A book that sticks with you - that is funny and sad and beguiling all at once. The writing in some of this was so clever, it took my breath away. But I find that you either love Ali Smith or hate her, so readers beware. I happen to be in the former camp and can't wait until my copy of Hotel World arrives.

Lots of wonderfully playful imagery and language in this book. The narrative has a disjointed feel presumably to mimic the kind of sharp "jump cuts" one might achieve with film since that medium plays such a central role in this odd tale. Smith so seamlessly weaves intricate layers and references into the narrative that I'm sure I missed half of them and didn't suffer the least for it. I'm not sure if it was the odd surface story itself (strange woman interjects herself into warped family's vacation and sort of saves them and ruins them at the same time) or the narrative jumps, but I found myself scrambling to catch up in several parts (like being left behind in a guided tour). Still, the language and voice... [sighs in awe; eyelids aflutter; color me infatuated]
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RANDOM OBSERVATIONS
- Liked the notion of 21st century youth life not being verifiable, almost not happening, without a witness (usually a phone or video camera)
- Wonderfully captured the experience of a phone conversation with a poor connection: "... voice coming and goin and breaking up. It's (something) news. Wonderful news. Thank God. We (blank) faith in you. (blank) the school is being very sensible. Now you can put this all (something) and get on with your life. With your real life. With working (something) exams. It's (blank) this coming year (blank) repercussions (something) rest of your life." (It's such a little thing, but just the use of "something" and "blank" to differentiate when someone cuts out entirely or is simply muffled/garbled tickled me. And it's an important conversation in the book that is largely without so many words. "(something) rest of your life." Priceless.
- Smith's humor just connects with me: "You have such a great accent, the woman said. Thanks, Eve said. It's so classic, the woman said. it sounds like--it sounds like--I can't say what exactly it sounds like-- Is it the BBC? Eve said. Yes. The BBC, the woman said."
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WORDS I LEARNED WHILE READING THIS BOOK
tesserae | transpaseal | graupels

I would have loved this book when I was in college, but it doesn't work for me. I would not have finished it if it weren't for the Super Rooster. I have loved many of Smith's other novels, but this did not work for me. Perhaps I'll give it another try in the future.

I fought through this sludge for one of my university modules a few years back. What the publicists call "dazzling wordplay" I call "being obtuse for the fun of it".

Ali Smith is a poor writer.

loved Astrid the most. not so sure about the ending Eve section and how stretched-out-int0-the-future it felt.

Bottom line — I don’t understand most of what I just read, but I could detect the raw talent behind the writing. SPOILER/QUESTION: Was Amber the mother of the girl who committed suicide? Why exactly did Eve copy Amber’s behavior? What was her motivation? I didn’t get it.

Listen. I just finished this book half an hour ago so maybe after sitting on it for awhile my review will be different.

But ... I hated this book. And it was frustrating, because I love the premise. I love the way some of the words flowed, there is some really beautiful prose in this book.

**spoilers below**

I loved how by using Amber's waltz right into the house, Smith portrays the absolutely horrid communication level within this family. The kids I'm not annoyed with in that respect because well, they're kids. When we're kids we expect our parents to have their act together (typically). Eve and Michael's communication has completely broken down - instead of straight up asking who this random woman is who came into the home, they just assume she's a guest of the other. But that's really about all I liked about it, subject matter-wise.

Maybe I'm just not well-read enough to see what everyone else sees when they're reading this book. I just felt it was incredibly pretentious (I got so sick of Amber's rambling narrative) and not executed well. However, Smith may have won in the end - because I hated this book so much, I want to read Hotel World because I've heard it's so much better. I do like her use of language and turn of phrase. I like that I do feel like I'm reading from the minds of a 12 year old and ... however old Magnus is supposed to be? I tried to find his age but I must have missed it.

And while I'm on that ... I think Amber is gross for sleeping with Magnus. I don't care that he's "of legal age". The fact that Amber had to defend herself by saying he was of legal age really skeeved me out. I got the impression she was in her 30s (correct me if wrong). He's still in high school (I can't recall if it's called secondary school or college in the UK). Don't sleep with high school kids.