Autumn: A novel (Seasonal Quartet) by Ali Smith

I admit it: I spent two years for reading this ebook by Ali Smith
Autumn: A novel (Seasonal Quartet).  My dad died more or less the period I was approved for reading this book and it was in Autumn. I didn't want to think at Autumn too much. Fallen leaves, the end of an existence.
But, apart it, Ali Smith's writing-style, her prose, at first didn't match with me.

Then I discovered a physical proof of: How to be Both. I opened it, I read some pages.Time passed by. You must find a connection with a writer. I found it.

Autumn is the story of Daniel Gluck 101 years old at first dead, later pretty sick and assisted, then vigorous intellectual old man.

In the numerous flashbacks we will discover the friendship, meetings and intellectual talks between  Elizabeth and this old man of 85 years old, with which she grew up intellectually with since she was 13 years old.
He will be a constant in her life and this friendship will also mean to her assistance when Dan will fall sick. 
Elizabeth starting to be friend with him when a teen-ager instilled in the mind of her mom some doubts regarding this weird friendship, but Elizabeth replied that everything is relative.
Elizabeth and mr.Gluck one day during a walk imagine...
Will you go to college asks him.
The girl replies yes because my mother went to college so this one will be the second generation. Why not?
He mentions a lot of topics...What would you want to study? Math, literature, physics, art...?
A college. A collage. And so let's try to imagine a collage.  Later that night Elizabeth thought that "She was chosen by the moment."
Her mother is skeptical. Too old for being a friend that man.

This book was written after the Brexit and here some considerations of the writer who portrays vividly what happened in UK: " All across the country, people felt it was the wrong thing. All across the country, people felt it was the right thing. All across the country people, people felt they'd really lost....All across the country, people threatened other people. All across the country, people told people to leave. All across the country, the media was insane....All across the country, promises vanished. All across the country, social media did the job...All across the country, money money money money. All across the country, no money no money no money no money."

Daniel is a man plenty of culture and introduces Elizabeth in the still unknown world of books, music, talents of various genres. He is captivating and their talks are never banal.

One day Daniel will tell Elizabeth: "It is possible to be in love not with someone but with their eyes. I mean, with how eyes that aren't yours let you see where you are, who you are."

The hope in this life? According to Daniel: "That the people who love us and who know us a little bit will in the end have seen us truly."

In a conversation with the mother of Liz Daniel will confirms time travel is real. "We do it all the time. Moment to moment, minute to minute." But he will add something else, a constant about human nature: "Not to see what's happening right in front of our eyes."


Stunning. Beautiful. Sad, plenty of poetry.
You'll love it!

Highly recommended.

I thank NetGalley for this ebook!

Anna Maria Polidori