Spring: Book summary and reviews of Spring by Ali Smith

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Cathryn Conroy

A Somewhat Difficult Book to Read—in Both Form and Story—But It Will Make You Think!
It may be titled "Spring," but this is not a book about the blossoming of new love or reveling in Earth's colorful pastel rebirth. It is bleak and dark with just a smidgen of hope. It's also experimental in form—so much so that when I was about 35 pages into the book, I stopped reading and started over at page one, which made all the difference to understanding what was happening.

Written by Scottish author Ali Smith, this is the third in what the author describes as a seasonal quartet. Unlike virtually all book series, this one does not need to be read in order. Each book is totally independent of the others. If they weren't grouped together as a quartet, you wouldn't even know they were a series.

But one thing the books in this seasonal quartet do have in common is they are all stories interwoven with political discourse. (Some might even call it political diatribe.) "Spring" is focused on immigration issues in Britain, specifically how immigrants are treated once they arrive. Many are housed in Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) where they are held indefinitely—like prisoners—even though they are only supposed to be detained for 72 hours.

This is a book about lost souls in a very divided Britain. Richard Lease is an aging TV and film director who hasn't worked in years. Paddy, the woman who taught him so much and served as his muse has died. He is devastated and suicidal so he decides to travel north from London to Scotland to send her off—at least in his mind. Meanwhile, Brittany Hall is off to her dreaded job at an IRC when a little girl named Florence waylays her and convinces her to go with her to Scotland. Florence is an unusual child to say the least. She has a nearly magical ability to charm everyone around her to give her things, allow her to accomplish the seemingly impossible, and basically just get her way. It is this child of 12 who saves Richard's life, and the three of them begin a journey that is rife with joy, sadness, and betrayal. But in the spring, there is always hope (even if it's just a smidgen)—for new life, for reconciliation, and for love.

Just as much as it's about immigration, it is also a book about the importance of stories—the ones we live, the ones we tell, the ones we read. English majors and avid readers will enjoy the frequent literary namedropping and almost cameo-like appearances of short story writer Katherine Mansfield and poet Rainer Maria Rilke, as well as silent film star Charlie Chaplin and British visual artist Tacita Dean.

At times, the minimal plot of the book can be confusing as it bounces around in time. It didn't keep me reading past my bedtime. But it's an interesting way to frame the dire human concern of immigration and what happens to real people in real ways that are alarming, frightening, and abusive.

It may be somewhat difficult to read, but this is a book that will make you think.

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