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A review by chrissie_whitley
Autumn by Ali Smith
5.0
An incredibly soulful shape of a novel about so many things — but mainly about living and connecting — with touches of dying and severing for balance and realism and truth. Smith somehow gave me a whole book that returns me to that feeling of looking at some piece of art and seeing something in it that makes me stop, pause, and breathe just for a moment to be in that space with the artwork itself.
"Crying came out of her like weather."
Elisabeth Demand and Daniel Gluck share the responsibility of narrating the book. Elisabeth is at most a 32-year-old woman sitting beside Daniel's bed as he is in a near comatose state in a care facility. Daniel at his most is a 101-year-old man flitting in and out of dreamscapes and memories in his mind as he plays around with the possibility of dying. Elisabeth at her youngest is age eleven, first meeting a Daniel whose age is never quite clear until you know he's 101, but math says he would've been around 80 at that time. Never listen to Elisabeth's mother if you are looking for facts about Daniel Gluck.
The story itself is not important. The plot is a meandering, flickering thing and everything is delivered nonlinearly — much like Daniel's own memories coming out of order as he sees about facing death. Daniel's passages are especially Woolfian and fascinatingly evocative of a plane of existence, just on the edge of time. Stream-of-consciousness and painterly.
Elisabeth's the main one whose passages of life we follow (though there are others, however brief), most especially in 2016. She's the one having to deal with the most mundane of the everyday. Smith keeps her relatable while still creating this wonderful sense of Elisabeth knowing something about life we don't. Or maybe we do. It's playful and vivacious. And the focus of Elisabeth's life, besides art — she's currently a junior arts lecturer at a London university — is her relationship with Daniel. She loves him. It's simple and honest, even if it takes her a while to realize it. It's a true form of love. She loves him like he's her source of art in this world — and that's not untrue.
There is so much beauty in this book. I'd like to say it exists only in the relationship that develops between Daniel and Elisabeth — as he passes on the torch of opening doors into the rooms of possibilities for which Elisabeth never even knew to look. Because that would be simple. But it's there in so many other ways. It's there in Smith's writing, that's for sure. It's there as she talks in and around and about the pop artist, Pauline Boty, whose work and life has an influence on both Daniel and Elisabeth, decades apart. It's even there in the ugliness that spoils us now, on this earth, with the hatred and animosity spilling out in various ways. The beauty there is, of course, in knowing how to keep walking, keep pressing forward, and to face the ugliness head on. And sometimes bring flowers and always read books.
Audiobook, as narrated by [a:Melody Grove|8476644|Melody Grove|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]: Grove has a wonderful reading voice — easy, casual, and able to fill it up with all the wonder needed for Elisabeth and still flatten it down for her mother. It's an emotive voice without ever feeling overdone or practiced. As near to a pure reading as you can get — I never feel unduly influenced by Grove, she is dialed directly into Smith's words and transmits it back out for the listener.
P.S. The print version of this book appears to not have any punctuation marks to set apart the dialogue from the main text. Sometimes that affects my ability to focus and absorb the story, so if that's you, too — I fully recommend this in its audio format.
"Crying came out of her like weather."
Elisabeth Demand and Daniel Gluck share the responsibility of narrating the book. Elisabeth is at most a 32-year-old woman sitting beside Daniel's bed as he is in a near comatose state in a care facility. Daniel at his most is a 101-year-old man flitting in and out of dreamscapes and memories in his mind as he plays around with the possibility of dying. Elisabeth at her youngest is age eleven, first meeting a Daniel whose age is never quite clear until you know he's 101, but math says he would've been around 80 at that time. Never listen to Elisabeth's mother if you are looking for facts about Daniel Gluck.
The story itself is not important. The plot is a meandering, flickering thing and everything is delivered nonlinearly — much like Daniel's own memories coming out of order as he sees about facing death. Daniel's passages are especially Woolfian and fascinatingly evocative of a plane of existence, just on the edge of time. Stream-of-consciousness and painterly.
Elisabeth's the main one whose passages of life we follow (though there are others, however brief), most especially in 2016. She's the one having to deal with the most mundane of the everyday. Smith keeps her relatable while still creating this wonderful sense of Elisabeth knowing something about life we don't. Or maybe we do. It's playful and vivacious. And the focus of Elisabeth's life, besides art — she's currently a junior arts lecturer at a London university — is her relationship with Daniel. She loves him. It's simple and honest, even if it takes her a while to realize it. It's a true form of love. She loves him like he's her source of art in this world — and that's not untrue.
There is so much beauty in this book. I'd like to say it exists only in the relationship that develops between Daniel and Elisabeth — as he passes on the torch of opening doors into the rooms of possibilities for which Elisabeth never even knew to look. Because that would be simple. But it's there in so many other ways. It's there in Smith's writing, that's for sure. It's there as she talks in and around and about the pop artist, Pauline Boty, whose work and life has an influence on both Daniel and Elisabeth, decades apart. It's even there in the ugliness that spoils us now, on this earth, with the hatred and animosity spilling out in various ways. The beauty there is, of course, in knowing how to keep walking, keep pressing forward, and to face the ugliness head on. And sometimes bring flowers and always read books.
Audiobook, as narrated by [a:Melody Grove|8476644|Melody Grove|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]: Grove has a wonderful reading voice — easy, casual, and able to fill it up with all the wonder needed for Elisabeth and still flatten it down for her mother. It's an emotive voice without ever feeling overdone or practiced. As near to a pure reading as you can get — I never feel unduly influenced by Grove, she is dialed directly into Smith's words and transmits it back out for the listener.
P.S. The print version of this book appears to not have any punctuation marks to set apart the dialogue from the main text. Sometimes that affects my ability to focus and absorb the story, so if that's you, too — I fully recommend this in its audio format.