The Accidental

by Ali Smith | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 0141010398 Global Overview for this book
Registered by BookGroupMan of Chester, Cheshire United Kingdom on 6/19/2006
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3 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by BookGroupMan from Chester, Cheshire United Kingdom on Monday, June 19, 2006
I don't think I was as bowled-over by 'Hotel World' as most everyone else; but I appreciated the authorship and am looking forward to this follow-up, and its set in Norfolk, which is a bonus :)

Journal Entry 2 by BookGroupMan from Chester, Cheshire United Kingdom on Monday, May 26, 2008
(26/05) I have a confession to make; I don’t think I really understood this! I’m sure its not Ali Smith’s fault. I got the Alhambra/Amber start and finish, and her dramatic unsettling and cathartic(?) effect on the Smart family...but how it all fitted together, and the family that Eve finds in America, who are they!? But this said, I still think Smith is a great writer; her brilliant language, playing fast and loose with the normal ’rules’ of storytelling, building unique characters and voices, the sense of time and place, the shock events, all good stuff, I just wish I understood it all!

Aha, I have one thread now, Eve ‘doing an Amber’ as she moves into the dysfunctional American family home and begins to sow seeds of destruction

"Then this happened. Sorry I'm late. I'm Amber. Car broke down."

2nd revelation came to me 24 hours after finishing; what if Eve, Michael et al didn’t know Amber at all, a completely random caller/con-woman? I think that was the whole point, the fickleness of chance events. I feel much better now :)

From an Amazon review; ‘Smith suggests the Smarts are like the "group of men" in Plato's cave, who mistake the shadows of the cave for the world, and Amber is like the one who wandered outside the cave to discover the sunlight of the real world.’

Released 15 yrs ago (6/7/2008 UTC) at Caffe Nero IP1 Bookcrossing Zone in Ipswich, Suffolk United Kingdom

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Taking along to the bookshelf sometime tomorrow, or I may leave in town if a themed release appeals to me :)

Journal Entry 4 by BookGroupMan from Chester, Cheshire United Kingdom on Thursday, July 3, 2008
...wrong, left in Grundisburgh some time later. If you're quick it's by the St Mary's church notice board

Released 15 yrs ago (7/3/2008 UTC) at St Mary's Church notice board in Grundisburgh, Suffolk United Kingdom

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If you find this book, congratulations, and welcome to bookcrossing. If you've made it this far, i.e. you're at least a bit computer literate, then why not make a journal entry? Thank you. Enjoy.

Journal Entry 6 by saxon2 from Woodbridge, Suffolk United Kingdom on Saturday, October 4, 2008
Out on a tandem ride with my husband, we found the book on the seat in the village green at Grundisburgh. I am in Canada on holiday and intended leaving it somewhere public, but met the friend of a friend, whom I am never likely to meet again and I gave it to her. She lives in the Laurentians.

Enjoyed the structure of the book, and thought it was a clever device to keep the pages turning. The abandonment of mobiles seemed a thread - and wouldn't we all like to do the same?

Journal Entry 7 by bonnieview on Tuesday, November 4, 2008
while visiting in Parry Sound ont. I met someone from England Who passed the book along to me to read and bring to Quebec .I found the prose difficult at times and at times thought provoking.Not sure what she was trying to get across butThe author certainly has her own bright, curious style,and managed to keep me reading to the end!!

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