modernist nightmare for the reader - Rated 
This book, set in the early years of the 21st century, is based on the plot of a mysterious stranger disturbing the already fragmented equilibrium of a family. Although evocatively written, it is fundamentally pointless. Neither interesting nor enjoyable, and I struggled to finish reading it, the apparent attraction seems to be the apparent conflict between reality and imagination, the collisions of personal realities and other modernist ghosts which I thought had disappeared in the '70s.
Oh, and returning to the early 21st century: why do Britain's current literary leading lights insist on banging on about the second Iraqi war, even when they have little of interest to say about it? Similarly, why do they ignore the stewing of the planet in industrially produced juices? Maybe it's all too real.
A very rewarding book - more truth with fewer facts - Rated 
You do not have to be clever or well read to enjoy this book! But perhaps you do have to be perceptive. What a fantastic book. I found it got inside me and stayed in parts of my mind without my permission. A beautifully written work that has more resonance than the story would appear to offer. Ali Smith effortlessly conveys her characterisation through the eyes of her subjects and their thoughts and observations. Not a book for people who like stories to be made up of events or facts which are revealed sequentially. "The Accidental" is more complex and more perplexing. It comes at you like life. It is bewildering at first and more true than other books I have read. I found reading the book exciting and liberating - as if I had shared the experiences.
Elysiam mystery for atheists - Rated
On the side of language, Ali Smith achieves here what David Mitchell having written Cloud Atlas can still only dream of: four very distinctive voices without self-consciousness or any pretension. An amazing achievement, not only in terms of linguistics or character, but also in terms of the author's voice. As distinctive as Zoe Heller's Notes On A Scandal and as varied as Tom Perrotta's Little Children, creating such faceted points of view, the author becomes the almost invisible observer of the observer, and the novel a movie.
However, Ali Smith takes what I would call 'post apocalyptic vérité writing' to another level and I ask myself: Can anyone be that clever?
The seemingly naturalistic voices, all in third person, but by being written in present continuous and peppered with very specific phraseology for each of the characters have the feel of a first person immediacy. They are also bound into the classic Greek tragic form: prologue, 3 acts, Epilogue. Hubris appears in the form of Amber and coincidence is elevated to the level of fate. As the 'author god' tells us in the prologue: from father and mother a mystery that does not exist. A movie, as the 'god' confirms in the epilogue: nothing but light flickering on a reflective surface. Astrid, the girl with the UTube vision realises this as she substitutes the buzzword 'substandard' with 'preternaturally': here is something more than just digitally capturing the world, some undefined addition, faith for the faithless, an Elysian Mystery for Atheists.
And in the middle? What is the tragedy? As the man, Nietzsche!, said: tragedy is the sensual acceptance of the terrors of reality and being able to enjoy those terrors by developing a love of fate, or in this case coincidence, the accidental. Therefore, this form of tragedy, whether based on the elevation of fate OR coincidence is the negation of the Socratic, of the belief that reason is capable of unlocking the mysteries of the universe.
The accidental has meaning.
My question in this: is Ali Smith's The Accidental really so clever as to want to say all this or does it stand un(self)consciously with many similar modern novels on God's funeral pyre in the post apocalyptic emptiness of the universe, trying to pan the merest splinter of mystery from the cold river of matter flowing by?
Devilish or Divine?
Fabulous!
A whole lot of nothing - Rated
I bought this book purely because the cover listed a bunch of awards that it had either won or had been nominated for. Unfortunately it started badly and just didn't get any better. Full of unlikebale characters which were difficult to identify with and a story which is, on the whole, a bit on the boring side. Maybe I'm too stupid to see the genuis behind the narrative/plot/structure or whatever but to be honest I don't care, I thought it was pointless and I didn't enjoy it.
Worthless from start to finish! - Rated 
To be blunt,this is the worst book I have read in my life. It is prentenious, written to win awards rather than satisfy readers. I'm at a loss as to how anyone can enjoy it, since not only do you learn nothing about the characters, but there is no character development. I suppose the writing is tolerably pretty, but there are so many beautifully written novels out there (anything by D. H. Lawrence for example) that actually stir the soul rather than leaving it cold.
If you are thinking about reading this, I beg you not to. It's only by boycotting worthless self-indulgent rubbish like this that we can hope to force the publishing industry to do better.
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