sam_bizar_wilcox's review against another edition
3.0
Smith's novels can sometimes veer close to sentimental. There is something a little too sickeningly sweet about a young girl being cast to lament the detention of refugees and immigrants. But as cloying as parts of the novel can be, Spring also bears what Ali Smith does best: gestural movements through time and elegant meditations on what connects and what is circumstance.
I, and I cannot stress this enough, adore Katherine Mansfield. So for her life (and Rilke's) to be so deftly conjured up here adds some nice luster to the novel. The movements that focused on Mansfield and Rilke in the Swiss Alps, living simultaneous lives as luminaries of 20th-century letters, are the most interesting because they touch on how circumstantial and brief these overlaps are. Mansfield is dying. Another World War is on the rise. And yet, this is Spring, a time of genesis, of birth and rebirth, and the creation of art. It's a fragile spring, no doubt, one where the death of winter always begets the next season.
Where the novel misses its target is in the present day, as quasi-choral voices rattle conservative talking-points in order to startingly lampoon them. But the politics never feels quite deep enough -- it always feels like Smith isn't quite as brilliant a political observer as she is an art critic. Which is a challenge when the art is so political -- when the art is a response to Brexit, the climate crisis, xenophobia, etc. Smith's chorus is too obvious, too self-conscious to move beyond the point of parody. In a straight satire, perhaps this would work. But in a novel, and series, that so intricately also muses on time and change, the whole simply cannot hold.
I continue to be impressed with these novels, but I do think this is the weakest of the Seasonal Quartet so far.
I, and I cannot stress this enough, adore Katherine Mansfield. So for her life (and Rilke's) to be so deftly conjured up here adds some nice luster to the novel. The movements that focused on Mansfield and Rilke in the Swiss Alps, living simultaneous lives as luminaries of 20th-century letters, are the most interesting because they touch on how circumstantial and brief these overlaps are. Mansfield is dying. Another World War is on the rise. And yet, this is Spring, a time of genesis, of birth and rebirth, and the creation of art. It's a fragile spring, no doubt, one where the death of winter always begets the next season.
Where the novel misses its target is in the present day, as quasi-choral voices rattle conservative talking-points in order to startingly lampoon them. But the politics never feels quite deep enough -- it always feels like Smith isn't quite as brilliant a political observer as she is an art critic. Which is a challenge when the art is so political -- when the art is a response to Brexit, the climate crisis, xenophobia, etc. Smith's chorus is too obvious, too self-conscious to move beyond the point of parody. In a straight satire, perhaps this would work. But in a novel, and series, that so intricately also muses on time and change, the whole simply cannot hold.
I continue to be impressed with these novels, but I do think this is the weakest of the Seasonal Quartet so far.
soniateles's review against another edition
4.0
Ali Smith volta a abordar alguns temas que já se encontravam nos outros dois volumes como sejam a velhice, a solidão, a política, a emigração ou os excluídos da sociedade, os invisíveis. Em "Spring", as condições de vida de um certo tipo de emigrantes é um dos temas que a autora mais desenvolve.
Pelo que me foi dado perceber, os nomes dos livros não tem, directamente, a ver com o espaço temporal em que as histórias decorrem mas sim com o ambiente que se vive. Neste caso considero que "Spring" tem a ver com a renovação e com a oportunidade de um certo recomeço que é dada às personagens.
A escrita de Ali Smith continua a ser um dos pontos fortes e, provavelmente, é o mais cativante. A experiência de leitura em inglês continua a ser interessante e enriquecedora.
Pelo que me foi dado perceber, os nomes dos livros não tem, directamente, a ver com o espaço temporal em que as histórias decorrem mas sim com o ambiente que se vive. Neste caso considero que "Spring" tem a ver com a renovação e com a oportunidade de um certo recomeço que é dada às personagens.
A escrita de Ali Smith continua a ser um dos pontos fortes e, provavelmente, é o mais cativante. A experiência de leitura em inglês continua a ser interessante e enriquecedora.
wendoxford's review against another edition
4.0
At its heart (against a continuing backdrop of our unrelenting bleak politics) a 12 year old girl acts as enabler for the rest of us to open our eyes on the shame, indignities and inhumanity of national borders, detention and exposes the obvious of how interconnected we are despite a huge wave of politically motivated xenophobia. The connections not only feature in this narrative but link and layer into strands of the series both overtly and covertly.
It is this authorial prowess that I am taking from the series. Almost like sowing seeds of clues throughout which wither, die or bloom as you harvest them. This is all so tightly coiled within more linear narrative that I luxuriated in the prose despite not particularly liking the story of Richard which leads the storytelling nor the blow by flow atrocities of detention and detainees.
I feel that the moral fury goes up another gear in this volume, a voice in the post-Brexit polarity. I wonder if all her readers start in the same place out outrage or if she is able to create a new perspective to those who feel otherwise. The wavy lines between truth/lies/blind faith and a hopscotch in and out of magical realism pepper the book's backbone.
It is this authorial prowess that I am taking from the series. Almost like sowing seeds of clues throughout which wither, die or bloom as you harvest them. This is all so tightly coiled within more linear narrative that I luxuriated in the prose despite not particularly liking the story of Richard which leads the storytelling nor the blow by flow atrocities of detention and detainees.
I feel that the moral fury goes up another gear in this volume, a voice in the post-Brexit polarity. I wonder if all her readers start in the same place out outrage or if she is able to create a new perspective to those who feel otherwise. The wavy lines between truth/lies/blind faith and a hopscotch in and out of magical realism pepper the book's backbone.
jowixx's review against another edition
5.0
No i przyszła Wiosna.
Pisanie Ali Smith jest całkowicie unikatowe. Postacie, relacje, intertekstualność, polityczność, przyroda. Po drobnym zimowym rozczarowaniu, w Wiośnie autorka wraca w pełnej krasie. Uruchamia wyobraźnię i wrażliwość, łączy czasy i przestrzenie. Trudno uchwycić tę ulotną prozę bez metafory.
To takie 4,5 które aż się prosi o naciągnięcie.
Pisanie Ali Smith jest całkowicie unikatowe. Postacie, relacje, intertekstualność, polityczność, przyroda. Po drobnym zimowym rozczarowaniu, w Wiośnie autorka wraca w pełnej krasie. Uruchamia wyobraźnię i wrażliwość, łączy czasy i przestrzenie. Trudno uchwycić tę ulotną prozę bez metafory.
To takie 4,5 które aż się prosi o naciągnięcie.
ktrain3900's review against another edition
4.0
Arguably more political than Autumn or Winter, Spring managed to be both depressing and upbeat, realistic yet unbelievable. There are continued threads from the earlier two books in the quartet, but you don't need to have read them to enjoy this. Sight is a main theme in this one: how seeing can be both believing and disbelieving, and who is invisible (and how and when) vs. who is seen, vs. who is conveniently ignored. History is another theme--it repeats, it's created by the victors--as well as narrative, whose story is told when and by whom. Additionally, the book explores the idea of xenia, or guest-friendship, as it applies to both a stranger who needs help in a train station (for example), as well as immigrants & refugees, as strangers to a country. Another one to leave you thinking long after you're done reading!
avrilhj's review against another edition
5.0
I can’t review this book. It’s too good. This series is amazing.
scholarhect's review against another edition
5.0
Somehow both more convoluted and more straightforward than the previous two, with a wonderful little part where all the patterns coalesce, and the puzzle pieces slip into place. I'm forever envious of the way Ali Smith makes the topical timeless, and the timeless things of antiquity topical. Can't wait for Summer.
clovemorris's review against another edition
5.0
I'm incredibly biased toward Ali Smith, my favorite author. Or maybe she just continuously proves her writing to me over and over. She's the master of word play and analogy. She manages to be whimsical while writing about the depravity of brothels. Somehow, she consistently manages to evoke hope in her readers while writing about the deeply personal and relevant matters that plague our headlines without diminishing our capacity for grief. Spring is all of these things in the most common and beautiful of prose and I only anticipate it growing in depth and relevancy in future rereads and with greater familiarity with the history and artists from whom she draws inspiration.
clmckinney's review against another edition
4.0
This is the 3rd book in Ali Smith's quartet. She manages to delve into current affairs like detention centres in the UK and brexit. I enjoyed some of the characters and relationships portrayed throughout the novel. I do find that Smith can get a bit saccharine at times. This is part of her writing that I don't enjoy. It simplifies her tales and makes them less significant. For this, it gets a 3.8/5.