Spring

By: Ali Smith

Narrated by: Juliette Burton

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.

My Least Favorite of the Quartet

Spring is the third novel in Ali Smith’s Seasonal Quartet. Like in the previous two books, the plot focuses on the coming together of an assortment of characters (four in this novel) with flashbacks adding background and context to their motivations.

This novel is (again) set in present-day post-Brexit Great Britain – with the rendezvous spot being the small town of Kingussie in the Scottish Highlands. The primary theme is racism as related to treatment of immigrants in Great Britain, particularly those held in detention centers or rounded up by the government suspected of being illegals and facing deportation and separation from family and occupations. This really hit home for me in light of the recent ICE actions in Minnesota. Minneapolis was in the spotlight but it was a state-wide enforcement really, and several businesses in my smaller town closed for extended periods. The well-known long-time local business owner of a restaurant I patronize was rounded up and shipped to Texas for a while. He returned and the business re-opened but it was unclear why he was even sent so far away in the first place other than his ethnicity made him a target.

The main characters in Spring are: Richard, a has-been TV director who is suicidal after the death by old age of his long time partner and lover, Paddy; Brittany, an immigration detention center officer; Florence, a detainee twelve-year old girl who appears to be wiser than her years and has strange persuasive powers; and a coffee van operator in Kingussie. Richard arrives by train in Kingussie as he wanted to get as far away from his life as possible so he skipped work and jumped on a northbound train from London. Brittany was following Florence from the detention center and Florence got on a north-bound train from London in search of the location shown on a post card she had, the location happened to be a golf course in the Highlands. On the way north they became friends and we learn of Florence’s difficult background. Florence refers to Brittany as “the machine”. Ha, ha! The three travelers from London eventually converge in Kingussie and encounter the coffee van operator who agrees to provide transportation to Florence's desired destination.

The novel contains a lot of witty and clever conversation, and poignant scenes. It is full of social commentary on a number of different topics besides the treatment of immigrants: environmental crisis, social media, big tech taking over, anti-Trump / anti-far right rants (similar to those in the prior two novels). But its concentration is really about the plight of the immigrants – why the left and the poor conditions they languish in upon arrival, sometimes for years, until they get sent back. And how they are dehumanized by those in charge and some citizenry in the meantime. Ultimately, the novel is about three memorable people each grappling with their own personal issues coming together, learning about themselves and ultimately moving on.

I liked Spring less than the previous two novels in the quartet as I felt it was a little too heavy on the politics. It just seemed to seep in to every conversation and I thought it was just too much at times. It felt like I was reading about some of the same issues discussed in the prior two novels over and over again. Once again I loved the non-linear storytelling and I though Ali Smith again nailed the ending like she did in Autumn and Winter. Upon finishing her novels it is fun to reflect on how elements of each novel reflect its seasonal title.

I’m looking forward to listening to Summer when my next Audible credit kicks in. It will be interesting to see how she incorporates the elements from the previous three books in to the sunny and warm season.