29.12.25
The author tried hard with the worldbuilding but maybe should have spent more time thinking about plot, pace and clarity.
Showing posts with label Smith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Smith. Show all posts
I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith
28.09.16
I first read this years ago and apparently loved it so recently thought it would be a good audiobook to stop me from getting bored on a long car journey. Well, maybe I'm older and bitterer now but I couldn't decide whether it's indulgently twee or deliberately open to oppositional readings. I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt and suspect that readers don't have to be entirely sympathetic to this family of self-indulgent, narcissist idlers.
How to be Both - Ali Smith
17.09.15
It's a tale of two characters and the one you get first is, apparently, randomly allocated. My copy began with the strange and wonderful stream-of-consciousness of a 15th-century fresco artist, a skilful and vivid voice. By contrast, the modern-day second half seemed dull and irrelevant, throwing insufficient light on the painter's tale. It's impossible, however, to resist Googling Francesco del Cossa and his (or her) majestic works.
The Accidental - Ali Smith
67%
I really don't know whether I liked this or not. Is it clever or pretentious? Is it funny or ironic? Is it meaningful or overcomplicating a straightforward story? Certainly different and interesting, and, on the whole, entertaining.
On Beauty - Zadie Smith
51%
This simply isn't very good. Muddled, unrealistic and ultimately inconsequential - pointless set-pieces with a limited appeal to anyone beyond the urban intellectual middle class. But it keeps on winning prizes - perhaps the judges are making allowances for the good book that's in there somewhere.
The Autograph Man - Zadie Smith
05.10.03
This is dreadful - goes to show what happens when a young author is forced by pressure of hype to write a second novel too quickly. 'White Teeth', or the first two-thirds of it, anyway - was clever, charming and emotionally mature. By contrast, this is a collection of jottings unconvincingly strung together to form a kind of story. The Jewish backbone could have been interesting, but really seemed to be just a display of research. A little more warmth, a little less intellectualising would have helped no end. [Ed: the grading seems too high for this review but as usual I can't change it unless I read it again. Which I'm not planning on doing.]
I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith
05.09.03
Recently filmed, this is now regarded as a seminal book. Odd, perhaps for a romantic drama in the Jane Austen tradition, but it has a sly cleverness and careful development of character that gives it a satisfying complexity. It's a rites of passage story told with more care and philosophy than most, and with the perfect, moving ending.
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