A twisting tale which meanders somewhere

A great story which interweaves stories of people and places in a way that comes together but then goes we know not where

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Beautiful, moving and timely

A wonderfully moving and timely novel by Ali Smith set in contemporary U.K. Tells of despair and hope in our modern world with the usual Ali Smith style and elegance. Another great gem, only second to Winter by her which is the pinnacle of this series so far. Very highly recommended!

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Great story.

Love it. It was like being let into a fairy tale which was taken back on the last page. There was nò lingering or anything.

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Hopeless hope in the third book of the tetralogy

Those of you considering reading the third book in a series of four probably don't need my recommendation, as you'll be aware already of Smith's wonderfully whimsical, deeply serious, humorously hamfisted, piquantly political, and compellingly readable work, with its wonderful layers and intertextualities (and intersonic and intervisual cues too--very multi-media). What you SHOULD know about this is that the audio has a different chapter order from that in the published book: the final chapter of the audio comes between chapter 33 and 34 in the printed book. I think the printed book order is better and probably represents the more final thoughts of the author and editor (unless the audio order is just an error?). Anyway, the physical book is such a beautiful object, that it's worth buying it anyway...

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9 people found this helpful

Interesting.....

This is another interesting, curious, state-of-the-nation novel. Can't decide if the more polemical bits are thought-provoking witty reflections on modern society or a bit smart arse and pretentious. I think I would have appreciated it better in print - it was a bit harder to follow on audio, and personally I didn't like the narrator's attempts at the accents. The descriptive passages are beautiful.

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excellent stuff as always

ah Ali Smith! Painfully depicting the sad political realitiy, but what a treat this has been!!
Moving, aesthetically brilliant and with a needed hint of hope.

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Beautiful writing.

Another stunning story by Ali Smith. Such depth. And breadth.
The reader (different from Autumn and Winter) was generally okay but her Scottish and Irish accents (key to the book) were very poor; they were hackneyed, a bit lazy. Mispronouncing George McKay Brown’s name early on was forgivable, but again a bit lazy. The accents grated on my Irish-Scottish ears.

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Excellent

Painfully shows the political reality of the power - and powerlessness - of people. Thought provoking and engaging.

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Book is great but spoiled by last chapter being a repeat of previous

This s a great book and all was fine until chapter 41 - t is a repeat of a precious chapter which makes for a disappointment at the end. Please correct this

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2 people found this helpful

Hard work

This instalment was annoying in so many ways. It was less a multi-layered contemporary critique and more a disjointed and rather pretentious anthology.
It veered from an alpine sanatorium to facile film makers, then from a dehumanising detention centre to a Scottish road trip, via suicidal grief and an excruciatingly precocious child.
There were brief moments of insight and a brilliant interlude concerning the internet but it was all rather preachy and smug.
After struggling with this book for several months, it was a relief when it finally ended.

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2 people found this helpful