Fusing Keatsian mists and mellow fruitfulness with the vitality, the immediacy and the colour-hit of Pop Art (via a bit of very contemporary skulduggery and skull-diggery), Autumn is a witty excavation of the present by the past. The novel is a stripped-branches take on popular culture and a meditation, in a world growing ever more bordered and exclusive, on what richness and worth are, what harvest means.
Autumn is the first instalment in Ali Smith's novel quartet Seasonal: four standalone books, separate yet interconnected and cyclical (as the seasons are), exploring what time is, how we experience it, and the recurring markers in the shapes our lives take and in our ways with narrative.
From the imagination of the peerless Ali Smith comes a shape-shifting series, wide-ranging in timescale and light-footed through histories, and a story about ageing and time and love and stories themselves.
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[It was the worst of times, it was the worst of times]***
(Hamish Hamilton, 20 October 2016, hardback, borrowed from my library)
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I loved Autumn. I've read a few of Smith's book but wouldn't say I'm a massive fan of her work. This great little gem may just change my mind.
The novel is moves back and forth in time, from the present to the past, gradually revealing the history of the main characters, Daniel and Elisabeth, gradually revealing how an old man and a kid became friends. I liked the relationship, the love between them.
Autumn is the first book I've read that features Brexit (for anyone outside the UK reading this just Google it to find out what the deal is about). This isn't a main theme in the book but the main part of the novel is set when the vote is made and Smith acknowledges this and some of the hostility that followed. I liked this.
Autumn is quite a sad book. The title is taken from the season most of the novel is set in. Autumn is a season of change, when the old year starts to fade and die in preparation for the coming of the next one. Smith handles this theme really well.
Autumn is a great read. I definitely want to read the other books in the seasonal quartet when they're released. The next book, Winter is on reserve at the library. I look forward to it.
