Book Review: Spring, by Ali Smith (2019)

Spring von Ali Smith. Bücher | Orell Füssli


It’s been a long time, dear reader! 2022 hasn’t been a big reading year, for various reasons, but here I am, as winter draws in, to tell you about a book I’m not certain I understand.

The thing is, I don’t need to understand Ali Smith’s stories in order to enjoy reading them. Her style of writing (see previous reviews) is a pleasure to experience on its own. Therefore, it doesn’t really matter if the story doesn’t appear to be about very much. The words flow as if the writer is chatting over your shoulder. And of course, it isn’t the case that the story’s about nothing. Like standing over a body of water, you can probably choose how deep you want to go. (I’ve also read from another commentator that returning to these books a second or third time is highly enlightening and rewarding.)

 

As with the other seasonally titled novels in the series, Spring is a study of the state of present-day British society and politics, this time examining the cruelty and criminality of the immigration system. This is illustrated through the experience of Brit, who works in a detention centre, with largely irreverent views about the plight of the detainees, her colleagues, and her life in general. One day she finds herself accompanying a particularly bright and switched-on twelve-year-old schoolgirl (Florence) on a spontaneous train journey up to Scotland. The girl is known for somehow having entered the detention centre unobstructed and persuading the manager to have the toilets cleaned (which was unthinkably extraordinary) by asking him pointed questions that he wasn’t able to answer.

On the station they arrive at in Scotland, the pair’s story overlaps with that of the other main character, Richard, who’d already headed north in despair – explained by the death of his closest friend, his advancing age, and his foundering career, amongst other things. He was attempting to end his own life on the train tracks, until Florence intervened. The other main character is Alda, whose vehicle disguised as a coffee van they all end up travelling in. Alda is involved in some sort of underground network that helps refugees entering the country. They visit an old battleground (Culloden), which is now a tourist attraction, intended, I think, to illustrate the pointlessness of anyone assuming authority over any particular piece of land. 

The ending is the part I don’t fully understand – Alda and Florence are separated and taken away by some security people. Maybe the story isn’t important – they were harmless people doing good, and it wasn’t tolerated. 

 

The symbolism of the title is also pointed to. Spring, new growth, fresh start, the continuum of nature. Hope, of course. Brighter times to come.

 

Favourite Character: They aren’t very similar and it’s not clear they particularly like each other. They don’t even listen to each other very carefully. Which one would I choose for company on a rail/road trip? Probably Brit.

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