Sunday 17 April 2011

REVIEW: THE ACCIDENTAL- Ali Smith



Though it has been sitting on my shelf for about 2 years, I have only just discovered this fantastic novel by Scottish writer Ali Smith, deserved winner of the Whitbread Award 2005. Kooky, clever and charasmatic, Smith's novel takes a kaelidoskopic look at the troubled Smart family on their summer holiday in Norfolk, England.

   In each of the three sections, 'the beginning', 'the middle', 'the end', the author conveys these themes through the thoughts and feelings of each of the family members- 12-year-old Asterid, 17-year-old Magnus, their mother Eve, and their stepfather Michael. They are all satisfied in their own frustrations and anguish until the arrival of Amber on their family holiday, a mysterious lady who turns the family upside down, and becomes a symbol of their longings and desires. Watching Amber slowly tangle herself further into the Smart family web, unravelling each of their crippling obsessions, is mesmerising. You constantly ask yourself, as Eve Smart also does, 'Who is she? Where has she come from?' As with the Smart family, this question comes later than you expect into your mind; her assertive presence in a weakening family seems to serve as justification enough...for a while.

   Smith deserves extra credit for the distinction between each of the novel's 'voices' through radical novel-writing techniques; any novelist that is bold enough to include sonnets halfway through their book is amazing in my eyes! After reading this novel and James Frey's A Million Little Pieces (great book- will talk about it soon), I'm becoming a huge fan of leaving out speech marks. I never thought I'd be such a modernist, but Smith, Frey, you've both changed my mind. The immediacy, the blur between thoughts and spoken words, all conveyed in the absence of a simple grammatical tool...inspiring. You truly feel as though you are accessing the deepest, darkest thoughts of the characters...well, most of them, anyway... The ominous ending to the book shocked me, yet in hindsight was distrubingly inevitable: perfect for a sequel.

   So, an amazing book. Smith's writing sizzles and breaks barriers, her characters jump, almost desperately, off the page. I cannot wait to dive into another book by Smith, and not just because of her brilliant surname (a-ha, a-ha). Discovering new authors makes me even more excited to get a Kindle (that's right, I'm slowly getting converted people...I never thought I'd see the day!). Right now, I'm giving Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie another shot; I wasn't a fan before and stopped a few chapters in, but I'm hoping that my trip to India may help me to view the book in a different light...

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