Book Review: Autumn, by Ali Smith (2016)
Hard to put my finger on this apparently rapidly written Man Booker Prize shortlisted novel. The themes are clear – it’s about the impacts of the aftermath of the Brexit vote on society, reflecting these impacts in a wholly negative light. It's also about relationships of various kinds – romantic, mother-daughter, and, most prominently, that between a young girl (Elisabeth, main character) and her much older next-door neighbour (Mr Gluck). The storyline also provides a narrative of the Profumo affair from the perspective of Christine Keeler, and focusses on the career and ill-fated life of the generally overlooked British pop artist, Pauline Boty. The book is also about time, jumping around as it does between now and then in a sometimes ill-defined manner, and the title – Autumn – provides a general focus for the descriptive passages. The narrative overall is subtle, there are no big bangs or twists here, there is little in the way of action, but the political critique is clea...