Ratings53
Average rating3.9
SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2017 SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER 'In a country apparently divided against itself, a writer such as Smith is more valuable than a whole parliament of politicians' Financial Times 'Undoubtedly Smith at her best. Puckish, yet elegant; angry, but comforting' The Times 'A beautiful, poignant symphony of memories, dreams and transient realities... The first post-Brexit novel' Guardian breathtakingly inventive new novel from the Man Booker-shortlisted and Baileys Prize-winning author of How to be both Daniel is a century old. Elisabeth, born in 1984, has her eye on the future. The United Kingdom is in pieces, divided by a historic once-in-a-generation summer. Love is won, love is lost. Hope is hand in hand with hopelessness. The seasons roll round, as ever . . . 'Terrific, extraordinary, playful... There is an awful lot to lift the soul' Daily Mail 'Bold and brilliant' Observer
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3 primary books#1 in Seasonal Quartet
Seasonal Quartet is a 3-book series with 3 primary works first released in 2016 with contributions by Ali Smith.
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Third catch I've managed to grip on the series.
Candidly speaking, I do not feel as strong as with Summer and Spring on how the themes are correlated, and especially the way they are projected throughout the storyline. Again, typically Smith, we can see Brexit, misogyny and more current issues being scribbled and scattered from one paragraph to another paragraph in the book. Yet, as with the other books in the series, arts, the perfect means of escapism, the perfect means of dealing with life, the perfect means of emotional attachment to get through all the troubles you have. This is, again, in my perspective, very truthful and guarantee as the best means to cope with life, to seek for the ideals while the reality is never so.
Autumn, though it is the title, it was not as declining as this season ought to be as shown in the book. Perhaps for Daniel Gluck it is, that with more a century of a lifetime, his vitals are not as great as before. But this transitional period, similar to spring but in an opposite direction, from bloom to regression, from climax to falling action, from prime to decrepitude. Seemingly bleak, but is it really so?
Autumn, the season before winter, the last golden period before the arrival of darkness, when there are still more leaves to fall.
4.5
i enjoyed this one quite a bit. was a very clever book coupled with interestingly woven relationships and witty dialogue. the characters really hold everything together. once or twice the book is a little confusing (like the first few pages) but if you allow yourself to stop trying to “solve” it and sit through the discomfort, the puzzle starts to come together on its own. will have to revisit this one.
there are so many ways to take this book apart but i think this quote does it best:
“What I do when it distresses me that there's something I can't remember, is...I imagine that whatever it is I've forgotten is folded close to me, like a sleeping bird.What kind of bird? Elisabeth said.A wild bird, Daniel said. Any kind. You'll know what kind when it happens. Then, what I do is, I just hold it there, without holding it too tight, and I let it sleep. And that's that.”
:)
