A review by milesjmoran
Autumn by Ali Smith
4.0
I’m tired, she says.
It’s only two miles, Elisabeth says.
That’s not what I mean, she says. I’m tired of the news. I’m tired of the way it makes things spectacular that aren’t, and deals so simplistically with what’s truly appalling. I’m tired of the vitriol. I’m tired of the anger. I’m tired of the meanness. I’m tired of the selfishness. I’m tired of how we’re doing nothing to stop it. I’m tired of how we’re encouraging it. I’m tired of the violence there is and I’m tired of the violence on its way, that’s coming, that hasn’t happened yet. I’m tired of liars. I’m tired of sanctified liars. I’m tired of how those liars have let this happen. I’m tired of having to wonder whether they did it out of stupidity or did it on purpose. I’m tired of lying governments. I’m tired of people not caring whether they’re being lied to anymore. I’m tired of being made to feel this fearful. I’m tired of animosity. I’m tired of pusillanimosity.
I don’t think that’s actually a word, Elisabeth says.
I’m tired of not knowing the right words, her mother says.
4.5
Earlier this year, I decided to read Ali Smith's Seasonal Quartet, and, at the beginning of September, I did just that, starting with Autumn.
Autumn is about fractures, be they on the grander scale of the break between the UK and Europe, or the cracks in our own relationships, or time itself. It, like Autumn as a season, is a time of change, and we follow these characters as they grapple with that. Daniel Gluck, a man thought to be over a hundred years old, hasn't woken up in days and is thought to be on death's door. Elisabeth, a young woman who befriended him as a child, sits by his bedside, reading books as though to find answers for a world that is becoming even more complicated and incomprehensible. Weaving between the past and present, the first in Smith's quartet brilliantly captures the world in 2016 and the quiet, uncertain limbo following the results of the Referendum.
Ali Smith is clearly a highly intelligent and passionate individual - it is blatant in her writing, in fact a key ingredient to it, yet sometimes I feel that these act as a hindrance. As well as the story of Daniel and Elisabeth, we learn about a real-life artist, Pauline Boty, who was a founder as well as the sole female painter in the British Pop art movement, and has been criminally overlooked over the years. Smith links Boty with her fictional characters yet I felt that the threads connecting them at times felt tenuous, excessive and drawn out. I am without doubt that there was a purpose to this, that, if I were to sit down with Smith, she would delve into each reason with fervour and purpose, and I would feel incredibly foolish for ever doubting her - but that is very, very unlikely to happen. In spite of finding Boty's story intriguing and Smith's ardent love for art infectious, I found it to detract too much from the core of the novel, which really lies in the relationship between Elisabeth and Daniel.
I think a few elements of Autumn could have been trimmed down but, overall, I really loved this book and it was, in the end, my second favourite of the quartet.
It’s only two miles, Elisabeth says.
That’s not what I mean, she says. I’m tired of the news. I’m tired of the way it makes things spectacular that aren’t, and deals so simplistically with what’s truly appalling. I’m tired of the vitriol. I’m tired of the anger. I’m tired of the meanness. I’m tired of the selfishness. I’m tired of how we’re doing nothing to stop it. I’m tired of how we’re encouraging it. I’m tired of the violence there is and I’m tired of the violence on its way, that’s coming, that hasn’t happened yet. I’m tired of liars. I’m tired of sanctified liars. I’m tired of how those liars have let this happen. I’m tired of having to wonder whether they did it out of stupidity or did it on purpose. I’m tired of lying governments. I’m tired of people not caring whether they’re being lied to anymore. I’m tired of being made to feel this fearful. I’m tired of animosity. I’m tired of pusillanimosity.
I don’t think that’s actually a word, Elisabeth says.
I’m tired of not knowing the right words, her mother says.
4.5
Earlier this year, I decided to read Ali Smith's Seasonal Quartet, and, at the beginning of September, I did just that, starting with Autumn.
Autumn is about fractures, be they on the grander scale of the break between the UK and Europe, or the cracks in our own relationships, or time itself. It, like Autumn as a season, is a time of change, and we follow these characters as they grapple with that. Daniel Gluck, a man thought to be over a hundred years old, hasn't woken up in days and is thought to be on death's door. Elisabeth, a young woman who befriended him as a child, sits by his bedside, reading books as though to find answers for a world that is becoming even more complicated and incomprehensible. Weaving between the past and present, the first in Smith's quartet brilliantly captures the world in 2016 and the quiet, uncertain limbo following the results of the Referendum.
Ali Smith is clearly a highly intelligent and passionate individual - it is blatant in her writing, in fact a key ingredient to it, yet sometimes I feel that these act as a hindrance. As well as the story of Daniel and Elisabeth, we learn about a real-life artist, Pauline Boty, who was a founder as well as the sole female painter in the British Pop art movement, and has been criminally overlooked over the years. Smith links Boty with her fictional characters yet I felt that the threads connecting them at times felt tenuous, excessive and drawn out. I am without doubt that there was a purpose to this, that, if I were to sit down with Smith, she would delve into each reason with fervour and purpose, and I would feel incredibly foolish for ever doubting her - but that is very, very unlikely to happen. In spite of finding Boty's story intriguing and Smith's ardent love for art infectious, I found it to detract too much from the core of the novel, which really lies in the relationship between Elisabeth and Daniel.
I think a few elements of Autumn could have been trimmed down but, overall, I really loved this book and it was, in the end, my second favourite of the quartet.