Companion Piece
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- Create Date：2022-03-10 07:51:48
- Update Date：2025-09-06
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- Author：Ali Smith
- ISBN：0241541344
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Summary
A celebration of companionship in all its timeless and contemporary， legendary and unpindownable， spellbinding and shapeshifting forms。。。
It follows the unique achievement of her Seasonal cycle of novels - Autumn， Winter， Spring and Summer - written and published in as close as possible to real time， between 2016 and 2020， absorbing and refracting the times we are living through: the 'state-of-the-nation novels which understand that the nation is you， is me， is all of us' （New Statesman）。
'Ali Smith is lighting us a path out of the nightmarish now' Observer
It follows the unique achievement of her Seasonal cycle of novels - Autumn， Winter， Spring and Summer - written and published in as close as possible to real time， between 2016 and 2020， absorbing and refracting the times we are living through: the 'state-of-the-nation novels which understand that the nation is you， is me， is all of us' （New Statesman）。
'Ali Smith is lighting us a path out of the nightmarish now' Observer
Reviews
Neil
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This is Ali Smith’s follow-up to her brilliant Seasonal Quartet， a set of books I got to know quite well in the period 2016-2020 because each time a new volume came out I re-read all the preceding ones （yes， that means I read Autumn four times）。 Those four books are， I think， best viewed as a single work， as what the book blurb here quotes the New Statesman saying “state-of-the-nation novels which understand that the nation is you， is me， is all of us”。 In my review of Summer， the conclusion of This is Ali Smith’s follow-up to her brilliant Seasonal Quartet， a set of books I got to know quite well in the period 2016-2020 because each time a new volume came out I re-read all the preceding ones （yes， that means I read Autumn four times）。 Those four books are， I think， best viewed as a single work， as what the book blurb here quotes the New Statesman saying “state-of-the-nation novels which understand that the nation is you， is me， is all of us”。 In my review of Summer， the conclusion of the quartet， I noted that even though Smith didn’t write the books to be from a Christian perspective， that’s how they read to me with the first three volumes （picking up on the New Statesman’s “you， me and all of us”） considering attitudes towards your neighbour， yourself and other countries。 And this book， as its title suggests， picks up on those kinds of themes and runs a bit further with them。A key element of all five of these books has been their contemporaneousness （I had to check that was a real word and once I knew it was I had to use it！）: each novel has been published very quickly after being written and has reflected very current trends。 We’ve had Brexit， climate change， immigration detention centres and now COVID。 Reading the books can turn out to be a multi-layered experience。 If you read them on publication， you get one experience when all the events are recent and fresh。 Then you read them again and you get a different experience。 The fourth time I read Autumn， a lot had happened in-between！The hardest part of writing this review was deciding where to start。 There’s a point in this book when the main character， Sandy Gray， is talking about an e。e。 cummings poem and she says Anyone could choose a single phrase of this poem and write fifteen different papers about it。 I felt that kind of confusion as I thought about what to write here！But， at the end of the novel， there’s one phrase that particularly echoes around in my thoughts: ”Not out of the woods yet。” It’s a phrase used to describe Sandy’s father who spends the novel in hospital （and we all know that wasn’t a fun place to be during COVID， especially for the NHS staff who get a specific thank you from Smith in the acknowledgements at the end of the book）。 It’s a phrase that bookends the novel （as do three hellos）。 But it is also a phrase echoed by the Hockney image used on the cover of the book which shows a woodland scene。 This is the overriding impression I come away from the book with: we （you， me， all of us） are not out of the woods yet。And we （you， me， all of us） have choices to make。 When you open the book the first thing you see is an almost blank page with just two words on it: “You choose”。 This phrase feeds quickly into the narrative when Sandy receives a call from someone she knew at college， but has not seen for years， who tells her about a weird experience she had where she heard a voice saying “Curlew or curfew。 You choose。” It is from this phrase that， appropriately， the story takes flight and spreads its wings to include a real curlew， blacksmiths （especially female ones） and lock making， the Cottingley Fairies， Paul McCartney’s Wings， and politics （there has to be politics）。 And so much more （which is why I didn’t really know how to start）。 I haven’t， for example， mentioned the apparently time-travelling vagrant who appears in Sandy’s house and whose story then suddenly appears in the novel。I think this is a book that will reveal more of its layers as more of my friends read it （I hope they will read it） and we get to discuss it。 It feels like a multi-layered novel which is appropriate because Sandy is an artist who takes poems and creates artwork from them by layering the words of the poems on top of one another。 I really enjoyed the experience of reading it， but I feel I will enjoy it even more when I talk to other people about it。 We （you， me， all of us） could have a lot of interesting conversations。Here is a curlew:My thanks to the publisher for an ARC via NetGalley。 。。。more
Stephen Dilley
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I was pleased to see that Ali Smith had written this 'Companion Piece' as it felt like her seasonal quartet had unfinished business; the Covid-19 pandemic was just beginning to read its head in Smith's concluding instalment， 'Summer'， an event far more cataclysmic than the Brexit vote which was the starting point for the first volume， 'Autumn'。 So it's good to see having the chance to tackle the pandemic and its implications in greater depth here。。 This is another enjoyably strange and surreal r I was pleased to see that Ali Smith had written this 'Companion Piece' as it felt like her seasonal quartet had unfinished business; the Covid-19 pandemic was just beginning to read its head in Smith's concluding instalment， 'Summer'， an event far more cataclysmic than the Brexit vote which was the starting point for the first volume， 'Autumn'。 So it's good to see having the chance to tackle the pandemic and its implications in greater depth here。。 This is another enjoyably strange and surreal read mostly written from the perspective of Sandy Gray， an artist who paints the words of poems on top of each other， and whose father is in hospital at the height of the pandemic。 At the beginning of the novel， she received a phone call from Martina Inglis， a woman she knew a little （and liked less） at university thirty years before， who tells her a bizarre story of being detained with a rare historical artefact in an airport for several hours; Sandy will later have to fend off unsolicited visits from other members of Martina's family。 She also looks back on her childhood and university years， reflects on her mother who left her when she was a child， and tells a puzzling story about discovering an intruder in her house。 There are other elements to the book too， including a long section set in the distant past about a female blacksmith's apprentice。 The links between these different strands are often dizzying and obscure， but there is a kind of mad energy to Smith's writing which propels one through the story， and various hidden connections surface as the book progresses （no doubt more would emerge on a second reading。）Alongside this approximation of a plot， Smith offers many reflections on the world and country we currently live in。 As with her previous books， this is about much more than just the pandemic， and we are treated to another fully-fleshed state-of-the-nation novel that manages to condense so much of what we have lived through over the last couple of years into a quietly simmering rage - alongside lockdowns and PPE shortages， Smith weaves in references to the recent scandals in the Met police， the refugee crisis， cancel culture and much more。 In many ways， I found this the most impressive part of the novel， especially as it is so current。 There have now been quite a lot of pandemic novels， but not all have found anything particularly worthwhile to say: the last couple of years have made social commentators of us all， and some novels have seemed mainly to repeat the observations and truisms we've all made about how life has changed。 In 'Companion Piece'， however， the immediacy of Smith's writing compared with her broader focus lends depth and real insight to her commentary。 I imagine Smith's writing might not be to everyone's taste， but if you enjoyed the Seasonal Quartet， then you will probably like this extra volume。 Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC to review。 。。。more
Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer
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Ali Smith has built her already strong pre 2016 reputation （Encore Prize， 2 x Whitbread/Costa Novel Prize， Women’s Prize， Goldsmith’s Prize） with her fantastic seasonal quartet， published between 2017 and 2020 and which lead the New Statesman to proclaim “Ali Smith is the National Novelist We Need”。Those books can I think be described in a number of ways: As a form of literary and artistic palimpsest （the latter an idea Smith has played with in many of her previous books） as Smith makes a novel Ali Smith has built her already strong pre 2016 reputation （Encore Prize， 2 x Whitbread/Costa Novel Prize， Women’s Prize， Goldsmith’s Prize） with her fantastic seasonal quartet， published between 2017 and 2020 and which lead the New Statesman to proclaim “Ali Smith is the National Novelist We Need”。Those books can I think be described in a number of ways: As a form of literary and artistic palimpsest （the latter an idea Smith has played with in many of her previous books） as Smith makes a novel by building up the work of conceptual artists （Pauline Boty， Barbara Hepworth， Tacita Dean， Lorenza Mazetti respectively in each season） as well as by building up layers of themes and ideas。 As an engagement with topical （the books reflect national trends as they were written and were published almost as soon as written – Smith has talked about restoring the true meaning of novel） using wordplay to engage with topics such as Brexit， climate change and immigration; This book is her follow up to that quartet。It， like that quartet， has a very similar David Hockney cover of a path through woods （an idea I think is important – see below） It has a similar emphasis on topical events: Summer was almost finished as COVID hit （I read a final version in June 2020） and Summer rather serendipitously had a quarantine theme， but otherwise had little on COVID， here it （as well as the NHS） are central to the novel， with anti-immigration themes as key here as throughout the quartetAnd while not having many of the overlapping characters or other recurring motives （Charles Dickens， Eduardo Boubat’s “petite fille aux feuilles mortes jardin du Luxembourg Paris 1946”， S4A， Charlie Chaplin， TV links – albeit with reference to the last two the book does open with some “music-hall comedy language”） It has some familiar Ali Smith devices: The split time but also convergent storylines of “How to be Both” – with the “You Choose” heading of the novel and the Curlew/Curfew sections: one largely present day， one largely past seeming to follow that book’s idea of a novel which one could literally read in two different orders （note that the idea of repeating a book front to back or back to front is a key to the novel’s protagonist’s work）; One of her favourite devices （which seems to feature in many of her novels） a fey young girl with time/physic defying powers; Heavy reference to other artists: here explicitly the poetry of ee cummings （see below）， Dylan Thomas’s “In the White Giant’s Thigh， Robert Burns writing on “are we a piece of machinery ……。。 or [if there] something within us above the trodden clod” （note both these latter pieces refer to curlew’s – a vital theme of the novel）; and more implicitly – by not much more than a book picked up - the work of Alan Garner （this 2015 article – unfortunately behind a partial paywall – appears to say a lot about the novel’s conception https://www。newstatesman。com/culture/。。。）Characters names as word play （Shifting Sand here for the main modern day character of the novel: Sandy Gray）But perhaps most of all this novel felt to me more autobiographical （or perhaps more personal） than the quartet。 Sandy Gray as a child is a fan of the same Alan Garner novel as Ali Smith was at the same age;In what seems to me a reversal of Smith’s work on the quartet – Sandy is a conceptual artist whose work consist of taking a novel and painting each word of the novel in turn （sometimes front to back， sometimes back to front） onto a canvas， using the layers she creates to get to the underlying themes of the novel。 And perhaps most crucially at the start of the novel- Sandy， who is we learn over time， was from a young age both a master herself with word play and politically active is at the novel’s start worn down （by the corruption of the government， by the mass of COVID deaths it has overseen， and by the hospitalisation with heart disease of her father who bought her up largely as a single parent） which leads her to say （in words we can imagine Ali Smith herself expressing post her quartet） as everything she despaired of in the quartet and against which she wrote with the hope and optimism which is a key distinguisher of her work from the merely polemical， only seemed to get worse: Everything was mulch of a mulchness to me right then。 I even despised myself for that bit of wordplay， though this was uncharacteristic， since all my life I’d loved language， it was my main character， me its eternal loyal sidekick。 But right then even words and everything they could and couldn’t do could f--- off and that was that。 But while Sandy retains her anger and polemic – she is also inspired: Firstly by a bizarre story （how on earth [had she] known to make up the kind of story that really did intrigue even a deflated version of me） told to her by a lady Martina - who as a girl she previously spoke to once at college many years before - about a mysterious voice she heard while in detention at a both bureaucratic and racist immigration control （all familiar Smith themes） – a story which via a late medieval/early renaissance piece of English metalwork the Boothby lock （real to the book but I think fictional） ends with a disembodied voice and a consonant change challenge – “Curlew or Curfew， You choose” which gives the book its very structureSecondly by a visitation from a young girl who seems to be a branded vagrant from another ear and whose story we （probably） then later followAnd Smith， that master of wordplay in the cause of social activism and engagement， while also retaining her anger， is equally inspired - perhaps herself by the a story and a character that visited her - not to give up but instead to return to her ideas， in a story which takes in: The companionship of a girl and an actual curlew; That of a old man and his an ageing labrador （let us be honest a Golden Retreiver would have been better but Smith can be forgiven this lapse – perhaps like Sandy she is not that good with dogs）; The rather bizarrely entitled （albeit only there following in their mother's footsteps） and verbalised-TLA-spouting grown up twin children of Martina （who collectively end up as a family of uninvited house guests like in Smith’s “The Accidental”）; Colonialism and sectarianism in early 20th Century Ireland; Blacksmithery （particularly female blacksmithery） and mythical stories of Vulcan; Social activism in the late medieval period;“The Scarlet Letter” （and medieval branding）; ee cummings "to start， to hesitate; to stop" - a poem which is subject in the book to what is effectively a mini literary seminar by Sandy as a student to Martina - and a poem which as well as having thematic links to the novel in its text also features a series of individual letters entering the poem （with the links to branding） and them appearing in the poem in reverse order of what they signify （remember again the front to back， back to front theme）The songs of Paul Mc Cartney's "Wings" （appropriate for a curlew heavy book）The Cottingley Fairies （what is one to make of a story about how society was fooled by fake fairies in an author so prone to her fey young female protagonists） and so much more besideFinally and （remembering the Hockney paintings） Sandy’s standard response when asked about her father – a response whose importance I think is reflected in it appearing on both the third page of the novel and then again three pages from the end （and symmetry and reversal of book order is another key theme） is “not out of the woods yet”Is this perhaps what Smith is also signalling both in this continuation and companion piece to her own quartet and in her choice of a Hockney wood-path cover that we too as a country are not out of the woods and that neither is her writing。 Much as I mourn the first I can only celebrate the second。My thanks to Hamish Hamilton， Penguin Random House for an ARC via NetGalley 。。。more
Louise
，
Review to follow
Alwynne
，
Companion Piece’s definitely the most inventive of the pandemic novels I’ve read so far， and the most explicitly， blisteringly angry， something I can easily identify with。 As in her recent series of novels， Ali Smith’s latest’s composed of multiple overlapping and interwoven threads。 The most prominent character’s Sandy Gray， a queer artist whose paintings build on a lifelong obsession with words and wordplay。 Sandy’s anxious about her father who’s in hospital after a heart attack， barred from r Companion Piece’s definitely the most inventive of the pandemic novels I’ve read so far， and the most explicitly， blisteringly angry， something I can easily identify with。 As in her recent series of novels， Ali Smith’s latest’s composed of multiple overlapping and interwoven threads。 The most prominent character’s Sandy Gray， a queer artist whose paintings build on a lifelong obsession with words and wordplay。 Sandy’s anxious about her father who’s in hospital after a heart attack， barred from receiving visitors because of Covid risks。 Sandy alone， except for her father’s aging Labrador， rails against the government， fake news， and a constant stream of needless deaths。 Then， out of the blue she receives an unsettling call from an old college acquaintance and she’s drawn into a sinister mystery involving a priceless medieval lock; bizarrely demanding， near-Shakespearian twins; hallucinatory dreams; and what may， or may not， be a visitation from another time。 Smith’s highly referential narrative’s laced with soundbites， snippets from news headlines， literature and lines of poetry alongside strands of ancient legends。 Smith abruptly shifts between registers， at one point drawing on British seaside humour， at another the kind of surreal， absurdist work I associate with British experimentalists like B。 S。 Johnson and N。 F。 Simpson。 These in turn are juxtaposed with a medieval tale invoking the time immediately following the Black Death and the first stirrings of what， I assume， will be the Peasant’s Revolt。 The addition of a mythical curlew， a source of fascination for poets and writers for centuries， allows for a meditation on death and renewal， as well as acting as a reminder of contemporary ecological disaster， as real-life curlews draw ever closer to extinction。 Perhaps key to Smith’s approach here’s the work of British fantasist Alan Garner， someone Smith’s written about in the past， a scene from Sandy’s childhood mirrors the moment when a seven-year-old Smith first discovered the lure of his enigmatic fiction and his radical ideas about language。 The workings of the plot’s reminiscent of what Smith’s called his ”boundary moments， crossing places between the “real” and the “imagined” worlds， times and stories， the places where the very ordinary and the very unordinary coexist， leach into each other: the strangeness in the known， the familiar in the strange。” Even the form and expression of anger here echoes Smith’s feelings about Garner and his ability to communicate a palpable sense of unease and political fury。 Although Smith’s book doesn’t have Garner’s sophistication and is， I think， unlikely to have his lasting appeal， it’s still a striking， timely piece。 The execution can be quite heavy-handed and Smith’s sudden tonal shifts awkward and jarring but even so I found this sufficiently topical and thought-provoking to capture and hold my attention。 I don’t think it’s one of Smith’s strongest novels but it’s still very much worth reading。 Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Hamish Hamilton， Penguin， for an ARCRating: 3。5 。。。more
hayden
，
WHAT？？？？？ New Ali Smith？？？？？？？？How did I miss this？？？？？？？？
Reference
google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=Companion Piece
hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=Companion Piece&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft
The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Companion Piece&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0