I can summarise the novel ‘How to be Both’ by Ali Smith in four words – ‘How to be neither…’. It appears I am going against the grain of the majority of the reviews, especially within the context of the amount of awards it has won, but as far as I am concerned it had potential, but in trying to be so different it left me feeling unfulfilled as a reader.
Purgatory
Admittedly, I did read this in one day. Unfortunately, I found the first section about the Renaissance painter’s observations and reflections on life from purgatory – actual purgatory myself. Due to the use of streams of consciousness I found the narrative confusing and difficult to follow, and I didn’t find the character, plot or setting interesting enough to bother to re-read the sections to try and work it out. I found the repeated use of the word ’cause’ particularly irritating. Apparently Smith was writing in Renaissance Italian dialect…
Every which way
When I finished reading the novel, I thought it may have been better to have read the modern day section first. It was only after reading some reviews I realised that it depended on the copy you had, and some did start with the alternate narrative. Although I can appreciate how clever this appears, it also concerns me, surely when writing and planning anything you have a clear sense of how and why you are writing? As far as I am concerned in making it interchangeable, it became less interwoven, and as a consequence less interesting.
I found the modern section the most bizarre, where we get the perspective of the a 16 year old girl George trying to come to terms with the death of her mother. The original painting created by the narrator from the other section of the novel, also acts as the common point of interest with her mother both pre and post death. Yet again, there was lots of potential here, but and it could have been an engaging exploration of a child grieving for her mother, and exploring her sexuality. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel the narrative was in-depth enough for me as a reader to truly care enough about the girl and her situation. I almost feel guilty for not feeling more empathetic to the character of George.
Studied in schools?
There are calls for this novel to be added to the A level curriculum. There are three issues with this:
1) There are far better contemporary novels that are more deserving.
2) Too many of the students are not well read enough to understand a straightforward narrative, and when confronted with this novel I feel the potential issues are that they won’t either enjoy is as a story, or appreciate it as an adventurous narrative structure.
3)The true beauty of both art and feminism is that you don’t have to have academic qualifications to have an appreciation of either topics – and in trying to be too clever with the use of narrative Smith risks alienating a massive amount of potential readers.
It also makes it a novel that would be difficult to teach well.
In my opinion, Donna Tartt’s ‘The Goldfinch’ is far superior to this, I also think ‘Girl, with I Pearl Earring’ is better, and as far as I am concerned it is not even Chevalier’s best novel. ‘How to be Good’ also reminded me of Susskind’s ‘Perfume’ too, but it is nowhere near as interesting. Maybe part of the problem is that such a novel is built to such a great height then readers are going to be disappointed. I am increasingly finding it difficult to judge whether I will enjoy something based on reviews or publicity.
Sexuality and Gender
There was an attempt at exploring sexuality and gender, hence the title ‘How to be Both’. Personally, I think this should have been more in depth both emotionally and physically and this would have made a much better novel. Call me old fashioned, but I would rather have had one section or the other, but with a deeper emotional analysis of their feeling and the impact the decisions of others, and how the loss of their mothers impacted on their lives. Or maybe a more explicit interwoven approach? If I didn’t have other books on my pile to read, I would give this one another read, but it just didn’t grab me enough. The biggest issue I have with it is that as a construct I feel neither sections work well enough, as stand alone or stand together narratives. This is a real shame, because there was the potential for brilliance.