The Accidental

Nice one to read

Not your typical fare. Ali Smith captures a child's mind so well. Lovely, although it isn't like her other books.

GOOD ONE

The Accidental's high point is the blurb, one of the best I have ever read. The low point is book, one of the worst I have encountered in my life.Let's start at the very beginning: "My Mother began me one evening in 1968 on a table in the cafe of the town's only cinema." What should I make of this? Grammatical ineptitude or preposterous artistic licence? And the entire book reads like this. It's not an explicitly stylized book, say, like Trainspotting, that completely breaks the rules of writing in the English language, and it isn't the Queen's English for sure. It's stuck somewhere in between, and it's awfully irritating.There might be a great story somewhere in the book, but I couldn't get past the language to it. If, you're like me, and value words more than the characters or the story, stay away from this book. If, however, you don't particularly care about the language, then don't use my review to take a decision on whether you want to read this book or not.

I read 12 pages and then gave up. Did not find it at all interesting. Posted my view on the Local Library Fecbook Bookclub group and the consensus was that most people who had picked up the book did not get very far with it.

Brilliant. Utterly gripping. Explosive, sexy, iconoclastic and HUGELY enjoyable. A genuine pleasure.

Strange story, and I was unconvinced as to the validity of the characters or the likelihood of the events

Difficult to define, it’s clever, it challenges the rules in its form but provides an authentic family at a liminal point - irresistible, a fab read!

Oh dear, I loved the idea of this book, it promised a thought provoking, interesting read and it turned out to be the opposite. It tries to be clever with an immediate but bizarre narrative which doesn't allow the characters to flesh out. Their thoughts just spill out haphazardly across the page and frequently lead the reader nowhere. It's like a butterfly flitting from one thought to the next and although I'm well aware that many of us have minds that work just that way it proves tedious to read someone else's. If I could write down every thought I had during the day would anyone want to read it? If the answer is yes then you may enjoy this book but I suspect the vast majority would answer no and this majority should steer clear.