Once you start it, you won't be able to switch it off!
How does it compare to similar audio books?
Excellent
How does it compare to audio works by the same author?
Excellent
Advantages:
Compelling, clever, wonderful, just brilliant
Disadvantages:
None
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
The Accidental - Ali Smith
I don't know why but whenever I saw the cover of this book I wanted to pick it up and buy it, but then I would resist. During a 3 for 2 splurge in Waterstone's I finally picked it up and purchased it.
In all honesty I had never heard of Ali Smith before (I then read in the Observer she is in the top100 most influential gay people in the UK - that didn't sell me the book it just happened to be an interesting fact) but I now know that she is an accomplished and praised Scottish author, mainly of short stories, but this is her third novel, she was with Virago now Penguin. 'The Accidental' has been short listed for both the Man Booker Prize 2005 and Orange Prize for fiction 2006, and won the Whitbread Novel of the Year 2005.
…And from what I read deservedly so. This book is currently my favourite book of the year without a doubt. I cannot praise the prose the author or just the wondrousness of it full stop.
It's the story of a dysfunctional family holidaying in Norfolk in the summer. Eve Smart is an author and the victim of her own success, Michael the stepfather is a lecherous lecturer who is having it off with most of his female students, Magnus is a late teen virgin who is suicidal after thinking he's caused the suicide of a girl at school (has he or hasn't he you decide) and Astrid is a typical turbulent twelve year old who doesn't think anyone seems to love her and gives of the attitude to show it.
One day out of the blue a formidable nemesis arrives at the door in the form of Amber (a blonde messy mid thirties woman) who lies and cheats her way in to change the family dynamic forever. The prose is fabulous I honestly haven't been swept away by words like these in years (well since The Time Travellers Wife). The scene is set wonderfully, all the characters are likeable despite there faults and nasty sides… even Amber.
What also makes the book so good it's the fact you race through it. It's written in three stages The Beginning, The Middle, The End (something she has done in a short story and has worked before) and each one has five chapters written from each person's perspective. You would think this makes the book repetitive not at all as each characters narrative moves the story on a lot whilst referring to a key storyline from another characters account.
Amber is undoubtedly a brilliant villain of the peace. She is a subtle yet clever, vindictive and sometimes malicious "the girl who, at the end of the (actually rather pleasant) evening, for no reason at all, had taken Eve by the shoulders and shaken her hard" character that helps make the book such a joy to read. You MUST read this book, especially for the brilliant ending, very clever on two levels.
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