How to be Both

Fiction & Poetry, Modern & Contemporary Fiction

Ali Smith (author)

Paperback Published on: 16/04/2015

£9.99

6 reviews

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Synopsis

WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2015
WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITHS PRIZE 2014
WINNER OF THE 2014 COSTA NOVEL AWARD

'I take my hat off to Ali Smith. Her writing lifts the soul' Evening Standard

How to be both is a novel all about art's versatility. Borrowing from painting's fresco technique to make an original literary double-take, it's a fast-moving genre-bending conversation between forms, times, truths and fictions. There's a renaissance artist of the 1460s. There's the child of a child of the 1960s.

Two tales of love and injustice twist into a singular yarn where time gets timeless, structural gets playful, knowing gets mysterious, fictional gets real - and all life's givens get given a second chance.

*****

'Brims with palpable joy' Daily Telegraph

'She's a genius, genuinely modern in the heroic, glorious sense' Alain de Botton

'A delight. A masterpiece. Magical' Sunday Times

WINNER OF THE SALTIRE SOCIETY LITERARY BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2014
SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2014

Ali Smith's new novel, Companion piece, is available now.

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
ISBN: 9780141025209
Number of pages: 384
Weight: 260g
Dimensions: 196 x 126 x 30 mm

Customer Reviews

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A bit mixed but very good overall

Books which are written in an unconventional, experimental way are usually either brilliant or a load of unreadable nonsense. Frankly, I thought this had b... READ MORE

Sid Nuncius

Stunning, wise - one of Ali Smith's best

Ali Smith is one of the most lauded and garlanded British authors working today, and this novel shows her at the height of her powers. Divided in half, and... READ MORE

Jess, Bookseller Brighton

A tale of two halves.

The first half of this book was pure joy to read, the second half was more challenging and I enjoyed it less, though as it went on I started to enjoy it mo... READ MORE

Kate S

For "advanced" readers!

This book has been nominated for countless awards and even won a couple so I decided I wanted to do a little research on it before embarking on the reading... READ MORE

Analogue Holly

An amazing book in an unusual format

Two stories, two points of view, two ways of looking at life in different times. This is a 2014 novel that has much to say about so many subjects, and famo... READ MORE

Sarah

How to be Both

Synopsis

Customer Reviews

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