it’s like two interconnected novellas in one. Ali Smith’s exploration of grief in the second half of the novel is so real and heartbreaking, and her classic insertion of contemporary politics into the novel did not go amiss (I personally rather enjoy it, although I can see why others might not). I do, however, feel that occasionally the narrative wandered a little too far off course and the book could’ve done with being a bit shorter to really hammer home the themes of grief and love.

Content Warnings

jjayne26's review against another edition

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3.0

My reading of How to be both was significantly interrupted and so I'm sure that my rating does not/will not accurately reflect my opinion of it. I can say, with 100% certainty, that I adore George/Georgia and her sardonic, scattered, grammar-fiendish ways. With a second reading, I think I'll grow to love Franchesco/Franchesca too.