heidi_meredith's review
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
I haven't read anything else by Ali Smith. I picked this up in the library with a Virginia Woolf, so was intrigued to find she's mentioned a few times. I had to refer to a dictionary for some words. Smith has a better vocabulary than I do. I loved the linking of these four stories. I have been thinking a lot lately about what success and happiness look like in our culture and this spoke into my thoughts: the rose, the wound, the beauty with the pain, the birth of creativity and connection, which some would seek to numb and homogenise.
As a woman who aspires to creativity I found this encouraging and inspiring. It's refreshing to hear of healthy female relationships which call out the gold in each other rather than jealously competing or sneakily sabotaging.
As a woman who aspires to creativity I found this encouraging and inspiring. It's refreshing to hear of healthy female relationships which call out the gold in each other rather than jealously competing or sneakily sabotaging.
erinminogue's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
doriangrayscale's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
aok700's review
3.0
Worth reading for the Commission story. An glimpse into the inspirations of Smith.
zoemitchell's review
emotional
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
writtenontheflyleaves's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
Shire by Ali Smith 🌱
🌟🌟🌟🌟
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I’m on a personal mission to read everything Ali Smith has ever written, and the most recent stop on this journey was Shire, a library find that features her writing alongside images by her partner, filmmaker Sarah Wood.
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🌹 The concept: Shire is a collection of four short stories, but that doesn’t mean it’s short fiction. Crossing and recrossing the boundaries between fantasy, biography and memoir, Smith examines what it takes to make art, particularly as a woman, tracing unexpected connections between Cambridge and Scotland, between women thinkers known and unknown.
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Shire is a quieter Ali than something like There but for the or The Accidental, perhaps because it straddles the border with auto/biography so its touch on all subjects is lighter. It’s less tricksy, though still interested in the twists and turns of language, and in making connections between disparate ideas.
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Two of the stories (“The beholder”, a fiction story about someone who starts growing a rose bush out of their chest, and “The poet”, a very Ali Smith telling of the life of poet Olive Fraser) appear in Public Library and Other Stories. I liked reading them in this context, in conversation with the photographs and the other two pieces. When I first read “The poet” I had no idea of the story behind it, which Ali illuminates with the next story in Shire, a memoir piece about meeting her later partner Sarah Wood and Wood’s professor Helena Mennie-Shire. The story meditates on the “commission” Shire gave Smith to write about Olive Fraser, and “The poet” is the belated consequence of that. This is a book about women in conversations with themselves across time and with one another, and I loved that the pieces themselves spoke to each other!
-
🏔 Read it if you’re an Ali Smith stan and like me are hoping to read all of her work, and if you want a taste of Ali writing non fiction!
-
🚫 The usual “avoid”s apply here as to other Alis (she doesn’t use speech marks, is very experimental, etc) but even if you are a fan I’d say to get it from the library if you can as it’s very short, so may not be a worthwhile purchase unless you’re basically guaranteed to love it!
🌟🌟🌟🌟
-
I’m on a personal mission to read everything Ali Smith has ever written, and the most recent stop on this journey was Shire, a library find that features her writing alongside images by her partner, filmmaker Sarah Wood.
-
🌹 The concept: Shire is a collection of four short stories, but that doesn’t mean it’s short fiction. Crossing and recrossing the boundaries between fantasy, biography and memoir, Smith examines what it takes to make art, particularly as a woman, tracing unexpected connections between Cambridge and Scotland, between women thinkers known and unknown.
-
Shire is a quieter Ali than something like There but for the or The Accidental, perhaps because it straddles the border with auto/biography so its touch on all subjects is lighter. It’s less tricksy, though still interested in the twists and turns of language, and in making connections between disparate ideas.
-
Two of the stories (“The beholder”, a fiction story about someone who starts growing a rose bush out of their chest, and “The poet”, a very Ali Smith telling of the life of poet Olive Fraser) appear in Public Library and Other Stories. I liked reading them in this context, in conversation with the photographs and the other two pieces. When I first read “The poet” I had no idea of the story behind it, which Ali illuminates with the next story in Shire, a memoir piece about meeting her later partner Sarah Wood and Wood’s professor Helena Mennie-Shire. The story meditates on the “commission” Shire gave Smith to write about Olive Fraser, and “The poet” is the belated consequence of that. This is a book about women in conversations with themselves across time and with one another, and I loved that the pieces themselves spoke to each other!
-
🏔 Read it if you’re an Ali Smith stan and like me are hoping to read all of her work, and if you want a taste of Ali writing non fiction!
-
🚫 The usual “avoid”s apply here as to other Alis (she doesn’t use speech marks, is very experimental, etc) but even if you are a fan I’d say to get it from the library if you can as it’s very short, so may not be a worthwhile purchase unless you’re basically guaranteed to love it!
halfmanhalfbook's review
2.0
This is a set of four short stories, the beholder, the poet, the commission and the wound, that are aiming to blend and meld fiction, myth, biography and poetry, with very strong influences from Virginia Woolf.
The first, the beholder is about a woman who visits a doctor about something growing from her collarbone, and how it becomes part of her. The poet is a fictionalised biography of the poet Olive Fraser, and the commission is a similar exercise on Helena Shire. It finishes with the wound, and the changing of a man from one entitiy to another.
In the end I thought that this was ok, it is beautifully written, and Smith has a mastery and control of language that make some of the passages soar. But I couldn't really get a long with it. The Illustrations and photography by Sarah Wood are good though, and even though this is only a small part of the book, I thought that the attention to detail by the publishers was excellent, from the font to the binding and layout of the book.
The first, the beholder is about a woman who visits a doctor about something growing from her collarbone, and how it becomes part of her. The poet is a fictionalised biography of the poet Olive Fraser, and the commission is a similar exercise on Helena Shire. It finishes with the wound, and the changing of a man from one entitiy to another.
In the end I thought that this was ok, it is beautifully written, and Smith has a mastery and control of language that make some of the passages soar. But I couldn't really get a long with it. The Illustrations and photography by Sarah Wood are good though, and even though this is only a small part of the book, I thought that the attention to detail by the publishers was excellent, from the font to the binding and layout of the book.
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