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Ali Smith
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Like: A novel Kindle Edition

by Ali Smith (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 78 ratings
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Ali Smith's "beautifully written, precise, poetic" (The Observer) debut that follows the briefly intertwined lives of two young women

When we meet Amy Shone, she is a young parent struggling to raise Kate, a precocious eight-year-old. Amy is an enigma-a brilliant scholar who has forgotten how to read. She is estranged from her wealthy English parents and lives a nomadic life in Scotland, dragging Kate from one school to the next, barely scraping by.

And then there is Ash, a fiery Scottish actresss who cannot shake her demons-chief among them an unrequited passion for Amy that has obsessed her ever since they met as teenagers. Like is the story of two parallel lives that intersect briefly, then diverge. It is also a timeless evocation of adolescence and its agonizing anticipations, its contradictory yearnings for freedom and safety, its blind quest for mastery over pleasure and pain. Deftly constructed, passionately imagined, Like is a remarkable debut from a powerful talent.
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  1. Print length
    309 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Anchor
  5. Publication date
    April 2, 2024
  6. File size
    3399 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

ALI SMITH is the author of many works of fiction, including, most recently, Companion Piece, the "Seasonal Quartet," Public library and other stories, and How to be both, which won the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction, the Goldsmiths Prize, and the Costa Novel of the Year Award. Her work has four times been short-listed for the Man Booker Prize. Most recently, she won the George Orwell Prize for Fiction for Summer. Born in Inverness, Scotland, she lives in Cambridge, England. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

From Kirkus Reviews

In a loosely threaded first novel, Scottish writer Smith luminously evokes the long, dark shadow cast by obsessions born in adolescence. Two young women, Amy Scone and Ash McCarthy, meet as teenagers when Amy's British family spends a summer vacation in Scotland next door to Ash. Eventually, the two will meet up again in Cambridge, where Amy has become a distinguished scholar; but as the story begins, the girls have been separated for many years. How that happenedand when, and whyis never made clear except through scattered hints here and there. At the start, Amy, caretaker for a seaside camping ground in Scotland, is living with eight-year-old Kate in a decrepit caravan. Kate, a clever child whose parentage is suggested but never established, has been put to work deciphering letters and whatnot for Amy, who is herself (unaccountably) no longer able to read and suffers from inexplicable fugue states. Later, just as inexplicably, Amy gradually finds her ability to read returning. She visits her wealthy and accomplished English parents for the first time in years; borrows money to take a trip with Kate to Italy; and, once settled back in Scotland, begins reinventing her life, with her old demons, so it would seem, safely banished. Meanwhile, the diary of 26-year-old Ash, a famous actress, at home in Scotland before heading to the US, is a long narrative riff on her compulsive love for Amy, which has never altered despite various affairs with other women. Trying to make sense of herself, her family, and her never-ending Amy-philia, Ash comes up with unsatisfying similes suggesting, for instance, with a flossy patness, that whatever happens it is always like something elseonly, Amy's heart, as she once heard it, was really not like anything else. Lyrical but elliptical writing that ultimately bleeds the pain and passion out. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CC89YWTR
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Anchor (April 2, 2024)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 2, 2024
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3399 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 309 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0593687981
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 78 ratings

About the author

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Ali Smith

Ali Smith

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Ali Smith CBE FRSL (born August 1962 in Inverness) is a Scottish writer.

She was born to working-class parents, raised in a council house in Inverness and now lives in Cambridge. She studied at the University of Aberdeen and then at Newnham College, Cambridge, for a PhD that she never finished. She worked as a lecturer at University of Strathclyde until she fell ill with CFS/ME. Following this she became a full-time writer and now writes for The Guardian, The Scotsman, and the Times Literary Supplement. Openly gay, she lives in Cambridge with her partner filmmaker Sarah Wood.

In 2007 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature

In 2009, she donated the short story Last (previously published in the Manchester Review Online) to Oxfam's 'Ox-Tales' project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Her story was published in the 'Fire' collection.

Smith was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to literature.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
78 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Ann Brown
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book
Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2013
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It's complicated but the writing is sometimes so very exact and explicit that it brings the characters right inside one's head.
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bluwhisper
4.0 out of 5 stars Worthwhile
Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2005
This is a very good, ambitious novel and a much better book than Smith's more famously hyped "Hotel World."

The form of the book, its symmetric halves, gives the novel much of its interest and creates some of its biggest problems. As others have noted, the information presented in the "Ash" section sheds new light on the first half of the book. While much becomes clearer after a reread, I don't think that a book should demand a reread in order for readers to have access to the information they need to interpret the actions of characters.

I also think that a few crucial moments were missing from the novel. Of course most of them can be inferred, but the book would have been more satisfying had Smith explicitly narrated a few of the scenes from the past that fell through the cracks in the structure.

While some other reviewers prefer the "Amy" section, I honestly think that while it's more lyrical, in many places the writing also tends to be somewhat lethargic and obtuse.

Despite my criticisms of the book, I still found it to be a moving, worthwhile read.

In fact, Smith's elegant and nuanced depictions of how internal and external forces draw people together and (more often) keep them apart are the real meat of the novel. And in her descriptions of these moments, when twin brothers draw their fists at each other, when a married couple walls their house into two equal halves, when people choose to play a role at the expense of their own well-being, are the moments Smith succeeds most brilliantly.
2 people found this helpful
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Sara Michele Corbett
4.0 out of 5 stars Highly Engaging, if flawed
Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2005
I was completely drawn into this book from about page 5. I was actually quite disappointed when the book switched perspective in the middle, because when books do that I always have the urge to put it down and only know the first half (some self-destructive impulse, I don't know), but the second half was just as excellent as the first.

The Amy section was amazing. Her thought process was sometimes unclear, but so well written that the lack of clarity only draws the reader more into the story.

The Ash section was an easier read, as Ash, though a bit crazy, had a more clearly defined thought process. Being in her head was not more interesting than being in Amy's, but it was easier. I loved how each page of the Ash section seemed to shed more light on the Amy section. I feel like I need to go back and re-read the first part again, now.

The only complaint I have is about the final 20 pages or so. They are completely supurfluous - and the 3 or more pages of simile on top of simile seemed self-indulgent and more or less unneccessary. It was a letdown after 300+ pages of such witty prose to have to plod through those end pages.
2 people found this helpful
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lady detective
4.0 out of 5 stars fantastic read
Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2001
The book, divided into two very distinguished and separated halves, is an intriguing, entertaining and inspiring read. i finished it a few days ago and i keep thinking about it, i want to go back and read it again. told from several different perspectives, the meaning of the first half shifts considerably upon completion of the novel. smith writes beautifully. there were so many wonderful sentences that i read again and again, thinking 'yes, exactly! you've captured it!'
highly reccommended!
5 people found this helpful
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Sonja
4.0 out of 5 stars Best book I've read in a long while
Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 1998
I just finished reading this novel and am left still really engaged in the story. The reasons for that is because of all the questions that are left unanswered. I find myself trying to answer them and dying to talk to someone else about the story to see if they came up with the same "conclusions." Although this is extremely frustrating, it's also great. How often do you get to read a book that is so pervasive that as soon as you close it your mind instantly begins to wrap itself around the words, characters, the moments of the story? Anyway, I highly recommend it. I, myself, am in the process of enlisting my friends to read it so that I can finally discuss it with someone.
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hila (moogbi@hotmail.com)
4.0 out of 5 stars strong and confusing
Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 1999
Reading the book was like walking on a mountain top in Scotland, with all the mist around me. I was confused; didn't know which way to go, couldn't decide how I felt about the characters. Especially about Amy. She reminded me of a girl I once loved. Like Amy, she was somewhat unreachable. "Like" moved me. It was certainly a different reading experience.
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Top reviews from other countries

Josepin
5.0 out of 5 stars Different attempt
Reviewed in India on March 10, 2019
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Readin it eagerly..
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Edward Good
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully flawed and better for it
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 15, 2015
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A wonderful, meandering stream of prose that captures life in all of its intricacies - from the observations of the seemingly mundane details of day-to-day life, as seen through the eyes of a young girl, to the dangerous obsessions of a young woman in love.

Whilst some people may have issues with the apparent loose ends in the narrative, to me, this serves to make the book more poignant and meaningful. As with the relationships of the characters in the book; life isn't perfect and is full of unresolved stories and significances that can only be half guessed at. There is no single version of events and our memories are flawed. This is no more true than in the interactions between two people, where each person brings different histories, prejudices and expectations to the party.

I am a fan of The Accidental but found There But For The, also by Ali Smith, harder work. This book had me hooked, however, particularly in the second half when the story of Ash held a light to some (although not all) of the events in the first half of the book, whilst brilliantly depicting the beauty and vulnerability of childhood and adolescence.

Reminds me very much of A Sense Of An Ending by Julian Barnes for the lack of, what might be considered, a comprehensive and traditional ending but therein lies the beauty of this book.
2 people found this helpful
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Suki Telford
4.0 out of 5 stars Ready for Like
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 11, 2015
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This is my second copy. I gave up the first time when the POV changes half-way through; I didn't get on with the second character. Now, having read How to be Both, which employs the same device, I was ready for Like. I'm a big fan of Ali Smith, I have re-read Hotel World and The Accidental several times. I didn't enjoy Like as much. That said, I'm growing to love it.
2 people found this helpful
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IAN HUTCHINSON
5.0 out of 5 stars Good read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 4, 2022
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Arrived quickly in good condition. Great book.
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LV
3.0 out of 5 stars Perplexing
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 9, 2013
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This book is beautifully written and fascinating throughout, However... it doesn't have a cohesive story. It turns out not to be about what you think it is and becomes something else half way through. The mystery you think will be cleared up just isn't. I enjoyed reading it but was a little disappointed because I think it could have been better!
One person found this helpful
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