Cussedness
The natural cussedness of things in general.
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Like by Ali Smith
Opening an Ali Smith novel is risky when you have an important meeting at half-nine the next day; if you’re anything like me you may well end up awake until four in the morning because once you’ve started the thing you can’t actually get to sleep without finishing it. A story of questions and mysteries, Like is Smith’s first novel, and whilst it may not be as ambitious or expansively inquisitive as Hotel World or The Accidental, it is as well realised in its own way as either of those later works, and is just as hard to put down.
The attention to language is as acute as ever; you can hear the accents and vocal tics of the characters as clearly as if they were addressing you directly or carrying their conversations on in the same room. The prose is accomplished, and whilst it doesn’t consistently reach the heights Smith has attained more recently, the writing is still beautiful and engaging. Her characters are human and sympathetic, and have a complexity that is key to the entire book; implications and suggestions derived from their actions, speech and thoughts tell us more about the big questions asked by this novel than any direct statement could. Smith’s ability to tell a story entirely through her characters is one of her greatest strengths as an author, and Like demonstrates that she has been able to do this right from the start.