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The Accidental – Ali Smith

The book started off quite promisingly, with the meandering thoughts of a 12 year old girl. The writing style was very unusual, but I found it amusing, and although some of the thoughts were a bit too profound for a 12 year old, overall I found it quite convincing. The book continued quite well, with the guilty thoughts of her older brother, but then it went downhill with the introduction of Amber, a stranger introduced into the household. I found her character extremely annoying, and ultimately pointless.

I was then confronted with several chapters of poetry. It wasjust weird, unnecessary, and felt as though the author was just trying to be too clever.

It didn’t improve. The plot disappeared, the characters became more annoying, and the stream of conscious thought became monotonous and dull.

Not for me.

4 replies on “The Accidental – Ali Smith”

Oh!
I am so happy I gave up the book when Amber was introduced. I also enjoyed the first part very much and when I was completely unable to read on I thought I was the problem, but perhaps it is the book after all?

Madeleine – It’s great to know that you enjoyed it. I’m still interested to read her other books, as the first half of this book was quite promising. Which of her books did you like best?

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