amelianotthepilot's review
slow-paced
2.5
the quartet ending with summer is interesting. Years normally start with winter and end with winter but the choice of beginning of fall and ending with summer, the school calendar year, makes more sense to me. summers are slow, steady, heavy, sweltering- and i feel like that is most like later life. and fall is full or change and unrestfullness, shedding skin- like the beginning of life
i didn’t really like this book though. i liked that it tied together some previous characters. but it overall didn’t feel like summer to me and only had a few pages of summer themed prose.
overall not a big fan of this quartet, i don’t understand the hype
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Confinement, Genocide, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Antisemitism, and Hate crime
kglas's review
emotional
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? It's complicated
5.0
I just finished reading the whole seasonal quartet, and here is my experience with some recommendations.
1) It's definitely best to read the seasonal quartet in the order yhe books were published: autumn - winter - spring - summer. Even though there are new characters at the heart of each novel, it is such a delight to re-encounter some loveable ones in more than one of them. Especially, half of the fun of reading Summer at the end is recognising the characters and stories from previous seasons.
2) I read Autumn twice. I finished it and realized that for understanding more deeply I needed to read it again , and that was fully worth it.
3) I regularly checked out the references to artists and other writers, looking at their work online. That made the reading experience more complete and made me get to know about some exciting works of art I'd had no idea about before I read these books.
To sum up, I adore Ali Smith's masterful writing style, her wordplay, the topics she picks up (female art, migration, the Brexit, climate change, COVID 19, activism, ...) and the loving, caring characters she has created.
A must-read for anyone who loves good and sometimes complex novels.
1) It's definitely best to read the seasonal quartet in the order yhe books were published: autumn - winter - spring - summer. Even though there are new characters at the heart of each novel, it is such a delight to re-encounter some loveable ones in more than one of them. Especially, half of the fun of reading Summer at the end is recognising the characters and stories from previous seasons.
2) I read Autumn twice. I finished it and realized that for understanding more deeply I needed to read it again , and that was fully worth it.
3) I regularly checked out the references to artists and other writers, looking at their work online. That made the reading experience more complete and made me get to know about some exciting works of art I'd had no idea about before I read these books.
To sum up, I adore Ali Smith's masterful writing style, her wordplay, the topics she picks up (female art, migration, the Brexit, climate change, COVID 19, activism, ...) and the loving, caring characters she has created.
A must-read for anyone who loves good and sometimes complex novels.
Content Warnings
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Confinement, Death, Bullying, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Racism
ilovebugs's review
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: War and Genocide
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