All the while, Elizabeth is coming to terms with society after the key vote that decided the United Kingdom would leave the EU. During their formative years Daniel made sure Elizabeth was aware that it was important to always be reading something. Elizabeth, now a 32-year art history lecturer, visits Daniel, aged 101, and reads to him. In the novel’s present, Elizabeth has made contact with Daniel again but, unfortunately, he spends his days in a coma at a hospice. It’s an odd but intellectually bound relationship that has not been weakened despite the pair being apart for years. Years later, Elizabeth describes it as love but without ever crossing any boundaries.
Several flashbacks reveal the games they played and the conversations they had. Daniel sees a certain brilliance in Elizabeth that he attempts to bring out in her. They meet thanks to a school project and continue to spend time together against her mother’s wishes. When they first met Gluck was an old man and Elizabeth his young neighbour.
Slipping between time frames it tells the story of the strange friendship between Elizabeth Demand and Daniel Gluck. Autumn is, at its heart, a story about time and how human beings experience the passing of time. I mean, how can anyone make such a bold and obstinate statement? I had to check it out for myself.Īutumn is the first in her Seasonal series of novels and, having been written and published so quickly, is being hailed as the first post-Brexit novel. It was only when this person made the bold statement that Autumn was the only book that deserved to win that I couldn’t ignore it. It’s not conventional literature and a lot of people prefer the safety of a traditional narrative. I get that Lincoln was a divisive book and understand why some people may not have enjoyed it. That, in itself, wasn’t enough to incense me despite the fact that I thought George Saunders was absolutely deserving of the prize. An account I follow on Instagram didn’t exactly react well to the news that Lincoln in the Bardo had won the Man Booker Prize last year. Therefore, it shouldn’t come as much of a shock that the only reason I finally decided to read Autumn by Ali Smith was due to my need to prove someone wrong. What can I say? He was wrong and I wasn’t about to let him get away with it.
It’s a source of much mirth for my family that I watched the film Dunkirk simply to prove my sister’s boyfriend wrong about it.
As we already know from this blog, I’m a hugely petty person.
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