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The Accidental (Hardcover)

by Ali Smith (Author) "My mother began me one evening in 1968 on a table in the café of the town's only cinema ..." (more)
2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (80 customer reviews)
RRP: £14.99
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Hamish Hamilton Ltd (26 May 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0241141907
  • ISBN-13: 978-1845058241
  • Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14 x 3.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (80 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 122,904 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Product Description

Arresting and wonderful, "The Accidental" pans in on the Norfolk holiday home of the Smart family one hot summer. There, a beguiling stranger called Amber appears at the door bearing all sorts of unexpected gifts, trampling over family boundaries and sending each of the Smarts scurrying from the dark into the light. A novel about the ways that seemingly chance encounters irrevocably transform our understanding of ourselves, "The Accidental" explores the nature of truth, the role of fate, and the power of storytelling. This book will change you.


About the Author

Ali Smith was born in Inverness in 1962 and now lives in Cambridge. She is the author of Free Love, Like, Other Stories and Other Stories, Hotel World (which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Orange Prize for Fiction 2001) and The Whole Story and Other Stories.
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My mother began me one evening in 1968 on a table in the café of the town's only cinema. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

80 Reviews
5 star:
 (17)
4 star:
 (13)
3 star:
 (15)
2 star:
 (8)
1 star:
 (27)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
2.8 out of 5 stars (80 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Genius or just trying too hard?, 14 May 2006
This review is from: The Accidental (Paperback)
As the title of this review suggests, my feelings about this novel are complex and I don't think I can adequately answer the question I have posed myself. There are moments of pure genius within this text - pieces of narrative that literally sweep you up with their ingenuity. Smith certainly excels when utilising her own unique stream of consciousness style and this alone makes the book worth reading. I also found the structure satisfying, with the sense of full circle achieved at the end. What lets this text down is the occasional sense that it is just trying to be that little bit too clever, a little bit too self aware of its status as a story telling medium. Three stars may be a little harsh - three and a half more accurate. I would certainly recommend this to anyone who enjoys an author unafraid to play with the novel genre but prepare to feel a little disappointed. This feels like the work of an author on the way to greatness but not quite there yet.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars the accidental.... purchase of this book!!, 19 May 2009
By Ms. J. F. Duke (london) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Accidental (Paperback)
The Accidental Oh dear, I did try to get into this book, but found by page 40 I couldn't put the characters into context nor did I particularly care about them. Perhaps I am missing the deeper meaning or trying to take it too literally, but there was only self-absorbed monologue alternating with odd non-sequitur dialogue, and no explanation about who was who and why they all appeared to be barking mad. This didn't achieve the effect of arousing my curiosity, sadly, and I didn't finish it. It just didn't do it for me, sorry Ali!
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An Illuminating Book, 25 Feb 2007
This review is from: The Accidental (Paperback)
The difficulty with this book is that is hard to get into. There is no comforting authorial voice to guide you and no clear linear narrative structure. Instead we hear the 4 voices of the Smart family in turn describing their particular relationship with Amber and her tumulutous and life-affirming effect on them.

The connection to Pasolini's 1968 film 'Theorem' is important and is provided by Terence Stamp (see the first chapter). His character in 'Theorem' comes into a bourgeios family and destroys them. Here the effect in the opposite. Each member of the dysfunctional Smart family lives in isolation, Magnus is on the verge of suicide unknown to his mother, step-father and sister, who are each self-absorbed, alienated from each other and miserable, even if they are not aware of it. Both parents are living unsatisfactory, mistaken lives with no real sense of what is going on within and around them.

Amber's effect is like light, clarity, insight and understanding. Each character is freed from their damaging and damaged past and finds new ways of living.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Accidentally published
Dreadful type of stuff, written by adolescent author.

You can get away with all sorts of nonsense if you write in the first person, but this doesn't even come near... Read more
Published 5 days ago by Stephen J. Mason

3.0 out of 5 stars A Book About War
I finished this book believing that Amber had never existed; that maybe Eve was Amber or that Amber was for each member of the family a piece of their own imaginations. Read more
Published 1 month ago by SCT

1.0 out of 5 stars The Smart thing to do is not buy this book
I hate starting a book and not finishing it but I struggled to the end of this one and chucked it in the bin. Read more
Published 1 month ago by D. Murdoch

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't judge a book by its cover reviews
Clever. Too clever = pretentious. Smith = pretentious. Smith's pretentious book = rubbish.

Poor plot poorly executed with a huge great big dollop of "trying too hard... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Gallen

4.0 out of 5 stars Strange tale
One of the most curious books I've ever read. Really gets the grey matter a pondering. Stick with it, you won't regret it, though you may well end the novel with more unanswered... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mr. C. M. Humphries

1.0 out of 5 stars Best to avoid
A tedious non story, written badly. Surprised to find the author was an adult. Don't be encouraged by the differing levels in the review, this is an awful read.
Published 10 months ago by P. Turton

5.0 out of 5 stars a great coherent book
Ordinarily I have no patience for those kinds of book that hang loose and diverge rather than being firmly told in the realist tradition, but The Accidental does achieve a kind of... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Aggie

1.0 out of 5 stars Utter garbage
I loved Ali Smith's collection of short stories 'Free Love and Other Stories' and expected big things from 'The Accidental'. I didn't get them. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Pamela Scott

1.0 out of 5 stars Irrelevant and irritating
I read very good reviews about this book in the Guardian and was hooked by the central idea of the book: how the solidity and stability of a middle-class family is shattered by... Read more
Published 11 months ago by CosmicChild

1.0 out of 5 stars Meh...............
I read this book on holiday. Although entirely unconvincing, with unashamedly annoying charcters, it was such an easy read that towards the end I felt I must have missed something... Read more
Published 11 months ago by R. Harrison

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Discussion Replies Latest Post
Are we to understand that Amber is Alhambra? 0 November 2008
Characters' voices 0 November 2008
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