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marthauhlig's review against another edition
reflective
medium-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? No
3.5
l_settembrini's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
supersilly247's review
reflective
relaxing
tense
fast-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? N/A
4.25
dandelion451's review against another edition
5.0
In equal measure refreshing and depressing... But that IS the season Winter. It is a celebration of the need to NOTICE.
It is about promise, purpose and potential and I will certainly return to this tetralogy again and again - the richness of the language often astounds to the point of some of the narrative going by unnoticed!
Further, it will fascinate to re-read each story in the light of contemporary events. (Notably - for 2020 - a certain welcome change in leadership...)
It is about promise, purpose and potential and I will certainly return to this tetralogy again and again - the richness of the language often astounds to the point of some of the narrative going by unnoticed!
Further, it will fascinate to re-read each story in the light of contemporary events. (Notably - for 2020 - a certain welcome change in leadership...)
juli_mod's review against another edition
3.0
Es zündet nicht so recht in diesem Roman: im Gegensatz zu den anderen Jahreszeitbüchern funktioniert der wilde Figurenmix in WINTER für mich nicht. Statt sich zu beflügeln, lähmen sie sich irgendwie (und Art in Nature bleibt unsympathisch). Die politischen Nebenbeigeschichten wirken diesmal eher hölzern als explosiv. Dazu verschwinden einige der Erzhälideen konsequenzlos (alles sei tot und was ist eigentlich mit dem Flügelkopf?). Dieser Roman hat mich leider nicht so geflasht wie ich es von Ali Smith verwöhnt bin.
lindzlovesreading's review
4.0
My facourite thing about Ali Smith's writing, is that even when she is writing in the moment, it's a memory. Her writing is beautifully fluid that is can exsist in more than one realm of perspective or time at once. I suppose this is how her novels can hold so many ideas, and the way she connects the present with past and future. I adore her writing, I would read an Ali Smith shopping list.
nikolai_k's review against another edition
5.0
Studio Ghibli presents Art's Floating Coastline (feat. Zen-ic Luxie Dream Girl)
"Not even this winter wonderland can make me care about Cymbeline."
— Tallulah Bankhead ("Ten Things Tallulah Bankhead can live without", GQ, 1066 AD)
"Not even this winter wonderland can make me care about Cymbeline."
— Tallulah Bankhead ("Ten Things Tallulah Bankhead can live without", GQ, 1066 AD)
flahri's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
sctittle's review
4.0
In this second of a planned four-novel cycle, Ali Smith continues to explore our (I mean 21st-century 1st worlders) collective myopia. Winter can mean so many things: whiteness and purity; death; hibernation; Christmas and all its baggage. She brings all of this to bear--just as she did with [b:Autumn|28446947|Autumn|Ali Smith|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1456560519s/28446947.jpg|48572278]--through a kind of quirky and seemingly random (but really clever) story. But in this novel the pairing of theme and plot felt slightly more forced. Smith makes her way through the many facets of fucked-up-ness as her character Sophia, and then Sophia's sister, son and son's friend, gather for a Christmas meal. The dynamics of this foursome are the canvas on which Smith takes readers through the paces of the greed, alienation, dis-connectedness, hatred, and inhumanity that are so prevalent in the time of Brexit and, now, Trump. How the characters take each other apart and then put each other back together again becomes a kind of fable that, thankfully, has a happy ending.
Smith's writing is just wonderful. A few lines that stick out: "It was a still night and not cold . . . it would be a warm start to Christmas after the storms, and the lack of frost and cold left the landscape wintry without dignity." "The round piece of stone the size of a small head lay there, did nothing. The nothing was intimate. How could something be this uncomplicated? How could it be, at the same time, so mysterious? Look. It was nothing but a stone. What a relief. It was what the notion of relief aspired to and had always been meant to mean." "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, and break the surface and when you do it's akin to--to what? To a salmon leaping God knows where, home against the flow, not knowing what home is, not knowing anything except that there's no other thing to do."
If you like writing that is profoundly introspective, and/or if you are looking for a writer who is struggling with how to be humane at this moment in time, when so many forces are working against humanity, then you will love this book, and probably this quartet. I can't wait to read the next two.
Smith's writing is just wonderful. A few lines that stick out: "It was a still night and not cold . . . it would be a warm start to Christmas after the storms, and the lack of frost and cold left the landscape wintry without dignity." "The round piece of stone the size of a small head lay there, did nothing. The nothing was intimate. How could something be this uncomplicated? How could it be, at the same time, so mysterious? Look. It was nothing but a stone. What a relief. It was what the notion of relief aspired to and had always been meant to mean." "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, and break the surface and when you do it's akin to--to what? To a salmon leaping God knows where, home against the flow, not knowing what home is, not knowing anything except that there's no other thing to do."
If you like writing that is profoundly introspective, and/or if you are looking for a writer who is struggling with how to be humane at this moment in time, when so many forces are working against humanity, then you will love this book, and probably this quartet. I can't wait to read the next two.