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challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
I loved reading this novel. I really did. I love Ali Smith's way of writing. It moves me and inspires me. Her way of storytelling is amazing. I loved Winter, but I did not love it as much as I loved Autumn. I missed the poetic writing style that had mesmerized me while reading Autumn. Nevertheless, this novel is amazing and I would recommend it to everyone.
that's what winter is: an exercise in remembering how to still yourself then how to come pliantly back to life again.
the prose felt a lot more poetic than autumn's to me, and the story more compact and well woven together. i think it paints a beautiful, striking picture of disjointment and difference and coming together and honestly it was a perfectly wintery read. this really settles it for me that ali smith has such a particular style of storytelling.
the prose felt a lot more poetic than autumn's to me, and the story more compact and well woven together. i think it paints a beautiful, striking picture of disjointment and difference and coming together and honestly it was a perfectly wintery read. this really settles it for me that ali smith has such a particular style of storytelling.
This one checked all my boxes. More biting and weirder than the first in the Seasonal series. I loved the fraught sibling relationship between Art's mother and his aunt, who are polar opposites and haven't spoken to each other in 30 years. The aunt is a life long political activist; the mother is a business woman who voted to Leave. You can guess who I liked the best. Smith skillfully weaves art; wordplay; politics; Brexit; family secrets; a disembodied head; philosophy; protesting; mythology; birding; Shakespeare; U.S. politics and much more in 300 pages. There's never a dull moment and many eye-opening insights. One of my new favorite authors. Audio perfectly narrated by Melody Grove.
emotional
funny
reflective
relaxing
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.5/5 stars
Assorted thoughts:
-love love love Smith's voice, love how much she played with form and the construction of the story - for example the flashbacks were in present tense but the "present day" scenes were written in past tense which i think plays really well with the sense of reality v construction that she plays with a lot in this story, the push and pull is just so fascinating
-there's something i really enjoy in the surreal/abstract nature of her work, tonally speaking it's so interesting and thought-provoking to read
-as with Autumn, very impressed with how well integrated with art and literature and real historic events the narration is, it's so seamless and i'm always very weak for writers who know how to handle intertextuality well
-the familial relationships are so complicated and interesting
Overall impressions: absolutely loved this as a follow-up to Autumn, despite the [on the surface] different characters and plots there is a real sense of continuity in the tone; really looking forward to reading the others in this quartet
Assorted thoughts:
-love love love Smith's voice, love how much she played with form and the construction of the story - for example the flashbacks were in present tense but the "present day" scenes were written in past tense which i think plays really well with the sense of reality v construction that she plays with a lot in this story, the push and pull is just so fascinating
-there's something i really enjoy in the surreal/abstract nature of her work, tonally speaking it's so interesting and thought-provoking to read
-as with Autumn, very impressed with how well integrated with art and literature and real historic events the narration is, it's so seamless and i'm always very weak for writers who know how to handle intertextuality well
-the familial relationships are so complicated and interesting
Overall impressions: absolutely loved this as a follow-up to Autumn, despite the [on the surface] different characters and plots there is a real sense of continuity in the tone; really looking forward to reading the others in this quartet
Made for some passionate Winter Warmer book club chat. Some (yes Gill) much more profound musings than others. There were definitely some intriguing / entertaining passages (particularly liked Art's dream where he becomes a statue on a masouleum. Some parts were a little abstract (clever) for me.