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emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I just adore Ali Smith’s prose and the way she weaves politics, humanity and art so far in this seasonal quartet.
The book is as dreary and slow as the Winter season, and that makes it easy to want to rate it lower. But in the ennui there is also such a comedy that left me giggling at multiple points. And how it all wove together felt clever and satisfying to my brain.
It brought me right back to the intensity of what it felt (feels? Has it ended yet?) like a never ending winter brought on by Trumpism and Brexit.
But also the relatable feeling of just being a very ordinary and unimportant adult, with complicated family relationships, just trying to get by during the womp womp Christmas season. While the world is burning all around you and humanity is seemingly turning on itself🫠.
Best read at the beginning of the winter season, in December or over the Christmas holidays.
The book is as dreary and slow as the Winter season, and that makes it easy to want to rate it lower. But in the ennui there is also such a comedy that left me giggling at multiple points. And how it all wove together felt clever and satisfying to my brain.
It brought me right back to the intensity of what it felt (feels? Has it ended yet?) like a never ending winter brought on by Trumpism and Brexit.
But also the relatable feeling of just being a very ordinary and unimportant adult, with complicated family relationships, just trying to get by during the womp womp Christmas season. While the world is burning all around you and humanity is seemingly turning on itself🫠.
Best read at the beginning of the winter season, in December or over the Christmas holidays.
challenging
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Disappointed as I loved Spring and Summer, but I guess that matches my feelings about the actual seasons...!
What I usually enjoy about Ali Smith books was exactly what went wrong with this one, it felt disjointed and like she didn't want me to understand anything. Like it's so 'clever' that most people just don't get it.
All of the characters were intellectual in a way that came across pretentious and unrealistic and made me feel stupid (eventually I gave up looking up all the art and literature and politics they were referencing).
It was partly redeemed by some gorgeous sentences and interesting plot points but then by the end I just felt.... nothing
What I usually enjoy about Ali Smith books was exactly what went wrong with this one, it felt disjointed and like she didn't want me to understand anything. Like it's so 'clever' that most people just don't get it.
All of the characters were intellectual in a way that came across pretentious and unrealistic and made me feel stupid (eventually I gave up looking up all the art and literature and politics they were referencing).
It was partly redeemed by some gorgeous sentences and interesting plot points but then by the end I just felt.... nothing
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I love Ali Smith's writing. Her prose is poetry and demands attention and time to fully appreciate. I purchased Winter at an Ali Smith book reading. The quirkiness of the storyline (there are floating heads and mysterious, intriguing women) and the relevance of its political message hooked me. A post-Brexit commentary on the U.K., Winter shows that the tension between progressiveness and conservatism in political activism are not new to our times. Smith intersperses the chapters about this floating head and a family unable to communicate with snapshots of politics: anti-nuclear protests, sexism in Parliament, references to America's new president. Great social commentary, and also just a beautiful story about a family disconnected from one another.