Wow. Ok this book was not something I was expecting and I lost sleep because I didn't want to stop. Oops.

This was published in 2016, in a UK that was harrowed by the conflict of Brexit and the U.S.A. Presidential Election, so the ending of an era is tied poetically into the autumnal season. This book is more poetry than prose, in some cases literally.

Telling the story of a young Art professor, who is likely to be laid off shortly due to budget cuts, we learn of her childhood and a deep loving friendship that she built with her elderly neighbour. As an old man when they met, he is now over 100 years old and in palliative care, so she makes regular trips to his bedside to read him books.

Thematically, this is a really complex interplay. Through a platonic love affair, with a man who idolises the pop-art created by a woman known for being a wild and affronting naked artist, we see the separation of sex and love. Through the graffiti on walls we see conversations unfold, of protest and the demand for change. "GO HOME!" "I'm already here thanks" speaks volumes about conflict and the attitudes of the British people. Through games shared by an old man and a little girl, we learn to play with words, play with images, and play with the words we use to describe images, and the images we use to describe ideas... and interpret and re-interpret the things in front of us. *breeath!*

Yes this could all be quite navel-gazey, but it is emotionally resonant. A fatherless child, a lonely mother, a wish to meet celebrity, a desire to be recognised as an expert, the want to be taken seriously, the low expectations that have been held of women over the years, expectations, presumptions and interpretations, and misunderstandings, and dreams, and unpredictable nature... life protracted, and life cut short.

Oh hang it.. if reading literature makes me speak in big impenetrable words, then reading symbolic poetical stuff that's grounded in everyday humdrum, makes me sound waffley and artistical. This is not an artistical book.. it's a good quick read, and probably worth re-reading. The dry and quick wit makes it utterly hilarious in places, and the people feel real, flawed, and loveable. I am not quite moved to paint, or throw barometers at electric fences.

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

The first book in Ali Smith’s Seasonal Quartet is a stunner, even if it makes you work a little bit for the payoff. Her prose is just so good and this book is beautiful.

For you if: You like the challenge of a novel that doesn’t have a straightforward plot.

FULL REVIEW:

I’m long overdue for my journey with Ali Smith’s Seasonal Quartet, so when my dear IRL friend and fellow bookstagrammer @caseys_chapters announced a year-long buddy read, I jumped at the chance. We read Autumn in November, and (as expected) I loved it.

The book is about a woman named Elisabeth who has been friends with an old man named Daniel, who lived next door to her mother, since she was a kid. They have a strong bond that was built on candor and curiosity and a love of art. We flash back between past conversations and the present, when Daniel is unconscious in a nursing home and Elisabeth visits regularly. The “present day” takes place amidst the Brexit vote, and the feeling prevalent in England at the time pervades the story.

As you might expect from the title, this book deals with themes of change, endings, and nostalgia. What Ali Smith does so well here (besides just like, everything about her prose) is mix the temperature of the nation in with British cultural references and banality and humor (see: the post office scene). This book evokes so much FEELING, even if sometimes you aren’t even sure why you’re feeling so much. You’ll also fall deeply in love with Elisabeth and Daniel’s relationship, as I did.

I will say that this isn’t a very super straightforward book, and it might not be for everyone. It’s almost poetic, but on a novel level vs a sentence level. I may have even read it too quickly myself to have gotten everything it has to offer, and I expect a reread would be super fulfilling.

Can’t wait to read the rest of the quartet!

Autumn is a touching meditation on art, political division, and the power of friendship. Though the political atmosphere of this book is certainly key to the story, the Brexit vote is more of a background mood than a primary topic. Rather, the real heart of this novel is the lasting impact of Elisabeth's friendship with sweet, elderly Daniel. As the book progresses, Smith so artfully describes the power of intergenerational friendships for each party. For Daniel, Elisabeth's presence is a balm to his late-in-life loneliness. For Elisabeth, Daniel's perspectives and conversation guide her to a lifelong passion for art. This type of friendship is not often depicted in fiction, and I found it delightful and refreshing to read about.

If beautiful writing was a competition, Ali Smith would win every award. Autumn was a master class of a novel, utilizing themes of life, love, and stories themselves to create something as dazzling as its namesake season.

There is something about marking down, 'no the cast is not particularly diverse and there was little character development,' that makes it feel like I should not be able to rate the book so highly, and yet here we are. This book is a snapshot of people at a particular moment and was simply not about developing them but rather about showing them at an interesting time in their lives. There are reflective flashbacks that provide some context, but never more than the bare minimum you need to understand them. There is much that is left up to interpretation, which fueled a joyfully-shouted discussion with my book club about why, exactly, Elisabeth focuses her work where she does, and how to think about her mother (both as a mother and as a woman). 

Ali Smith's writing style is incredible, lyrical and bold and restrained all at once. I was immediately consumed with a desire to read more of her work (this is my first Ali Smith) and just bask in her command of language.  The themes of transition and death were handled so poetically and with such deftness, I was truly impressed. The previously-mentioned book club already agreed to read Winter next and perhaps the entire quartet as the seasons turn. I haven't seen our group this excited about a book since we read Piranesi (Susannah Clarke).

Why is not 5 stars? Because I rarely enjoy visual art being described in words, and found those passages which described Pauline Boty's work very frustrating. The scenes in which Daniel is describing them aloud are different, as it's more about Daniel than about trying to visualize the art piece, but there were a few places where her work was described in the narrative rather than by Daniel and that was the bit I disliked.

This is a really interesting book. I've never read anything surrounding brexit so I found that super interesting, being from the UK myself. I liked the characters and I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series!

A difficult, dreamlike, but beautiful book capturing a moment (or season I suppose) in time.