What unites Katherine Mansfield, Charlie Chaplin, Shakespeare, Rilke, Beethoven, Brexit, the present, the past, the north, the south, the east, the west, a man mourning lost times, a woman trapped in modern times?
Spring. The great connective.
With an eye to the migrancy of story over time, and riffing on Pericles, one of Shakespeare's most resistant and rollicking works, Ali Smith tells the impossible tale of an impossible time. In a time of walls and lockdown Smith opens the door.
The time we're living in is changing nature. Will it change the nature of story?
Hope springs eternal.
Smith is an iconic storyteller. Her mastery of language and imagery continues in the third of her Seasonal Quartet. A long reaching tale with evocative characters and realistic relationships.
A deeply important work of fiction for the heated and troubled times we live in, and yet Smith imbues this story with hope for the future.
Ground Breaking. If ever a book deserved the title of masterpiece Spring is just such a book.
Reviewed by Kelsey Ward. 05 Apr, 2019
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