Peter's review of The Accidental
The Accidental by Ali Smith
Ali Smith's novel, shortlisted for many awards and the winner of a sizeable percentage of them, tells the story of how a dysfunctional family's summer holiday in Norfolk is turned upside-down by the arrival of Amber, a mysterious stranger. Quirky and unconventional as she is, Amber slowly draws each family member out of his or her shell, and in doing so gives them a new appreciation of themselves and their relations with the world around them.
Amber herself is utterly enigmatic; so much so that even her first-person passages give almost nothing away, so the reader is left evaluating her through the impact she has on the lives of others. The Smart family (a play on words there?) are certainly different after her time with them, and arguably better for it, but the extent to which the reader is satisfied by this will depend on whether or not he or she found them interesting to begin with. Some of the characters seem a little one-dimensional to me, and thus the 'transformation' tha...more
Amber herself is utterly enigmatic; so much so that even her first-person passages give almost nothing away, so the reader is left evaluating her through the impact she has on the lives of others. The Smart family (a play on words there?) are certainly different after her time with them, and arguably better for it, but the extent to which the reader is satisfied by this will depend on whether or not he or she found them interesting to begin with. Some of the characters seem a little one-dimensional to me, and thus the 'transformation' tha...more
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