I am on a really good book streak so far this year. And most of those books were written by women. I remembered my 'books to go' post of 2 years back stating that I was going to read more great novels by female writers, but that must have been the pro-feminist atmosphere colouring my thoughts, because the only thing I actually say is that I want to read more books by potential to-love authors. Well, Ali Smith is one to put on that list.
I'd seen her novels in the book shop, the ones with the seasonal names and the colourful covers. Somehow they looked kind of boring, or serious, or in any case not as a novel I would enjoy. But then I read a review on the third novel in the series she's doing, Spring, and that sounded pretty good. So next time I was in the book shop, I picked up Autumn and read the blurb, and that sounded pretty good, so I bought it together with Winter. I didn't buy Spring at the time because it hadn't come out in the right edition/size (still hasn't) but that will at some point in the future follow.
Now Autumn. A great novel. One for the streak. Ali Smith writes in the wandering, meditative, musing style that Sally Rooney has, also without putting quotation marks around her dialogue (the proper thing would be to say that Sally Rooney writes like Ali Smith, since Ali Smith had been writing for at least a decade before Sally Rooney was even born, but I read them in the 'wrong' order so my associations are backwards). I love this style. It is amazing to have found three female writers, all from the Celtic homelands (Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland) who write in a way that feels at once completely familiar and also very exciting. If only I were still doing an MA in English Lit, I would have a thesis topic to fill thousands of words with.
Anyway, Autumn. I read somewhere that this is the first novel 'about the Brexit', since it describes the vote and the aftermath and it is somewhat of a plotpoint, especially in the bits were Elisabeth tries to renew her passport. But I do hope that is not the only thing the novel will be known for. This is also not what it is 'about'. The blurb tells us the novel is about Daniel, more than 100 years old, and Elisabeth, in her early thirties. They were neighbours once, and struck up a friendship. Somehow they have grown apart, but now Daniel is in a care home and Elisabeth goes to visit him every day. Interspersed with these scenes, which flow with the seasons, are flashbacks to earlier periods in their lives, which are or aren't connected (although in the end, everything is connected, as in most great stories).
So what is it 'about'? It's about love, love for each other and love for a country and the togetherness of people and how easily this can rupture. About a sense of belonging. About art. It is a clever book, there are lots of references to other books and plays and films and historic events, I'm sure I haven't even discovered half of them, but they gave the book extra layers of meaning. It is a funny novel, philosophical, meaningful. The writing is beautiful. I will give you a snippet, just to enjoy:
A minute ago it was June. Now the weather is September. The crops are high, about to be cut, bright golden.
November? unimaginable. Just a month away.
The days are still warm, the air in the shadows sharper. The nights are sooner, chillier, the light a little less each time.
Dark at half past seven. Dark at quarter past seven, dark at seven.
The greens of the trees have been duller since August, since July really.
I don't know whether Winter follows the same characters, but even if it doesn't I will read it, together with many more books by Ali Smith. She has been shortlisted for the Man Booker a couple of times already (including for Autumn) so there must be many more beautiful reads by her out there.
Next time I see a dull looking novel on a pile in a book shop, I will think twice about just walking past it!
