Reviews

Artful by Ali Smith

mimsen's review against another edition

4.0

I surely didn't get everything, but I really liked 'on offer and on reflection' and throughout the book were beautifully written parts.
What I probaly liked best, is that you don't know the gender of the dead lover, so this could be lesbian couple a straight couple and I even figured, am I so sure the narrator ist female, could they even be a gay couple? And I thought a lot about, how the different genders would change the story for me. Or would not change it.
(Please don't tell me, there is a part, where we learn about male or female, which I was too stupid to discover)

chirson's review against another edition

4.0

This was so profoundly beautiful and haunting, a journey through literature and expression of loss. Everything I hoped for and more.

I love books that make me want to read other books, and this book truly accomplishes that.

imerjanian's review against another edition

3.0

I’m so torn on this book. Sometimes it was the most pensive, beautifully written prose that used references to literature to enhance a fascinating story of a lover lost. Other times it was page after page of dense literary reference that was hard to follow and not interesting enough to try.

I’d recommend reading the first two sections and leaving the last two sections for a time when you have a lot of patience.

emilyas93's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

carlacarinreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

midnightmoon12's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

3.75

nick_jenkins's review against another edition

5.0

The only question is, is Ali Smith my favorite living writer, or my favorite writer full stop? Reading Smith makes me feel better about humanity.

saturnsmoons's review against another edition

4.0

incredible collection of essays that both go on auto-theory and auto-fiction. my two favourite pieces are "on time" and "on offer and reflection". the prose and intensity of these texts were fascinating and I adore the mix of the to genres that are blended perfectly in this novel. these speeches were also a beautiful tribute to literature as a whole.

tilla's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.25

This was an inspiring read. I found myself stopping to look up things mentioned multiple times and have several quotes underlined. The narrative is touching and emotional and it made me tear up slightly in the end. I didn't expect that. I didn't know how I would feel about the essay parts in the novel, but they were very interesting in themselves and added to the story - the mix of narrative and essay worked well together. It is a book that I think would also benefit for being read again, as is also a point in the book. You wouldn't say you really know what a song is about after hearing it just once. 

katiejames's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-paced