This year I read the full quartet and the Companion Piece. I read Autumn both first and last, which was crucial to understanding how they all fit together (minus Companion Piece, which is separate and unnecessary). I thought Autumn would be the best one, but in retrospect, the strongest is Spring. Danny and Elisabeth’s relationship is both beautiful and problematic, and my mixed opinions on their connection remain even after fulfilling resolution. Always, Smith’s voice is so unique and I love her post-modern style. On it’s own, Autumn is a crisp, reflective novel. Together, the quartet is a gorgeous exploration of time and companionship. Do yourself a favor and read this during the season autumn. 

This book is strange but familiar in the best way. The book is a fragment of time and looks at what our world looked like in 2016 and the impacts of Brexit while visiting the past and the places of our dreams. It’s a worthwhile read if you enjoy non-linear storytelling and character driven books. 

I loved the discussions around love in the book as well, the acknowledgment of the various different kinds of love we can experience. 

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.