I have finally read a novel by Ali Smith and enjoyed it, though it is distracting to explain why with so many exuberant accolades and comments all over it saying how brilliant it is, I wish I could just read without the expectation this over abundance of blurbs brings. She is clearly the darling of British literary media and publishing, however all the superlatives are a little over the top in my opinion.
Autumn is the first in a series of books she has said she will write, named after the seasons. Winter has just come out and I’ve read some good reviews that suggest it is as good as, and some say even better than Autumn.
Autumn moves back and forth in time and is mostly narrated through the relationship of Elisabeth and her mother’s neighbour Daniel. For her homework, Elisabeth should interview a neighbour and ask certain questions, her mother doesn’t approve and suggests she makes it up. She does. A few days later the mother invites the neighbour to read what her daughter had written. This moment signals the beginning of what will become a special relationship between Daniel, a foreign octogenarian and the teenage Elisabeth.
As the novel opens Daniel appears to be hallucinating and while doing so philosophises about death. Elisabeth is 32 and a junior lecturer in London on a zero hours contract. She is visiting Daniel Gluck in a home. Every aspect of life is in its Autumn.
In the background the country is changing, attitudes are changing, apathy is being replaced by protest. Seasons change as they always do, legacy’s are lost and forgotten, occasionally revived, survive.
“It’s all right to forget, you know” he said. “It’s good to. In fact, we have to forget things sometimes. Forgetting it is important. We do it on purpose. It means we get a bit of a rest. Are you listening? We have to forget. Or we’d never sleep, ever again.”
The narrative skips back to her childhood and then forward twenty years to Daniel in the care facility. He is now 101 years old, Elisabeth visits him and reads to him, he is always asleep, but she talks to him anyway and remembers the things they used to talk about when she was young.
She hasn’t visited her mother for years, but now while she visits Daniel, she spends time with her mother, they are related but alien to each other. They don’t try to make each other understand. Something in Daniel nourishes Elisabeth and helps her to grow, to question, and eventually to understand.
Today he looks like a Roman senator, his sleeping head noble, his eyes shut and blank as a statue, his eyebrows mere moments of frost.
It is a privilege to watch someone sleep, Elizabeth tells herself. It is a privilege to be able to witness someone both here and not here. To be included in someone’s absence, it is an honour, and it asks quiet. It asks respect.
No. It is awful.
It is fucking awful.
It is awful to be on the literal other side of his eyes.
“Mr Gluck,” she says.
Pauline Boty by Lewis Morley, Sept 1963
Daniel describes images to Elisabeth, which years later she recognises, a painting by the British Pop artist Pauline Boty, introducing an element of mystery and intrigue to do with an old scandal and the premature deaths of two young women. We’re not give much detail, and I’m assuming most of us will never have heard of Pauline Boty or Christine Keeler, women whose art and stories were quickly forgotten, denied even.
It’s a cryptic read that enters into subjects, into the lives of a small group of characters without providing all the detail, enough to entice the reader, to hint at the depth of a connection and leaves it before we can entirely understand, we too must imagine, join the dots, make of it what we will, catch the leaves before the fall, but not worry if we don’t, they’ll come around again next season.
Word by Word 
The quote that rings true to men “…related but alien to each other”. How often we can not understand a brother or a sister….or even a mother, but we still love them.
Wonderful review and I ‘ll take a chance with Autumn!
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I’m looking forward to the Winter followup, I think it may be even better from what I’m hearing about it.
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I liked this novel. Ali Smith is an excellent writer, but the book didn’t stay with me, and I didn’t understand what all the hype was about. However, reading is so subjective….
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Yes, I found it didn’t stay with me either, I think all the chopping and changing prevents the narrative from sticking, it was something of a collage novel, and there was one great quote in there that I missed that sums this up, one I read in another review. I think the hype is related to her passing into that group of endearing British authors, loved at home.
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I enjoyed Autumn, more than I had expected to to be honest. But I loved Winter. I think Ali Smith is probably a writer who divides people.
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That’s great to hear Ali, I’m looking forward to eventually getting to Winter as well.
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Poor exploited Christine Keeler, whose unwitting actions nearly brought down the government, and ruined reputations, died just recently, still unloved and unfairly despised…
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LOL I reckon those pages and pages of praise are to pad out the book so that people think they’re getting their money’s worth. if it weren’t printed in an overlarge font, it would be a very slim book indeed!
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I don’t lind slim books, some of my favourite books are novellas, lost of them in translation especially as it seems to be a more popular genre in France for example, but the over abundance of testimonials gets in the way of reader discernment making it harder to decide whether it’s a book for me or not. Until now I haven’t picked up one of her novels and I’d need to read more before deciding whether she’s my kind of writer or not. I didn’t highlight many paragraphs, which is often a sign of a more plot driven novel than one that reaches literary heights.
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Thanks for your review, and for being frank about this book.
Forgive me for saying this, but I sometimes think that when a book befuddles the critics, they call it brilliant. They suspect it’s hip or cool to like the bright new shiny thing, and so they must get on to the bandwagon. what’s wrong with writing a story simply but eloquently? So many books praised by critics have left me scratching my head in bewilderment.
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I agree that I’d rather read the book without the over exuberance of praise, I prefer to read the reviews of common avid readers than the literary establishment.
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Like some of our other friends here, I have very mixed feelings about this book and Ali Smith’s writing in general. I could not see why Autumn received so much hype and am about to read How To Be Both for a book club meeting in a couple of weeks – I am looking forward to understanding from fellow attendees just what all the fuss is about lol! 🙂
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Interesting, I have ‘How to be Both’ on my shelf, I picked it up second hand a little while ago, that was going to be the one that introduced me to her writing until Autumn came along, which I mistakenly imagined might have something to do with nature. I’ll be interested to hear how you and your book club find it.
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I will try to remember to report back! 🙂
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Great review and I loved that last line about catching the leaves as they fall, or not, as they will come back next year. You’re a very poetic writer yourself 🙂
I enjoyed aspects of Autumn but didn’t get all the references but am looking forward to reading Winter soon.
Also, I see that you’re planning to read Sing, Unburied, Sing. I have a book club on my YouTube channel and we’re reading that book this month so if you’d like to read and chime in on the discussion, my YouTube is Runwright Reads https://youtu.be/MOK6Ht0Fcbc Let’s chat there!
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OH that’s great, thanks for the link, I’ll follow you on youtube and get started next on Sing, Unburied, Sing, I read Salvage the Bones last year and thought it was excellent.
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I read my first Smith last Spring as I was living in the UK (bless public libraries!) and I too felt that I was missing something, so I spent a lot of time connecting the dots. Glad to hear it’s her style.
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I do miss libraries full of books in English, I love our library, but rarely indulge all that French literature. I’m unsure about Smith, I’ll read more of her work, but it didn’t jump out to me as being exceptional.
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