[LYV]≡ Read Gratis Winter Seasonal Ali Smith 9780241207024 Books

Winter Seasonal Ali Smith 9780241207024 Books

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Winter Seasonal Ali Smith 9780241207024 Books

Ali Smith has a way of drawing you into her world. I always find myself lost in her novels and, when I've finished them, at a loss as to how to summarize them. This review was stretching out way too long, so I'm starting again, paring away the details that you need to discover for yourself.

'Winter' is both a family drama and a commentary on the changing climate--both the physical climate and the sociopolitical one. The family: three estranged people and a lovable impostor. The commentary: our world and what it is doing to humanity. One of Smith's targets is technology and the way it removes us from real relationships, responsibility, and personal authenticity. The egotism and isolation it creates feeds into the populist movements that brought us Brexit and Donald Trump, both of which come under Smith's verbal attack. There's a moment when Art, one of the main characters, reads about a crowdfunding effort to raise money to buy a boat that will repel Italian boats trying to rescue refugees. It's hard not to see in that the support in some American quarters for building a wall on the Mexican border and deporting Dreamers to "home countries" that have never in memory been their homes. And it's no surprise that one main character, Arthur, writes a successful blog, Art in Nature--even though he is never out in nature and is rarely artful; it's all just BS for attention and self-gratification.

The family story: It's almost Christmas, and Art and his fiancée Charlotte committed to spend the holiday with his mother, Sophie, in Cornwall. But there's a problem: Charlotte, an environmental activist, has called out Art for his lack of any real commitment to pro-nature causes. (There's symbolism in the fact that she destroys his laptop on her way out.) But does Art call Sophie and explain the breakup? Of course not. Instead, he hires a young Croatian girl who looks like she could use some cash to pretend to be Charlotte. Lux turns out to be the quiet hero of the novel.

Sophie and Art don't get along. Sophie, a once-successful businesswoman, doesn't get along with her aging hippie sister, Iris, who is always off somewhere saving the world. And lately, Sophie has been seeing things . . . namely, the floating head of a young child. It's Lux who tells Art that he must call Iris and tell her to come at once, despite the sisters' animosity.

Enough said about the plot. The novel moves back and forth among the family members and back and forth in time through their memories, yet it always comes back to the present day, asking, How did we get to this place? Full of Smith's usual wordplay, 'Winter' gives us bittersweet of the art that once was and the nature that we're losing, yet somehow we're left not so much with a sense of doom as a ray of hope. I can't describe it any better than that without giving away far too much and making it sound like something it isn't. Read it. Find out for yourself. When you're done, you'll want to read it again.


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Winter Seasonal Ali Smith 9780241207024 Books Reviews

Smith is doing a tetraology and Fall was one of my favorites of last fall and I thought this is going to be hard to equal. But Winter I reread as soon as I finished. Among many other delights, this is the best dysfunctional family Christmas novel ever
I like the prose, but with the reservation that it can be elliptical, and illusive. While "Autumn" was pretty clearly about mother/daughter in relationship to the daughter's friend and mentor, "Winter" seems to start with a surreal (or metaphorical) use of the "head" which follows her around, and a pretty straight-forward realistic novel. I found this mixture disconcerting, in that it divides the book into two halves.
This book could have had more life in it; more emotionality would have brought these characters to life. Instead I found I could barely distinguish between Charlotte, Sophie or Lux. They were all flat and their laconic speech was unengaging and seemed to me to be inconsequential. The male character, Art, who is related to two of them, appeared to be as ground down as the three women.
I was very disappointed. The book received high praise from literary reviewers but not from me.
A timely post-modern piece, with political undercurrents in Britain and even the US. But too fragmented. Good characters, good scenes, but lacking in momentum. This author's "Autumn" was much better, in the same mode.
Pick up this book. Note how, in the hands of a literary master, no tricks are required. The counterpoint between characters falls exactly when, and as, needed to move the plot. Time moves forward. Time moves backward. I think of Lessing and Drabble.
I'm becoming so enamoured with Ali Smith's style. This book is so cleverly witty, steeped in UK and global context, and depicts the roles and trends of modern communication technology. All done in a thought provoking way. The characters are vivid and enthralling. Now the long wait for Spring.
Such beautiful writing that enfolds the depth, breadth and heft of experience. It's hard to write about this stunning book because my words feel impoverished in comparison to the writing of Ali Smith. So much to love - deep and insightful charaterisations, effortless bridging of different times in a flow and sweep of prose, important questions, perspicacious observations, sympathy for flawed and difficult individuals. There's a gentle and tender view underlying it all that is nonetheless fierce and compelling. I felt completely drawn into this universe and am sad that the book is finished. Looking forward to the next season in the set.
Ali Smith has a way of drawing you into her world. I always find myself lost in her novels and, when I've finished them, at a loss as to how to summarize them. This review was stretching out way too long, so I'm starting again, paring away the details that you need to discover for yourself.

'Winter' is both a family drama and a commentary on the changing climate--both the physical climate and the sociopolitical one. The family three estranged people and a lovable impostor. The commentary our world and what it is doing to humanity. One of Smith's targets is technology and the way it removes us from real relationships, responsibility, and personal authenticity. The egotism and isolation it creates feeds into the populist movements that brought us Brexit and Donald Trump, both of which come under Smith's verbal attack. There's a moment when Art, one of the main characters, reads about a crowdfunding effort to raise money to buy a boat that will repel Italian boats trying to rescue refugees. It's hard not to see in that the support in some American quarters for building a wall on the Mexican border and deporting Dreamers to "home countries" that have never in memory been their homes. And it's no surprise that one main character, Arthur, writes a successful blog, Art in Nature--even though he is never out in nature and is rarely artful; it's all just BS for attention and self-gratification.

The family story It's almost Christmas, and Art and his fiancée Charlotte committed to spend the holiday with his mother, Sophie, in Cornwall. But there's a problem Charlotte, an environmental activist, has called out Art for his lack of any real commitment to pro-nature causes. (There's symbolism in the fact that she destroys his laptop on her way out.) But does Art call Sophie and explain the breakup? Of course not. Instead, he hires a young Croatian girl who looks like she could use some cash to pretend to be Charlotte. Lux turns out to be the quiet hero of the novel.

Sophie and Art don't get along. Sophie, a once-successful businesswoman, doesn't get along with her aging hippie sister, Iris, who is always off somewhere saving the world. And lately, Sophie has been seeing things . . . namely, the floating head of a young child. It's Lux who tells Art that he must call Iris and tell her to come at once, despite the sisters' animosity.

Enough said about the plot. The novel moves back and forth among the family members and back and forth in time through their memories, yet it always comes back to the present day, asking, How did we get to this place? Full of Smith's usual wordplay, 'Winter' gives us bittersweet of the art that once was and the nature that we're losing, yet somehow we're left not so much with a sense of doom as a ray of hope. I can't describe it any better than that without giving away far too much and making it sound like something it isn't. Read it. Find out for yourself. When you're done, you'll want to read it again.