The Whole Story and Other Stories

by Ali Smith

book data

123 ratings, 3.88 average rating, 21 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		31%
4		34%
3		26%
2		6%
1		1%

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published

March 9th 2004 (first published 2003) by Anchor

binding

Paperback, 192 pages

isbn

140007567X (isbn13: 9781400075676)

description

From the critically acclaimed author of Hotel World comes a collection of uniquely inventive stories that thread the labyrinth of coincidence, chance,...more

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 178)

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02/05/09

Kai rated it:

This collection of stories has a flop or two. Some less than interesting tales. But the ones I love are made for photocopying and mailing to your ideal lover with pressed flowers and a photo of that feather you found in a graveyard.

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07/07/08

Issy rated it:

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in July, 2008

These were pretty creative but they lacked any sense of urgency.

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04/02/08

Julia rated it:

Read in June, 2008

A sharp literary mind and exquisite technique, Smith executes this short story collection with fervor and interest. In my first reading, I have discovered the tremulous strings that attach relationships and how even the bizarre can open a person's eyes to a reality so good and pure that it has to be embraced.
On the whole, The Whole Story and Other Stories is a book I enjoyed, but I had to think very hard through it. I can quickly see it becoming a favorite, but it is definitely not a boo...more

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09/15/07

Margaret rated it:

Read in April, 2009

Having just finished reading this book in Washington Square Park while witnessing someone being arrested, I subsequently tried to explain Ali Smith's style to a friend: "Her stories and characters are kind of crazy, but crazy in a way that makes complete and total sense, or would if you were not aware of the existing infrastructure of the universe and human relations."

Not sure how successful I was in making my point, but I love reading about people being chased by a bagpipe...more

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01/29/09

Stephanie rated it:

Read in January, 2009

I'm turning into an Ali Smith junkie... am ordering everything I can get my hands on. Wonderful writing.

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05/29/08

Karen rated it:

Read in September, 2006

Some of the stories in here are amazing. "being quick" makes me cry every time I read it. I gave this book four stars and not five, though, because not all of the stories are that great. I guess that's a little unfair, because if a novel had moved me as much as some of the stories in here, I wouldn't have thought twice about giving it five stars. But short story collections demand that you read, engage, disengage and go on to the next, so it's only fair to give each story more or less ...more

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08/28/07

Ouly rated it:

Read in August, 2007

gue masih baca buku ini sih sebenernya. belom abis-abis. ampir setaun padahal.
tapiii... buku ini sangat detail. sangat. bahkan ada di suatu bab dimana dia nerangin lalet yang di nemplok di buku yang di jual di empire.. dengan cara yang mungkin lo pikir 'penting banget ya?' tapi bukannya malah jadi ga penting malah jadi keren. dan Ali Smith menulis dengan cara yang unik. gue awalnya ga ngerti tapi lama-lama juga 'parah!kreatif banget!'

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01/18/08

Dana rated it:

Read in January, 2008

I liked most of the short stories in this book. I didn't like them as much as I liked "Like", which was the first of her books I read, but I liked it more than Hotel World, which I think received more acclaim. The stories that speak to me the most are the ones that are about relationships between people, where the narrator changes midway through and we suddenly see things from someone else's perspective.

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11/10/07

Liza rated it:

Read in January, 2002

Breezy, charming, whimsical, like late brunch in Portland. I bought it at an airport bookstore and lend it out sometimes to people who just want a book that is nice, like guests who have forgotten to bring one but want to sit out in the grass on a sunny afternoon and read.

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03/19/08

Lesley rated it:

Read in April, 2008

recommended by jeanette winterson. i had to check it out.
these stories are magical so far. i am getting so sucked in.
my favorite so far is a story about a woman who falls in love with a tree.

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06/07/07

Angelina rated it:

I am crazy about Ali Smith's stories. Her prose is quiet, but never restrained. What is it about UK writers? Damn it they just make my day and I'm hardly an anglophile.

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06/14/07

gauri rated it:

Read in June, 2007

I read the first three stories and found them to be patchy and ordinary, and too self-conscious. So I abandoned it. I will read 'Hotel World', though.

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