Autumn: A Novel (Seasonal Quartet)

"I don't like it when the summer goes and the autumn comes, she said.
Daniel took her by the shoulders and turned her round. He didn't say anything. But all across the landscape down behind them it was still sunlit blue and green.
She looked up at him showing her how the summer was still there.
Nobody spoke like Daniel.
Nobody didn't speak like Daniel."

"It was the worst of times, it was the worst of times." And with that nod to Dickens setting the scene, we enter the British autumn of 2016. Ali Smith's Autumn is the first in a series of four independent, yet interconnected, novels appropriately named 'Seasonal'. I am now eagerly awaiting the yearly releases of the remaining books in this series. In short, this novel is brilliant!

On the surface, Autumn is a simple tale of Elisabeth Demand, a 32-year old art history lecturer, who is sitting at the bedside of her 101-year old childhood neighbour, Daniel Gluck, as he lies in "increased sleep period" toward the end of his life. The story is told in both the present, that is the social and political landscape of Britain right here, right now, and the past, as we revisit Elisabeth's childhood and Daniel's youth.

Despite the apparent simplicity of the storyline, the beauty of this novel lies in the multiple layers on which the story is told.

The scene is set with vivid description of the current state of the nation:

"All across the country, the country was divided, a fence here, a wall there, a line drawn here, a line crossed there,
a line you don't cross there,
a line you better not cross there,
a line of beauty here,
a line dance there,
a line you don't even know exists here..."

Elisabeth worries about her job security, she worries about the lack of job opportunities that will greet her students when they graduate, she tells us she will never own her own home. There is subtle commentary on a number of social, cultural, and political themes. None of this is overtly discussed, but there are strong undercurrents and observations that give a sense of the highly emotive landscape that exists at this time.

"As she passes the house with GO and HOME still written across it she sees that underneath this someone has added, in varying bright colours, WE ARE ALREADY HOME THANK YOU and painted a tree next to it and a row of bright red flowers underneath it."

We see how Elisabeth's mother feels like an outsider, as she tells her daughter that "half the village isn't speaking to the other half of the village, and that this makes almost no difference to her since no one in the village speaks to her anyway..." We get the impression, although we are never actually told, that perhaps Elisabeth and her mother are not white, and this ambiguity of identity only adds to the depth of this story.

We travel to the past, as Elisabeth grows from age 8, to 11, to 13, and then through college. We witness the developing relationship between Elisabeth as a young girl, and Daniel, in his 80's when they first meet. Daniel talks to Elisabeth about books, and words, and art, and this is a common thread throughout this novel. Smith has expertly and subtly woven in numerous references to other works of literature, from Dickens and Shakespeare, to Keats, to Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan.

The themes of art and culture are prominent throughout. In particular, we learn about Pauline Boty, the pioneering, and the only female, British artist of the Pop Art Movement in the 1960's, about whom Elisabeth writes her college dissertation. Boty's life really is a fascinating story in it's own right, and her art will be experiencing a revival after the tribute paid to her in Autumn. Ali Smith has recently written a detailed, enlightening article about Boty, for The Guardian, which is worth reading. Autumn is one of those books that inspires you to come away from it and want to read more, to learn more. As Elisabeth's study into Boty's life deepens, she begins to realise connections between Boty's life and her own.

As we move between the past and the present, we also move between reality and somewhere a little more fantastical. We first meet Daniel when he washes up on the shore of an isolated beach, naked, and seeming to grow younger and younger. As he stitches himself a blanket of leaves, he contemplates where he might actually be; is he dreaming, is he dead, is he somewhere in between? These dreamlike sequences are full of meaning and metaphor and sometimes cryptic flashbacks, which all adds to the story.

Ali Smith's prose is quite beautiful and poetic, although it can be a little stilted at times as she writes in stream of consciousness. If you are new to this writing style, it can be difficult and uncomfortable to read and this can distract from the story. However it is worth persisting and once you are more comfortable with this style of narrative, it is very rewarding and enjoyable to read.

This would be a great book for book club discussions as there is so much depth and meaning and interpretation that can be done. A second read of this book would definitely be well-worth it; I suspect I would get a lot more out of it on a re-read.

Autumn really is an incredible accomplishment; it is a timely, contemporaneous, relevant story that is poignant, thought provoking and important. I can't wait to see what comes next in this series!

Hmmm. I’m going to have to go against the grain here and confess that I didn’t love this book. I loved parts of it, yes, but not all of it.

It’s a relatively quick read, with poetic, stream-of-consciousness prose, about a unique friendship between a young girl and an elderly man that spans a couple decades.

Daniel is on his death bed at 101 years old, and Elisabeth returns to her hometown to visit him and read to him while he lies unconscious. The narrative jumps around in time, recalling anecdotes from their lives over the years.

The present-day parts take place in the post-Brexit U.K., and are some of my favorite parts. Smith really nails the feeling of despondency that followed Brexit (and, for those of us in the U.S., the election of Trump).

Meanwhile, some of the chapters take us through Daniel’s dreamlike state of near-death unconsciousness. Others take us back in time to Daniel’s and Elisabeth’s growing friendship. And then there are the sections about Pauline Boty, a 1960s pop artist who Daniel once loved. This is where the story lost me, shifting the focus unnecessarily away from Daniel and Elisabeth.

There’s a lot to enjoy about this playful and beautifully written novel, but I would have preferred more rigorous editing to slim down some of the redundancy and remove most of the Boty subplot.

‘Autumn’ is somewhat esoteric and almost like a dream or even stream of thoughts not very well connected at times…a person dressed as a tree.
The book is a stand-alone read, but is meant to be part of a quartet – each a season.
It does seem that the author uses Brexit as a means of the disruption of life and thoughts; Daniel is over a century old, there is a mother and a girl who is an art historian. There seems to be many thoughts on death, but there is also love.
This is not a book for everyone, but for those who enjoy a read of a different sort; this is the book for you.

Autumn is aptly named as it is like a season in someone's life -- or, rather, an excerpt from the lives of two people who are an unlikely twining. Opening in the very surreal episode of a recently deceased (or maybe not) man who finds himself cast upon a beach, Autumn found its footing for me when it brought the stories of the two main characters, Elisabeth (with an "s") and Daniel Gluck together at last. Neighbors during Elisabeth's childhood, the two opposites find they share a love of books and philosophy despite their disparate ages. This mentor relationship is very touching, especially when you see the true depth of Elisabeth's devotion as she continues to visit him during a long illness. Perhaps the odd opening of the novel will make more sense as the greater story unfolds in the other three stand alone but connected tomes in the series.

I’ve got to admit...the first time I read this book, I found it odd. But....as moderator of a large book club in West Maui, I had to develop some discussions questions (publishers DQs not withstanding), so I read it again, and WOW! Suddenly the bright brilliance of this novel shone through. It and Smith pierced me with a unique approach to subject matter. Now even I know who Pauline Boty was and of her paintngs. My horizons were further broadened with research into her brief life, Brexit, and of course, the not-to-be-forgotten Profumo Scandal of ‘63. Needless to say our club’s discussion moved everyone. Kudos!

i loved ali smith's novels "how to be both" and "the accidental." autumn is in their league. a kind, endearing story of the friendship between a girl growing from 13 to 33 and a man aging from 80 to 100. at first he is her mentor; eventually, she is his protector. a sophisticated exposition of the family background that leads each to welcome such a friendship. an indictment of the mean-spiritedness in england that started with thatcher and culminated in brexit. and a glowing tribute to rediscovered pop artist and feminist free spirit pauline boty. the language is at times flowery (leafy, to be precise), but so are boty's paintings; and i love both.

I didn't intend to like this book based on its subject matter. Dying old guy and young girl as friends. Yet. I did like it. More for its richness of language, word play, concision of phrasing. And. Daniel's perspective on life as a collage alum, rather than a college one. Elisabeth's punning irony. An asymmetrically smart relationship. Historical. Topical. Not a story novel. More a literary read.

I found this to be a lazy cliche ridden book, albeit with some beautiful writing. All the hassles with the P.O.,the bad mother, Elizabeth's uncertain academic status, the TV shows in which her mother participates... , the forgotten female pop artist..these are all easy targets/subjects, and nothing original is said about them. The central relationship in the book between Elizabeth and her neighbour is not realised in a way that makes it plausible. The pro Brexit people are clearly disliked by the author and turned into racist stereotypes. i abandoned this meandering plotless novel 60 pages from the end.

Pros & Cons: Would really feel more comfortable giving this 3.33 stars (to be exact and semi-original). Felt that even though I read the book, it’s hard to describe: a satire? Or more surrealism? A Brexit/ feminist/ pop art book? Am generally good with non linear books, but felt that this book was like watching a tennis match or playing ping pong. Applaud the word usage, the social commentary (Brexit, feminism & immigration w a bit of lesbianism, even) and the friendship of Daniel Gluck & Elisabeth Demand. Not sure if I’ll reach out to read the other books Smith has planned for the series.

Cover art: 5 out of 5.

I was disappointed with Autumn. Though I usually love Ali Smith's writing I couldn't get into the rhythm of this book. Often her writing feels almost dreamlike to me but Autumn went so far in that direction it felt rambling at times. Smith's books take a lot of concentration so maybe the fault was mine for not providing that however in my previous reading of her work it didn't seem to b as difficult as this current book. If you're looking for beautifully constructed prose you've hit the jackpot with Smith. For whatever reason Autumn failed to make me connect with it.

4.5 stars. Ali Smith's writing is not easy but, once you get into it, it's superb. There are many themes here and it initially feels disjointed. But it's amazing how, with just a few well-chosen words, Smith connects them in ways that are surprising, haunting and beautiful. I had to stop a few times to think through what I was reading, and appreciate the dawning realizations. Definitely worth it's place on the Booker long list, and something I look forward to re-reading when the next installment (it's the first of a planed quartet) comes out.

A non-linear tale regarding the growth of a young woman and her relationship/friendship with an older man and her discovery of a little known artist and that relationship with Christine Keeler and the Profumo affair. This book has such a joy and an energy about it that it captures your interest in the characters and pulls you along on this interesting and amusing ride. Unique in its presentation, I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to reading more by Ms. Smith.

I am not a big fan of word play, and could not get through Smith’s “How To Be Both”, but I very much enjoyed the word play in “Autumn” and the novel itself. The heart of the book are the conversations between a very bright girl growing up and her elderly, cultured neighbor. His biographical details never come into focus, although there are hints. Her details as an adult come out in a rush, and rather spoiled my impressions of her, although in the end she is loyal to her neighbor who had been so important to her.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I liked How To Be Both enough to give this one a go, and I found it very involving and perceptive.

It is hard to say exactly what Autumn is about. Daniel, aged over 100, is lying largely asleep in a care-home bed in 2016. 32-year-old Elisabeth sits by his bed reading; she was Daniel's neighbour when she was about 10 and formed a strong relationship with him as he imparted his humanity and insight to her. The book consists of episodes from the past of both characters (and later of Pauline Boty, a founder of the pop-art movement) plus reflections on post Referendum Britain. It sounds pretty ghastly, but I found it full of humane and perceptive observations and exceptionally good writing, and I became very involved with the characters.

Ali Smith reflects on aspects of life in Britain in 2016 and has important things to say about what may matter in life, how communities and individuals relate to each other, women and sexism and plenty more. There are some dream sequences which I found a bit tedious (even though they are far better done than most) but apart from them I found the whole thing really gripping, although I find it hard to say why. It is partly the lovely, distinctive but readable prose, partly the human insight and partly Smith's ability to come up with little gems like, "…I thought about you the whole time. Even when I wasn't thinking about you, I thought about you." I love that, and plenty else in the book – like Daniel's invariable greeting "Hello. What are you reading?" or how beautifully touching the lyrics of a song become because we have had a glimpse of what is behind them.

I'm sure this won't be for everyone, but I'd recommend giving it a try even if you're dubious about it. If you do find it's for you, it will be a very rewarding, thoughtful and touching read.

More Reviews on my blog Inside My Library Mind

It's very hard for me to review Ali Smith's novels. There's no doubt she can write and she does it like nobody else. Her voice is completely unique and she is beyond clever and observant, which all comes through in her writing and her novels.
However, I missed the point of this. She makes some wonderful remarks throughoit and as a series of singular thoughts and observations, this is brilliant. But as a whole this went completely over my head. I can discern what she was trying to do a bit, based on other people's reviews and what I know, but I really didn't understand any of it by myself. But this is still a three star read, just because I enjoyed, even though I did not really understand it. I still vastly prefer How to Be Both (the only other book of hers I read), but I can definitely see the value of this book as well.

At first the book just felt oddly disjointed. As I perservered through to the rest of the book, I appreciated the relationship between the young girl and the elderly man.

Her writing is unique and the words play in your head and create ideas and points of view that were unusual and some depressing.

All in all I enjoyed the book, it was too much like a puzzle though.

Beautuful book with much packed into short chapters and 260 pages. It is uplifting even in these worst of times. The writing is exquisite. I want to start it again and re read now , but the library wants it back so I will return asap so someone else can read this wonderful book.

For me personally, the writing style didn't connect with me. That isn't worth a low star rating. I can't even say the writing is just okay because some of it blew my mind. But, overall I found myself getting back to the story and it took me way longer than I usually need to read a great story. (I felt I was doped up trying to figure out where the story was going or returning from. )

So hard to describe what I felt reading this book.

First, confusion, because the incipit seemed quite weird to me. I was like: "What am I going into now?"
But, then, compassion, with Elisabeth confronting with administration.
Then indignation, because this book deals with actuality in 2016, so immigrants being rejected, Brexit, violence, racism, attempts to justify all of this.
Then, sadness, with Elisabeth's and Daniel's story, with the situation, with the world drifting away.
And then joy. In a way, this book comforted me. It felt warm between periods of coldness, it felt reassuring in a world going nowhere, it felt great to read Ali Smith's words.

So hard to go out of this book now. Now, I just have to wait for Winter!

This book is not for lazy readers. I have thought about how I feel about this book for a few days now, and I'm still not sure! I like it when a book tells me how to feel. Spoon feed me the emotions you want me to have! I don't think this book does that at all. And I hate that! There are several things the author describes that evoke feelings. She doesn't give us long to develop those feelings before she is on to the next subject. There isn't anything wrong with that, but it does kind of feel like a BB in a silo.

I love the interactions between Daniel and Elisabeth. I also love her efforts to get her passport renewed. I didn't get the tree thing. I have some ideas about it, but not sure. I like sentence structure. Much the writing in this book does not have sentence structure. I was interested enough to keep reading, so that's ok.

Trying to explain what this book is about would not do the story justice. None of the things I didn't like about the book kept me from finishing it. And I guess I will have to read the next one in the series.

Written as a series of linked scenes around the life of an old man and his daughter, this novel didn't hold together very well for me--too much irrelevant-to-the-story stuff. However, a couple of the vignettes were wise and beautifully written, hence 3 rather than 2 stars.

On the 2017 Booker Prize long list. There is a good story somewhere in this meandering, overly clever book about the Platonic relationship between a young girl who becomes an Art History professor and the mysterious older man who lives next to her. Unfortunately, Smith doesn't manage to tell that story, leaving the best parts (the man had gone into Nazi Germany to rescue his father but failed to get his sister out) as simply hints.

Maybe this is a genius book, but I could never grasp what was going on. It was part a meditation on the end of a life, part an unlikely friendship, part a dive into what we perceive as real, but I could never tie the threads together.

At times the writing leapt to the surface like a tendril of grass erupting from the earth, but for the most part the book was uneven and dry, singed like autumn before a first snow. I have no desire to read any more Ali Smith.

She didn’t finish the threads of some of the stories she was telling. I’d get interested in a chapter, then she’d switch to another narrative and never went back to pick up a previous narrative.

I liked the portrait of the daughter, Elizabeth, the uncomprehending, suspicious mother, and the daughter's relationship to much much older, Daniel. Moving. The prose was illusive, elliptical, and I have mixed feelings about that.

"April come she will
When streams are ripe and swelled with rain
May she will stay
Resting in my arms again
June she'll change her tune
In restless walks she'll prowl the night"
--“April Come She Will” lyrics by Paul Simon

"It was the worst of times, it was the worst of times."

Traveling back and forth through time, the past to the present, from Elisabeth’s childhood and meeting her new neighbor Daniel Gluck, to the brink of the political climate that began with Brexit, this story covers a lot of territory in a rather fluid way, dealing with aging, love in its many shapes and forms, friendship, art and artists, books and the telling of stories, the concept of time, music, identity, the culture of television, politics, sexual inequality, division of people, division of countries, and global warming.

When first they meet, Elisabeth pretends to be her (non-existent) twin sister, and after a bit of a chat, Daniel says:
”’Very pleased to meet you both. Finally.’
‘How do you mean, finally?’ Elisabeth said. ‘We only moved here six weeks ago.’
‘The lifelong friends, he said. We sometimes wait a lifetime for them.’”

And lifelong friends is exactly what they will become, the almost-beginning of her life until his becomes dust in the wind, and somehow beyond then. He will always be a part of her, a part of how she sees the world.

They play games; he describes a picture, a collage, to her, as she closes her eyes and listens and her imagination follows every detail of his description, occasionally asking questions. A moment, an image captured so clearly in her mind that it becomes a part of her, of how she sees art, how she sees herself, how she sees the world.

Invariably, his first question when he sees her is what is she reading.

“'Always be reading something,' he said. ‘Even when we’re not physically reading. How else will we read the world?’”

The topics of politics, Brexit and beyond, flows in and out throughout this novel, although there is much to balance that out, and it is not Smith’s sole focus. Rather, it seems to weave in and out of the other topics, lending a time and place to this story. The fleeting nature of these things that occupy of minds and hearts, that our fears take root in, the lack of comfort in knowing that they will be replaced. As shall we.

The elusive nature of time, how slow it seems to pass for children, for those awaiting something wonderful, how quickly it passes the older we get, how quickly a life passes. The seasons, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, how quickly they pass, merge one into another. The seasons of life, how quickly they pass.

”We have to hope, Daniel was saying, that the people who love us and who know us a little bit will in the end have seen us truly. In the end, not much else matters.”

”July she will fly
And give no warning to her flight
August die she must
The autumn winds blow chilly and cold
September I remember
A love once new has now grown old”
-- “April Come She Will” lyrics by Paul Simon

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group / Pantheon

I found myself working to get some kind of purpose or point to the book and utterly failed. Flipping from one time period to another and one voice to another made me feel like I was reading some teenager's diary.

I don't understand what all the hype is about.

Unbelievably disconnected. Some poetic moments, yes, but really difficult to follow. Character development was awkward from the very beginning. I don't know that I've ever been so disappointed after reading a book. Can't believe I read it through. Guess I just kept waiting for it to develop...wrong.

Near the beginning of Autumn, one of the two central characters, centenarian Daniel Gluck, sleeping towards death, finds himself naked on some strange shore, apparently in the company of dancing nymphs. A gentleman of some decency and finesse, he sews himself a garment of leaves. And also, a still more brilliant cloak of dizzying, glittering, playful language.

The sewing together of a supremely practical, supremely creative mesh and web of time, space, memory and connection is this simple, eminently readable, multi-layered delight from Smith.

Autumn is set in the aftermath of Brexit. And it combines both a real, and a stingingly satirical view of the direction this decision may be taking us. But its bleak view of an increasingly robotic, impersonal, uncaring country is always off-set by the surprising, warm connections human beings may make against all those manifestations of corporate and bureaucratic tick-boxery

This is a love story of a strange kind. The two central characters are Gluck, and Elisabeth Demand, or, perhaps, as the punning, verbally stylish Gluck suggests, de monde. The time is now, really now, as Autumn 2016 moves towards winter. But it is also, linked by memory, (Gluck’s) the swinging sixties, when he briefly met the subversive, vibrant, feminist artist and actress Pauline Boty. And it is also a look back further, to Daniel’s European past, and to those earlier manifestations of hate and fear of other groups, other races. Elisabeth, right here and now is a woman in her early thirties, an academic, just, working on a zero hours contract, a lecturer in art history. Elisabeth first met Gluck when she was a rather stroppy, rather difficult almost teenager , and he was in his eighties. Like no one she had ever met before. This is a love story – not a sex story

“We have to hope, Daniel was saying, that the people who love us and who know us a little bit will in the end have seen us truly. In the end, not much else matters”

Pauline Boty (as I discovered) was a kind of icon, and symbol. She was largely forgotten because she was both vibrant, intelligent, creative, joyous, multi-gifted, subversive – and an astonishingly beautiful woman. Her beauty and her gender meant she was not accorded the status which other British Pop Artists achieved. Boty was making collages, thereby making subversive, subliminal statements, often about women in a man’s world. She is recently being rediscovered,

“I’m tired of the news. I’m tired of the way it makes things spectacular that aren’t, and deals so simplistically with what’s truly appalling. I’m tired of the vitriol. I’m tired of the anger. I’m tired of the meanness. I’m tired of the selfishness. I’m tired of how we’re doing nothing to stop it. I’m tired of how we’re encouraging it. I’m tired of the violence there is and I’m tired of the violence that’s on its way, that’s coming, that hasn’t happened yet. I’m tired of liars. I’m tired of sanctified liars. I’m tired of how those liars have let this happen. I’m tired of having to wonder whether they did it out of stupidity or did it on purpose. I’m tired of lying governments, I’m tired of people not caring whether they’re being lied to anymore. I’m tired of being made to feel this fearful. I’m tired of animosity. I’m tired of pusillanimosity”

Just when the reader thinks they can’t cope with their own – or Smith’s complex disappointment and rage (as expressed here by Elisabeth’s mother) she blows entertaining brilliant bubbles of playful images and linguistic magic

Like Boty, Smith makes collages. And, like Boty, there is so much dynamism and vibrant life in her work. She is making, often, deep and serious points, but she uses light, shade, satire, vision, and riffs in jazzy fashion.

At times, her intelligence is so savage, and so funny, that she reminds me of Swift. There is a marvellously funny, but horribly close-to-truth scene set in a Post Office, (one near all of us, probably) where there are a diminishing number of counter staff, and a growing army of terminals to deal with various requests. Elisabeth is trying to get her application for a passport renewal ‘expedited’ As I read, I was simultaneously screaming with laughter, fighting down a rising sense of panic – yes, yes, this IS our dreadful world, RIGHT NOW – and wanting to smash every terminal in every public place. Smith collages so many contradictory responses all at the same time, for the reader

This is a very short book, but it is absolutely one to be savoured, to steep yourself in for full, flavoursome surround-sound and vibrance. Recommended. Massively so.

I received this as an digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley