Book Review: Summer is the fourth and final installment in Ali Smith's "Seasonal" series, a sort of experiment in writing an annual about current events. The sequence began with Autumn, inspired by Brexit, a novel of our times but then blindly crashed into a turbulence of viewpoints of which proto-fascism, anti-immigrant bigotry, and striving for racial justice, all exacerbated by a pandemic, are only an interrelated part. Facing mortality (our own or that of loved ones) has put societal conflict in high relief. And the immediate tragic consequences of Brexit, the initial impetus, have paled as the political dickering dawdled. She includes this insight: "A too-late response from a useless and distracted government who never thought ... they'd end up governing anything ... who thought it was all going to be such a blast, being in power, making lots of money for themselves and their pals." For me, all four books were worth reading, but each declined slightly, with Autumn being my favorite. In producing four books in five years at times the subsequent books seemed rushed or unfinished and my secret hope is that Smith will go back and re-edit the series to clean up some hurried writing and loose ends. This might defeat the purpose of writing contemporaneous books, but would create a more lasting and consequential work. There's so much to celebrate in Ali Smith's efforts. She is a wonderful storyteller who would've sat at a choice spot around the fire in any time. Her compassionate humanity enriches her stories, showing which is the right side of history (we hope). I view all four novels as one (as Elena Ferrante did with her Neapolitan Quartet). Each book builds on the preceding and explores lingering themes even as the times changed. Smith has worked to insert recurring characters, events, and references to the other books in the series. She's carefully constructed a jigsaw puzzle specifically mixing in each episode elements of art, references to Charlie Chaplin, intertwined plot lines, the cyclic nature of history, Dickens' novels, extended rhetorical flourishes, fences and internment, moments from decades past and moments in contemporary politics, overlooked female artists, seasonal meditations, Shakespeare plays, and ruminations on time, among others. Her references are wide-ranging (she includes a reference to Irmgard Keun, one of my favorite unknown authors). Some seemingly significant characters disappear. From Ulysses to Infinite Jest to Game of Thrones, however, I've never enjoyed turning literature into a search for Easter eggs, making novels into puzzle boxes, games, or tests more than stories. Seeing how many hints and clues readers can find to demonstrate their cleverness at the next cocktail party. While a tour de force, a praise-worthy achievement, it also seems premeditated, calculated and considered, self-conscious. As one of her characters says, "I really believed I could hold all the knowledge in me, all the narratives, all the poems, all the art, all the learning -- and that this gathering and holding of all these things meant I now owned these things." On the other hand, these kind of Pokemon searches are just what some readers live for. To do the quartet justice at some point, however, I need to go back and re-read the books together, rather than annually as I have been. I want to see if my uncertainty about the series is fair. One problem is that history was moving too quickly, and Summer barely touches on the Black Lives Matter movement that shook our cities, and doesn't capture the isolation and desperation caused by the virus. Although her focus was on Brexit and immigration (and those issues slowed) failing to encompass these other moments (among others, such as technology) at times made the books feel outdated on publication. Like sitting down to dinner while ignoring the body bleeding on the floor. I was also confused by what seemed an endless series of stories loosely connected by too-witty characters. Having read the series over five years I'm certain to have lost some threads and connections. At a time in history when the two sides are starkly drawn, themes may become clearer on re-reading. The individual stories are intelligent, but too often instead of saying "this book is so clever" I found myself thinking "look how clever Ali Smith can be." Regardless of any carping, since with Summer we have all four books together we can now enjoy them as the four chapters of a single story, as the actual seasons are in our lives. [3★]
