Other Stories and Other Stories

I love her long fiction, but found these short stories unsatisfactory, apart from one. As a big fan, I have bought everything she has published, but I don't think I'd buy any more short stories.

A different style from anything I had previously read. I subsequently bought more of her work including her novel ' the accidental.'

I loved virtually all the stories in Ali Smith's first volume, 'Free Love'. This one I wasn't quite so sure about. There certainly were stories that I enjoyed hugely. These included 'God's Gift', where a woman cleaning up dead birds muses on her recent holiday and her past; 'Blank Card' in which a woman is sent flowers by an unknown admirer; the heartbreaking 'Virtual' where a woman visiting her aunt in hospital befriends an anorexic girl; 'Kasia's Mother's Mother's Story', about women in wartime; and 'OK So Far' and 'The Theme is Power', both about journeys. But some of the others struck me as rather self-consciously unpleasant ('The Hanging Girl', about a woman slowly going mad, and 'Small Deaths' about a plague of insects attacking a suburban home), while a couple of the others left very little impression. At her best, Smith is absolutely terrific - a total original with a beautiful writing style and a witty view of life. For me, this collection didn't in total show her at her best -but I would still heartily recommend it, as some of the stories are top quality. A great quirky cover illustration too.

This book makes me smile and feel warm and light and full of life at the same time. It doesn't matter what Ali Smith writes, it all feels like being in some kind of meditative state. The attention to detail that we often overlook.However the first two stories didn't get me going and it's only by being a fan of Ali Smith's other work that I had the will to read on and luckily I was rewarded. The third story "Blank card" about being sent flowers by someone unknown is beautiful.I love her anarchistic way of telling a story, just picking out a piece of life - and you have to make up the conclusion yourself. My favourite is "The theme is power" where someone is telling a story to someone who's not at home yet. In fact it's two stories. One about two girls being approached by a strange lady and another one about a man showing his private parts. All through the story the narrative asks herself through her imaginative listener "but how do these stories go together". There's never an answer. Only the title gives you a clue ...I also love the way how she very subtly reveals that most of her characters are gay. But as she often uses "you" instead of "she" it can be either way ...The very last story "A story of love" is perfect. It is about story-telling itself and makes you wonder what a story really is.