Spring

On the heels of Autumn and Winter comes Spring, the continuation of Ali Smith's celebrated Seasonal Quartet, a series of stand-alone novels, separate but interconnected (as the seasons are), wide-ranging in timescale and light-footed through histories.

©2019 Ali Smith (P)2019 W.F. Howes

Such fine, modern storytelling!

As part of a quartet of books telling on point, current stories of western culture, Spring carries it's quarter and then some. As a standalone book, it is a modern Joycean, stream-of-thought meander that never loses focus or interest. Smith lures you in with vague innuendo, and broad perspectives but delivers on plot and rich well-developed characters that are well integrated so as to seem each is the most important of the story. Hard truths and stark realities are told in beautiful, almost esoteric truths that you don't feel as bumped up against reality as the story leaves you. Reads like a thrilling who done it, when what is done is daily life.