<![CDATA[The Accidental]]>

false <![CDATA[The Accidental]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171940395m/127630.jpg 127630 12 Before writing The Accidental, Ali Smith wrote Hotel World, shortlisted for both the Orange Prize and the Man Booker Prize, and several short story collections. Her work is absolutely original, with a trademark quirky style, with whole passages that seem to have been bound into the wrong book and occasional historical asides completely outside the narrative line. Don't be fooled; with Smith, every word has a purpose. Amber is the catalyst who makes the novel happen. She appears on the doorstep of the Smart's rented summer cottage in Norfolk, England, barefoot and unexpected. Eve Smart, a third-rate author suffering writer's block, believes that she is a friend of her husband's. Michael is a womanizing University professor, but he doesn't usually drag his quarry home. He thinks that she must be a friend of Eve's. Everyone is politely confused and Amber is invited to dinner. She is a consummate liar and manipulator who manages to seduce everyone in the family in some significant way. Magnus, Eve's 17-year-old son from a former marriage and Astrid, her 12-year-old daughter, are easy prey. Magnus is in despair. He played a prank on a classmate and it went horribly wrong when she killed herself because of the humiliation it caused. He cannot shake the guilt and is about to hang himself from the shower rod when Amber walks into the bathroom, the perfect deus ex machina. She bathes him and takes him back downstairs, announcing that she found him trying to kill himself. Everyone titters. Could it be possible? This is a recurring question as Amber's behavior becomes more and more outrageous. Is this really happening, or is it some family-wide delusion? To add to the mystery, there is a Rashomon-like character to the story in that the same events are recalled by the Smarts through their own filters. This life force who is Amber is finally thwarted when Eve, after a disturbing event, compels her to leave. The family is left to re-evaluate who they are post-Amber and to decide how to live with the changes she has brought about in them through this "accidental" encounter. This is a completely engrossing novel that raises as many questions as it answers. --Valerie Ryan 449610 2005 The Accidental total:1239|5:135|4:347|3:417|2:222|1:118| 1239 3876 1843 250 5 3 false false Thu Jun 12 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed May 28 14:40:14 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 12 16:41:57 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 2 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Sun Oct 28 17:45:03 -0700 2007 Sun Oct 28 17:47:35 -0700 2007 more...]]> 0 2 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Fri Aug 03 13:38:52 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 03 13:43:13 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 2 false false Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Nov 02 02:33:59 -0800 2008 Thu Nov 13 04:24:05 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 true false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Nov 02 11:30:35 -0700 2007 Fri Nov 02 11:30:35 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 2 false false Mon May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Fri Feb 27 10:39:02 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 27 10:40:08 -0800 2009
I can understand why The Accidental is getting a lot of...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Sun Jul 26 05:58:30 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 26 05:58:40 -0700 2009
The Accidental did not disappoint.

And how did I run across it? Well, (forgive me this) it was quite accidental. As many good things are.
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At first, I was a bit sceptical about how it was written. Short sentences, all thou...more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Feb 05 09:38:20 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 09:38:20 -0800 2009 Scottish writer Ali Smith has a good stiff breeze filling her writerly sails. Her novel Hotel World (2001) was short-listed for the Booker Prize, as was The Accidental. Both books lost, but Smith did claim the prestigious 2005 Whitbread Prize for The Accidental. Critics praise her handling of multip...

more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Mar 07 15:35:34 -0800 2009 Wed Mar 18 05:54:47 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Tue Mar 03 08:14:46 -0800 2009 Tue Mar 03 08:15:28 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jan 23 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 12 08:07:24 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 23 08:18:41 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 2 false false Sun Mar 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 08 12:40:14 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 23 07:01:00 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jul 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 14 18:53:42 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 29 08:16:09 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Dec 17 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu May 21 09:16:24 -0700 2009 Thu May 21 09:16:41 -0700 2009 Again, I'm not sure what I thought of The Accidental. While on the surface it's quite a simple tale of the effect the arrival of a mysterious stranger has on a family from London, as her peculiar way of living and frank method of talking leaves then all to reconsider their lives as they stand....more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 25 04:37:27 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 25 04:39:01 -0800 2009 more...]]> 1 0 false false Tue Dec 23 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 01 14:22:07 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 23 19:05:57 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Apr 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 24 11:37:03 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 29 09:02:44 -0700 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=127630