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inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Smith is a genius. Now I can't wait for Summer & Spring to see if they are linked as well.
I have now read Spring, which then sent me back to Winter to remind myself of all the tiny fragments I had forgotten. Art in Nature, Lux ... Ire ... so much emotion in this book.
I have now read Spring, which then sent me back to Winter to remind myself of all the tiny fragments I had forgotten. Art in Nature, Lux ... Ire ... so much emotion in this book.
omg how is she doing this magnificent writing again so soon after autumn.
funny
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
I´ve already read Autumn by the same author and now also enjoyed this one. The book starts right on Christmas Eve, which was the day I started reading it. Therefore the mood was perfect.
I really liked the experimental style of the book. It switches a lot between different ways of writing which was really interesting. Hence sometimes a little bit hard to follow given the circumstance that English is not my first language. But I think that I will enjoy and understand the book even better with a Reread.
I really liked the experimental style of the book. It switches a lot between different ways of writing which was really interesting. Hence sometimes a little bit hard to follow given the circumstance that English is not my first language. But I think that I will enjoy and understand the book even better with a Reread.
Winter, the second in Ali Smith's seasons quintet, centers on Art, who has a side gig writing a blog about nature, a blog he just makes up. When his girlfriend dumps him, he hires a girl he meets at a bus stop to stand in for his girlfriend during his trip to his mother's house for Christmas. But a stand in girlfriend is not the greatest secret in the house over the holidays. Art's mother isn't doing well, and her estranged sister is called in to help. What follows is an uncomfortable, but necessary encounter between mother and son, between sisters, and Art learning a little about himself. The only stable person in the house is a homeless foreign girl trying to stay under the radar until the Brexit question is settled.
As I read this novel, I felt that it was missing the thing that made Autumn such a good book. The relationship between Daniel and Elisabeth had been so extraordinary that following that with a book about difficult people struggling was a hard sell. But then, on a rainy Sunday afternoon, I looked up to see that it was a few hours and half a book later -- the lack of deeply sympathetic characters didn't hamper Smith's ability to deliver a compelling story. I'm looking forward to continuing with this series of books.
As I read this novel, I felt that it was missing the thing that made Autumn such a good book. The relationship between Daniel and Elisabeth had been so extraordinary that following that with a book about difficult people struggling was a hard sell. But then, on a rainy Sunday afternoon, I looked up to see that it was a few hours and half a book later -- the lack of deeply sympathetic characters didn't hamper Smith's ability to deliver a compelling story. I'm looking forward to continuing with this series of books.
This is more like a 3 1/2 for me, but as always Goodreads limits us :) I'm reading these out of order - should have started with "Autumn" - but "Winter" was available at the library. Apparently "Autumn
is a "post-Brexit" book, and this one takes place after Trump's election. Certainly the issues brought up by those votes are addressed, but in a human way, with characters wrestling with each other, themselves, and their sometimes opposing belief systems. A quick, engaging read which dropped a few balls (or heads - which you'll get if you read it), but was overall quite satisfying.
is a "post-Brexit" book, and this one takes place after Trump's election. Certainly the issues brought up by those votes are addressed, but in a human way, with characters wrestling with each other, themselves, and their sometimes opposing belief systems. A quick, engaging read which dropped a few balls (or heads - which you'll get if you read it), but was overall quite satisfying.
Say this for Scottish novelist Smith: No one else has a voice quite like hers. It’s tart, dreamy, improvisational & doesn’t care much about capitalization, punctuation or even margins. I’m squarely in her experimental corner. (The book opens with a disembodied head merrily floating with holly in its teeth.) A follow-up to her knockout Autumn, the plot (plot?) locks 4 souls in a country house at Christmas. She’s again exploring disconnection in the Time of Trump. If you’re game, it’s worth the ride, even with less of Autumn’s subtlety & warmth. (It’s Winter, after all.) Waiting for Spring.
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
ind it hilarious that as I was writing the review of this book, the Goodreads app crashed and I lost everything I had written. The exact same thing that happened with “Autumn” when I read it…last year…? Two years ago…? It’s like Goodreads wants to stop the passing of the seasons for me. Or perhaps the passing of time…
My review will never be as good as the previous one, or as the one of Autumn (what a shame to open the book page and not see the super long review I had written, sigh) especially as I am shaking with a temperature as I am writing this (in true winter fashion for sure), but I will try.
What stands out to me the most about Winter is its use of symbols, pristine, clear as snow. The same oneiric elements that characterised Autumn are present here, only, less confusing, less kaleidoscopic, less phantasmagoric. Or maybe I just got used to Smith’s manifold style, her ability to pack a punch and evoke several different things within a couple of words.
Cymbeline. A play that has always fascinated me. The petal of the rose in the folio edition in Toronto’s library, the ghost petal, Carry Greenham Home, the Greenfell tower fire, the Trump administration, Shakespeare, Elvis and so much more, it’s incredible how a fiction can be political whilst remaining utterly fictional, profound, never heavy. It’s something not even D.H.Lawrence mastered, I still remember those boring, political sections that took the enjoyment out of Lady Chatterley’s Lover for me. And yet I love how many things Smith makes me discover about the world, (the perfume trials in Autumn is another great example that has stayed with me), about contemporary Britain, how much she educates me, nudging me gently in the right direction, inscribing current social and political events in a narrative framework that remains exquisitely literary, fictional in the true sense of the world, historical as far as history of art is concerned, even though the featured female artist of this book is featured much less, which I appreciated as I had started to find that somewhat tedious in Autumn, whereas here there is plenty of space given to develop other themes. And what a joy to see Daniel from autumn make a come back! Not to mention, the cherry on top was to see John Keats mentioned, my beloved, and mentioned again towards the end, to become the spokesperson of this eternal debate of politics vs art, a contradiction which Smith clearly appears to have resolved in her beautiful, masterful works. Masterful is the right word as Ali Smith is truly a master of words, and I believe that no contemporary lover of literature can truly define himself/herself as a literary expert or truly interested in literature without having read any of her works. There is just no one who writes more fictional fictional than Ali Smith. Her use of language, symbols and motifs, so rich, seamlessly weaved with universal themes and cultural references…it sounds like a recipe for disaster and it ends up being the most delicious cocktail.
I am sure it will be hard to surpass oneself, but I am looking forward to read Spring regardless and finish what I had started…two years ago? Oh how fast time, and the seasons, pass…
A rushed second novel in her quartet? This jumbled up mess was tiresome.