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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 remarkably mature debut for a powerful young talent.
344 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1997
84 people are currently reading
1645 people want to read
About the author
Ali Smith
151 books5,358 followersAli Smith is a writer, born in Inverness, Scotland, to working-class parents. She was raised in a council house in Inverness and now lives in Cambridge. She studied at Aberdeen, and then at Cambridge, for a Ph.D. that was never finished. In a 2004 interview with writing magazine Mslexia, she talked briefly about the difficulty of becoming ill with chronic fatigue syndrome for a year and how it forced her to give up her job as a lecturer at University of Strathclyde to focus on what she really wanted to do: writing. She has been with her partner Sarah Wood for 17 years and dedicates all her books to her.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 105 reviews
November 16, 2015
3.5*
"Monday the 6th April 1987. Dear Diary. Actually this is not going to be a diary, diary is the wrong word for it. I have been suspicious of diaries anyway, since I stole Amy’s and read them on the roof. Amy, mon âme, my aim, my friend Amy. It was very shocking to read her version of things. No, diaries are stupid. Diaries are all lies. Diaries, they’re so self-indulgent.
But we live in self-indulgent times, after all, and for once I want my own twist of it. And if you write something down, it goes away. I’ve been carrying it around with me now for so long it’s taken on a kind of life of its own, I can feel it breathing against me inside my rib-cage, feeding off me, taking all the goodness out of what I eat, all the calcium out of my teeth. I want rid of it. And what a story it could be. What a beautiful, what a romantic, what a passionate story.
Not a story for here, not for small town Scotland, not then, not ever, never here in the decent, upright, capital of the Highlands, where when I was still at school there was an unholy row in the newspapers and in the council chambers because someone thought that something like the teaching of drama on the school syllabus would be nothing less than the work of the devil. Land of my soul and my formation, the Highlands. Where the Brahan Seer, ancient highland magician of the greatest of powers, once foretold that if there were too many bridges over the River Ness, or if there were too many women in power in the nation, then terrible dire chaos would follow."
Like that. Just like that is how Ali Smith hooks me. Every time.
The only reason why I give this book 3.5* instead of 4* or 4.5* is that this is her first novel and I have been spoiled by having already read some of her later work, which much more structured.
Oh, but what a nice feeling it is to be spoiled by Smith's writing...
Anyway, enough fangirling.
Like is the story of young love, of obsession, of rejection and resentment, and of healing.
The structure of the book - like many of Smith's - is anything but linear, so reading it is like just going with the flow and trusting the stories to be revealed. It's a slow start, granted, where we are introduced to Kate and her mother, Amy. Both are elusive characters. But then they have to be, because they are out of place and it is only in the second part of the book, when Ash is introduced that we get to learn more about the mystery.
Apart from the characters - all of which I loved - what Smith really succeeds at is being a recorder of the time and place that the characters act in. I have no doubt that some of the scenes are autobiographical or witnessed rather than invented, because I certainly felt right there with the characters in the late 1980s/1990s. And yet, I did not feel that the story was dated. Like is a story in its own time but not exclusively of its time.
"I smell of the fire still. On my clothes, on my skin, must be in my hair. Sweet, acrid, I love it. Someone could make a fortune patenting the smell of fire as a perfume or aftershave, potent and nostalgic and sexual for people to spray themselves with in the spring and the autumn, at the hinges of the year. Lancome’s Heat of the Moment. Meltdown by Givenchy. Hell by Chanel."
"Monday the 6th April 1987. Dear Diary. Actually this is not going to be a diary, diary is the wrong word for it. I have been suspicious of diaries anyway, since I stole Amy’s and read them on the roof. Amy, mon âme, my aim, my friend Amy. It was very shocking to read her version of things. No, diaries are stupid. Diaries are all lies. Diaries, they’re so self-indulgent.
But we live in self-indulgent times, after all, and for once I want my own twist of it. And if you write something down, it goes away. I’ve been carrying it around with me now for so long it’s taken on a kind of life of its own, I can feel it breathing against me inside my rib-cage, feeding off me, taking all the goodness out of what I eat, all the calcium out of my teeth. I want rid of it. And what a story it could be. What a beautiful, what a romantic, what a passionate story.
Not a story for here, not for small town Scotland, not then, not ever, never here in the decent, upright, capital of the Highlands, where when I was still at school there was an unholy row in the newspapers and in the council chambers because someone thought that something like the teaching of drama on the school syllabus would be nothing less than the work of the devil. Land of my soul and my formation, the Highlands. Where the Brahan Seer, ancient highland magician of the greatest of powers, once foretold that if there were too many bridges over the River Ness, or if there were too many women in power in the nation, then terrible dire chaos would follow."
Like that. Just like that is how Ali Smith hooks me. Every time.
The only reason why I give this book 3.5* instead of 4* or 4.5* is that this is her first novel and I have been spoiled by having already read some of her later work, which much more structured.
Oh, but what a nice feeling it is to be spoiled by Smith's writing...
Anyway, enough fangirling.
Like is the story of young love, of obsession, of rejection and resentment, and of healing.
The structure of the book - like many of Smith's - is anything but linear, so reading it is like just going with the flow and trusting the stories to be revealed. It's a slow start, granted, where we are introduced to Kate and her mother, Amy. Both are elusive characters. But then they have to be, because they are out of place and it is only in the second part of the book, when Ash is introduced that we get to learn more about the mystery.
Apart from the characters - all of which I loved - what Smith really succeeds at is being a recorder of the time and place that the characters act in. I have no doubt that some of the scenes are autobiographical or witnessed rather than invented, because I certainly felt right there with the characters in the late 1980s/1990s. And yet, I did not feel that the story was dated. Like is a story in its own time but not exclusively of its time.
"I smell of the fire still. On my clothes, on my skin, must be in my hair. Sweet, acrid, I love it. Someone could make a fortune patenting the smell of fire as a perfume or aftershave, potent and nostalgic and sexual for people to spray themselves with in the spring and the autumn, at the hinges of the year. Lancome’s Heat of the Moment. Meltdown by Givenchy. Hell by Chanel."
November 22, 2024
A novel with two protagonists, each one's first-person narrative comprising half the novel, and I liked neither one of them. What are the odds? (Cheeky people will reply, "25%"!) But this is Ali Smith, whom I rather adore, and so the odds are actually much lower than that. And yet the only two characters I did not find fascinating and believable were Amy Shone and Aisling "Ash" McCarthy.
I'm giving it 3 stars because it's a strong debut novel and the writing is sometimes arresting, but completing it was a task and not a pleasure.
I'm giving it 3 stars because it's a strong debut novel and the writing is sometimes arresting, but completing it was a task and not a pleasure.
October 4, 2011
Like is the blossoming talent of Ali Smith splurged into one long rambling debut novel. This is a novel from a writer who doesn’t hold out much hope of writing a second. Over three decades' worth of glorious descriptions and metaphors and ornate language festoon this funsize monster, nothing like her subsequent novels in the slightest.
Split into two parts, the first concerns Amy, a former scholastic prodigy who, despite being a lesbian, has a child, and despite being a scholar, has forgotten how to read. The second concerns Aisling (Ash) who lives in Inverness and spends all her energy pursuing the student Amy, whose hauteur and priggishness she finds irresistible.
The language is the most compelling facet of the story, as these aren’t characters we are set up to “like”—in fact, they are selfish and often unbearable people—but Smith is a hypnotic and tireless writer, and pulls the reader into her strange, semi-autobiographical tale like a pro. Certainly not one for those new to Smith, but putty for the fan.
Split into two parts, the first concerns Amy, a former scholastic prodigy who, despite being a lesbian, has a child, and despite being a scholar, has forgotten how to read. The second concerns Aisling (Ash) who lives in Inverness and spends all her energy pursuing the student Amy, whose hauteur and priggishness she finds irresistible.
The language is the most compelling facet of the story, as these aren’t characters we are set up to “like”—in fact, they are selfish and often unbearable people—but Smith is a hypnotic and tireless writer, and pulls the reader into her strange, semi-autobiographical tale like a pro. Certainly not one for those new to Smith, but putty for the fan.
Read
August 11, 2013Like by Ali Smith.
A book unreview.
Like I don't want to rate this book.
Like how can I?
Like turn my hero into Ash?
Like, no.
You see I adore, love, lust, live in every (other) word ever written by Ali. And no I do not mean every other, I mean every. I have read everything ever written by her, besides her grocery lists and postcards and iPhone reminders to self to write daily to please Cathrine. Every Word. And I have loved every word. Like. Loved. Deeply.
I read her Hotel World 8 times. It never ever turned to Ash.
But this .... Like this .... was kinda a nighmare to get through.
I read it years and years ago.
I made it to page 188.
I folded it and folded in.
I read it years ago.
I made it to make 180.
It left no mark. I left a mark in it.
I read it ... I started to read it last week
and at page 180 I started to read other things .... any other thing ... my grocery lists ... my reminder to self to never read anything but books I adore .... life is Like too short. Your ego is demanding this for silly super fan reasons. Get Like over it.
But I returned .... I had tried it in the woods and now I Like tried it by the sea .... just because Like I had to get through this .... and like no it was not Like worth it .... but ok Like now it is done and I Like ... that ... at least.
("#¤%ing love it actually.)
And I will put this behind me .... like one should with lovers that do not mean much and keep us wanting more ..... just because Like they are them. And I look forward to her next book.
Like honestly I do.
I would not Ash you.
A book unreview.
Like I don't want to rate this book.
Like how can I?
Like turn my hero into Ash?
Like, no.
You see I adore, love, lust, live in every (other) word ever written by Ali. And no I do not mean every other, I mean every. I have read everything ever written by her, besides her grocery lists and postcards and iPhone reminders to self to write daily to please Cathrine. Every Word. And I have loved every word. Like. Loved. Deeply.
I read her Hotel World 8 times. It never ever turned to Ash.
But this .... Like this .... was kinda a nighmare to get through.
I read it years and years ago.
I made it to page 188.
I folded it and folded in.
I read it years ago.
I made it to make 180.
It left no mark. I left a mark in it.
I read it ... I started to read it last week
and at page 180 I started to read other things .... any other thing ... my grocery lists ... my reminder to self to never read anything but books I adore .... life is Like too short. Your ego is demanding this for silly super fan reasons. Get Like over it.
But I returned .... I had tried it in the woods and now I Like tried it by the sea .... just because Like I had to get through this .... and like no it was not Like worth it .... but ok Like now it is done and I Like ... that ... at least.
("#¤%ing love it actually.)
And I will put this behind me .... like one should with lovers that do not mean much and keep us wanting more ..... just because Like they are them. And I look forward to her next book.
Like honestly I do.
I would not Ash you.
July 12, 2019
When you have an author like Ali Smith, who writes experimental novels, it is interesting to see where everything started from. Like is Smith’s debut novel and…. well.. let’s get on with the review.
A typical Ali Smith novel will have bouncing interconnected timelines, jokes, wordplay, funny moments. Sometimes ghosts appear and there’s the criticism of contemporary society, politics, media, bureaucracy and art.
All of that is in Like.
The novel is divided into two halves. The first part is about Amy and her daughter Kate. Amy has a low paid job but manages to get by. At one point she visits her mother and her and Kate go to Naples for a holiday. The crucial section of the book happens when Amy receives a call from a journalist asking her about her friend Aisling McCarthy. This part of the novel focuses mostly on wordplay and language.
The second part is from Aisling’s diaries. The reader gets her point of view of life and her friendship with Amy. This is the more politically driven section of the book and is about the differences between Scotland and U.K (and to a certain extent the U.S.)
My problem with Like is that it feels stuffed. Generally an Ali Smith book does not use justification, has short sentences and a large font. That is absent in Like and for a 350 page novel, it can be a bit of a slog. Passages tend to feel like an info dump and the traditional structure doesn’t work too well. I felt quite unsatisfied by the end of the book. When compared to the rest of her faultless bibliography, Like could be seen as her weakest novel.
If there is an advantage is that all the major themes of Smith’s novels can be found in Like. It’s just that in later years they are structured in a more accessible way. Like is definitely not recommended for someone starting with Ali Smith but is important as well just for seeing where her thematic roots originate from.
A typical Ali Smith novel will have bouncing interconnected timelines, jokes, wordplay, funny moments. Sometimes ghosts appear and there’s the criticism of contemporary society, politics, media, bureaucracy and art.
All of that is in Like.
The novel is divided into two halves. The first part is about Amy and her daughter Kate. Amy has a low paid job but manages to get by. At one point she visits her mother and her and Kate go to Naples for a holiday. The crucial section of the book happens when Amy receives a call from a journalist asking her about her friend Aisling McCarthy. This part of the novel focuses mostly on wordplay and language.
The second part is from Aisling’s diaries. The reader gets her point of view of life and her friendship with Amy. This is the more politically driven section of the book and is about the differences between Scotland and U.K (and to a certain extent the U.S.)
My problem with Like is that it feels stuffed. Generally an Ali Smith book does not use justification, has short sentences and a large font. That is absent in Like and for a 350 page novel, it can be a bit of a slog. Passages tend to feel like an info dump and the traditional structure doesn’t work too well. I felt quite unsatisfied by the end of the book. When compared to the rest of her faultless bibliography, Like could be seen as her weakest novel.
If there is an advantage is that all the major themes of Smith’s novels can be found in Like. It’s just that in later years they are structured in a more accessible way. Like is definitely not recommended for someone starting with Ali Smith but is important as well just for seeing where her thematic roots originate from.
December 29, 2016
That’s the end? She just writes the things and that’s the end? But what happens about the things she writes? Do you not get to find out if they’re true? Well, no, I said, that’s the catch, you don’t.
There are a lot of loose ends in this book which, ultimately, is a sad tale about three women (two adults and a child). In the first half, we meet Amy and Kate. In the second half, we learn about Ash. The two halves are connected by a past relationship between Amy and Ash. Kate is Amy's daughter (probably).
But Smith isn't going to do all the work for you. You have to prepared for a lot of things to be left unsaid and unresolved. That's either the beauty of it or the frustration of it, depending on how much you like a book to tidy up its threads.
This is early Smith and you can tell that when you read it. It doesn't have quite the same playfulness of later novels, although you can see that in development. If you like Smith's writing (I love it!), you will probably enjoy this.
There are a lot of loose ends in this book which, ultimately, is a sad tale about three women (two adults and a child). In the first half, we meet Amy and Kate. In the second half, we learn about Ash. The two halves are connected by a past relationship between Amy and Ash. Kate is Amy's daughter (probably).
But Smith isn't going to do all the work for you. You have to prepared for a lot of things to be left unsaid and unresolved. That's either the beauty of it or the frustration of it, depending on how much you like a book to tidy up its threads.
This is early Smith and you can tell that when you read it. It doesn't have quite the same playfulness of later novels, although you can see that in development. If you like Smith's writing (I love it!), you will probably enjoy this.
August 26, 2025
Wow wow! Loved her. Ali Smith’s first book and I can see so many ideas / themes in this one that she continues to explore in her later books - precocious and curious little girls, changing seasons, Scottish independence, word play, Italian history, art, horses, more and more. Like is divided into two parts. Part one follows Amy and her charming daughter Kate who live in a caravan in Scotland and part two follows Ash, a Scottish woman who I don’t want to say too much about in this review (spoilers!!) but Amy and Ash’s paths crossed in adolescence. The last chapter was the sort of thing that you read and it makes you feel happy to be alive, it was very affirming for me at least. Ali Smith is my Scottish queen.
April 21, 2020
"Outside, years were passing. A new prime minister was working to help rich people get even richer. Someone shot one of the Beatles dead. The Pope got shot, and the new American president, the old movie star. People stopped buying corned beef in Britain and some ships were burning in the sea. There was a new disease, and the word cruise had several meanings." - p. 256
Like is a strange novel. Smith's first, it has flaws; a lack of brevity and a density that I had not associated with her writing until now. But it hold several of Smith's later achievements in embryo; the structure that would be perfected in How To Be Both, the imagery of Culloden that would find its most startling contemporary resonances in the last apges of Spring, the wordplay that would be deployed to heart-swelling use in Girl Meets Boy... it's all here. Confused, occasionally muddy, but then you get passages like the one above and the time between this novel's publication and now totally collapses.
Like is a strange novel. Smith's first, it has flaws; a lack of brevity and a density that I had not associated with her writing until now. But it hold several of Smith's later achievements in embryo; the structure that would be perfected in How To Be Both, the imagery of Culloden that would find its most startling contemporary resonances in the last apges of Spring, the wordplay that would be deployed to heart-swelling use in Girl Meets Boy... it's all here. Confused, occasionally muddy, but then you get passages like the one above and the time between this novel's publication and now totally collapses.
May 9, 2017
Ali Smith is a deeply original writer whose books are all full of arresting thoughts, images and wordplay. For me this first novel just shades the rest as a visceral, raw, subversive and humorous rites of passage tale.
October 5, 2020
Amy ve Ash'ın iki ayrı bölüm halinde anlatılan ve birbirini tamamlayan hikayeleri çok güzel. Ali Smith okumaya devam...
August 19, 2025
My god the pining. Also listened to this on audiobook narrated by a Scottish woman and that just felt right
February 8, 2022
Beautiful imagery and emotionally evocative, however I found the stories incredibly fragmented and the plot never quite bridged in a satisfying way. I enjoy poetry, but found it too poetically indulgent for a novel. If you enjoy prose that dances on that line, you will enjoy this, but for those looking for a story, it will leave you rather underwhelmed.
You end up having some sympathy for the few mentions in this book of characters who bemoan stories with no conclusions or happy endings; the plot does not really get halfway to anywhere. This story seems too much like a scrapbook of snippets. It is rich, but unfinished. It beckons you to insert your own interpretations, but without much suggestion, which some may like, but I prefer things to be put to me by an author more decisively. Occasionally, the writing is hard to follow due to long monologues- making a vague story all the more threadbare.
Overall, self-indulgent and introspective. Suitable for those who would benefit from a wistful commiseration on life and love and the tragedy of lack of fulfillment.
You end up having some sympathy for the few mentions in this book of characters who bemoan stories with no conclusions or happy endings; the plot does not really get halfway to anywhere. This story seems too much like a scrapbook of snippets. It is rich, but unfinished. It beckons you to insert your own interpretations, but without much suggestion, which some may like, but I prefer things to be put to me by an author more decisively. Occasionally, the writing is hard to follow due to long monologues- making a vague story all the more threadbare.
Overall, self-indulgent and introspective. Suitable for those who would benefit from a wistful commiseration on life and love and the tragedy of lack of fulfillment.
November 4, 2016
starts out introducing Amy and her daughter Kate who live hand to mouth in Scotland -- Amy cannot read and recognizes words because of some unexplained happenings -- Amy decides to travel to her parents home and ask for money to go on a vacation to Italy -- regains her ability to read but remains in her Scottish town, working as a waitress -- gets a phone call about a childhood friend who became a famous actress but cannot really tell anything about what became of the friend -- cut to Ash, the friend and her story -- she grew up in Scotland, met mysterious Amy and fell in love with her -- followed her around to cities but never quite played in her league -- eventually burns down Amys building in a fit of rage when she realizes how unimportant she is to Amy -- runs away and becomes an actress by accident -- has now returned to her fathers house in Scotland to write all these events down -- no real ending
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 26, 2015
So many years after starting this novel I'm finally officially acknowledging that I will never finish it. I will try not to let it completely taint my opinion of Ali Smith's writing. I know that a lot of people really enjoy her work, but this novel was slow for me -- plodding even. Even worse, I couldn't shake the distraction of present tense narration. It's an incredibly difficult style to pull off, and I just don't think Smith was successful. It feels gimmicky, and maybe I'm ruined by having read too many college freshman essays, so full of present tense narration because it mimics the style of oral storytelling currently in vogue, but it just feels cheesy.
May 26, 2012
The most likeable character in this book is Kate, the resourceful daughter coping with her “teenage” mother. Amy and Ash, the main characters, are deeply annoying due to their complete self-absorption. The book is written in such a disjointed and dislocated style it is difficult to follow the narrative at times. What I call Woolf-ish, ie. it contrives to be prose-poetry and, in reaching too hard for that “stream of consciousness” thing, loses the plot.
February 2, 2023
4.75 I really enjoyed this Literary book and Scottishness representative but I felt I wanted more of how Amy and Ash separated though ✨and I preferred mostly Amy's portion of the novel✨ Definitely intrigued for more by this author! Loved the dark academic vibes with Ash though?
July 29, 2024
bueno bueno ali smith you genius. ho ha tornat a fer.
donar-li 5 estrelles a la seva primera novel·la (1997) havent ja llegit tot el seu repertori (excepte els contes) em dona un gustet boníssim de satisfacció.
comparant-la inevitablement amb la resta de la seva obra, aquesta és la seva història més senzilla. tanmateix, segueix sent igual de solemne que les altres. només ella pot començar tota una trajectòria literària amb aquesta peça tan simple i, alhora, extraordinària.
el fet que sigui la seva primera també m’ha fet pensar en els punts que tenen en comú totes les seves narracions. penso que les dues característiques que destaquen més de la seva escriptura són, en primer lloc, el seu ritme capaç de dur-me els ulls a fer una absoluta marató lectora durant hores sense ni adonar-me’n, gairebé com beure un glop infinit d’aigua sense mai deixar-me del tot hidratada; i en segon lloc, la construcció rodona i imperfecta, real i màgica dels personatges, dels quals he arribat a sentir la presència quasi física al meu voltant.
tothom a llegir aquesta senyora maravellosa!
donar-li 5 estrelles a la seva primera novel·la (1997) havent ja llegit tot el seu repertori (excepte els contes) em dona un gustet boníssim de satisfacció.
comparant-la inevitablement amb la resta de la seva obra, aquesta és la seva història més senzilla. tanmateix, segueix sent igual de solemne que les altres. només ella pot començar tota una trajectòria literària amb aquesta peça tan simple i, alhora, extraordinària.
el fet que sigui la seva primera també m’ha fet pensar en els punts que tenen en comú totes les seves narracions. penso que les dues característiques que destaquen més de la seva escriptura són, en primer lloc, el seu ritme capaç de dur-me els ulls a fer una absoluta marató lectora durant hores sense ni adonar-me’n, gairebé com beure un glop infinit d’aigua sense mai deixar-me del tot hidratada; i en segon lloc, la construcció rodona i imperfecta, real i màgica dels personatges, dels quals he arribat a sentir la presència quasi física al meu voltant.
tothom a llegir aquesta senyora maravellosa!
May 4, 2022
Like is the rather rambling (and that’s coming from me!) debut novel of iconic, Scottish lass, miss Ali Smith.
This was such a strange reading experience, to see such a -now highly established, author, at the very start of her craft. We see hints of her latter associated USPs -in particular, her S T U N N I N G use of prose (though perhaps suffering from being a tad too poetically indulgent at times). As well as her fragmented, interwoven structure. With Like being a novel comprised of two halves. Of which, are (loosely) connected by a past relationship (no spoilers here). Where a lot is left unsaid and unresolved (again, another classic smith troupe).
All I’ll say is, this certainly reads like a debut.
A book for those who prefer “style over substance”.
2.75/3 stars
This was such a strange reading experience, to see such a -now highly established, author, at the very start of her craft. We see hints of her latter associated USPs -in particular, her S T U N N I N G use of prose (though perhaps suffering from being a tad too poetically indulgent at times). As well as her fragmented, interwoven structure. With Like being a novel comprised of two halves. Of which, are (loosely) connected by a past relationship (no spoilers here). Where a lot is left unsaid and unresolved (again, another classic smith troupe).
All I’ll say is, this certainly reads like a debut.
A book for those who prefer “style over substance”.
2.75/3 stars
April 13, 2025
I would rate the writing and plot of this differently.
Most beautiful writing but sometimes hard to pick up. Would love to discuss thoughts on the characters with someone because I’ve never been so torn…
Most beautiful writing but sometimes hard to pick up. Would love to discuss thoughts on the characters with someone because I’ve never been so torn…
Read
July 14, 2019This was my first Ali Smith, and it's also her first book - I thought it was a realistic portrayal of attraction and manipulation between two young women. I would've appreciated more integration of the protagonists' parts and a less disjointed plot (if you can call it a plot...??) but I think that's part of Ali Smith's uniqueness and I like that about her, plus maybe I just need to concentrate more when I read.
March 24, 2022
this book rewired my brain. truly do not think anything has made me think about the nature of storytelling / who is narrating more than ash being mentioned only once in amy’s section when she’s brought up by another character vs ash’s entire section focusing so much on amy. this is crazyyyyyy
June 30, 2007
Another piece of scatterbrained genious from Smith. Oh! The metaphors. Oh! The burning passion of stupid young love.
January 7, 2008
3 and 1/2 stars. I liked it a lot, but it's not nearly as wonderful as the rest of Ali's work.
June 9, 2008
I enjoyed this, but felt the two halves didn't really hang together - I wanted to know more about Amy and Kate when the story suddenly switched to a completely different character.
September 23, 2018
Terceiro contacto com a escrita da autora e o primeiro romance que leio, pois os outros livros lidos foram de contos. Não me desilude!! Gosto da escrita da autora que nos leva a passar entre o passado e o presente da vida das suas personagens de forma bem criativa, poética e, ao mesmo tempo, com uma linguagem simples.
Este é o seu romance de estreia que nos conta a história de uma mãe e filha na procura por um sentido na vida, na busca e perda de identidade. Algo que a Ali Smith já me tinha mostrado nos seus contos. Um livro com uma história de amor e um toque de mistério.
(opinião completa em breve)
Este é o seu romance de estreia que nos conta a história de uma mãe e filha na procura por um sentido na vida, na busca e perda de identidade. Algo que a Ali Smith já me tinha mostrado nos seus contos. Um livro com uma história de amor e um toque de mistério.
(opinião completa em breve)
April 1, 2024
Ali’s astonishing first novel—now back in print!
August 22, 2021
You cannot fail to recognise the unique voice of Ali Smith in any of her novels and stories. She has a very distinctive style. This is her first novel, written in two parts and whilst it doesn't quite hang together as much as you may want, it still works well as we switch between Amy, Aisling and Kate.
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August 9, 2012I will try not to gush too much during what follows, but it is going to be hard, because Like is an astonishing debut novel and a wonderful read, and Ali Smith is very fast becoming one of my favourite contemporary authors.
The back cover of my edition has only some very vague general information on the novel and tells nothing about plot or characters, and in consequence I had no idea what to expect when I started it, which made for an interesting – and quite different – reading experience. And, in this case at least, a very apt one, too, as Like plays to some degree with reader expectations; so while I usually do not care very much, it turned out quite fortuitous that I went into this novel un-spoiled.
Like basically contains two tales, told by different narrators, narrators who like each other and who in some respects are like each other (while being very different in others) – the novel explores the full range of meanings and implications of this seemingly innocuous word, something I am starting to think of as characteristic for Ali Smith’s fiction - just like her predilection for puns, which already can be found in great variety and abundance in this debut novel. (“Shopping centaur”!) During the first narrator’s tale (taking up roughly the first half of the novel) the reader of course does not yet know about this bipartition, but there are many clues scattered about that hint at mysterious events in the narrator’s past, and a girl she apparently used to be in some way involved with.
That girl then turns out to be narrator of Like's second half. Her tale is mostly retrospective, telling about her past and her relationship with the first narrator. Her looking back takes place in a clearly described present (while she is visiting with her father), however, and I doubt there is a single reader going into Like unprepared who does not expect the novel’s strands to merge in some way, the two narrators to meet again. But of course (“of course” in retrospect, of course) this does not happen, there is no reunion, tearful or otherwise, but instead the lives of the two narrators, after having intersected for a while in the past, continue to move apart. Or maybe a better to but it would be that they move side by side, as Ali Smith weaves a tight net of thematic similarities and shared imagery not just between present and past, but also between the narrators, showing how their separate lives have become suffused with their relationship, even where they are not aware of it.
Also, and again thwarting reader expectations, there are quite a few things left unexplained in this novel; the first part in particular introduces several mysteries that the second emphatically does not resolve in any manner. Although I will have to add here that I might simply have missed some clues - this being the downside of not knowing anything about the novel beforehand: I just did not know what to look out for (which is also the reason why – in most cases – I do not mind spoilers all that much: a spoiled reader is a more attentive reader). I will find out once I get around to re-reading Like which I am quite confident I will eventually do – once I have read all of Ali Smith’s other works, of course.
Like does not read like a first novel at all, neither is it clumsy and awkward, nor is its author over-eager to show off her skills (considerable as they are). This is a very un-ostentatious novel that for all its quietude and unassuming habitus runs a lot of risks and navigates them all, resulting in a novel that is both challenging to the reader’s intellect and deeply moving – there is a strong undertow of emotions pulling at the reader that is all the more powerful for not being obvious but spreading its influence below an apparently still surface. I’ll glady repeat myself and say again that Like is a wonderful novel and Ali Smith a marvellous writer.
The back cover of my edition has only some very vague general information on the novel and tells nothing about plot or characters, and in consequence I had no idea what to expect when I started it, which made for an interesting – and quite different – reading experience. And, in this case at least, a very apt one, too, as Like plays to some degree with reader expectations; so while I usually do not care very much, it turned out quite fortuitous that I went into this novel un-spoiled.
Like basically contains two tales, told by different narrators, narrators who like each other and who in some respects are like each other (while being very different in others) – the novel explores the full range of meanings and implications of this seemingly innocuous word, something I am starting to think of as characteristic for Ali Smith’s fiction - just like her predilection for puns, which already can be found in great variety and abundance in this debut novel. (“Shopping centaur”!) During the first narrator’s tale (taking up roughly the first half of the novel) the reader of course does not yet know about this bipartition, but there are many clues scattered about that hint at mysterious events in the narrator’s past, and a girl she apparently used to be in some way involved with.
That girl then turns out to be narrator of Like's second half. Her tale is mostly retrospective, telling about her past and her relationship with the first narrator. Her looking back takes place in a clearly described present (while she is visiting with her father), however, and I doubt there is a single reader going into Like unprepared who does not expect the novel’s strands to merge in some way, the two narrators to meet again. But of course (“of course” in retrospect, of course) this does not happen, there is no reunion, tearful or otherwise, but instead the lives of the two narrators, after having intersected for a while in the past, continue to move apart. Or maybe a better to but it would be that they move side by side, as Ali Smith weaves a tight net of thematic similarities and shared imagery not just between present and past, but also between the narrators, showing how their separate lives have become suffused with their relationship, even where they are not aware of it.
Also, and again thwarting reader expectations, there are quite a few things left unexplained in this novel; the first part in particular introduces several mysteries that the second emphatically does not resolve in any manner. Although I will have to add here that I might simply have missed some clues - this being the downside of not knowing anything about the novel beforehand: I just did not know what to look out for (which is also the reason why – in most cases – I do not mind spoilers all that much: a spoiled reader is a more attentive reader). I will find out once I get around to re-reading Like which I am quite confident I will eventually do – once I have read all of Ali Smith’s other works, of course.
Like does not read like a first novel at all, neither is it clumsy and awkward, nor is its author over-eager to show off her skills (considerable as they are). This is a very un-ostentatious novel that for all its quietude and unassuming habitus runs a lot of risks and navigates them all, resulting in a novel that is both challenging to the reader’s intellect and deeply moving – there is a strong undertow of emotions pulling at the reader that is all the more powerful for not being obvious but spreading its influence below an apparently still surface. I’ll glady repeat myself and say again that Like is a wonderful novel and Ali Smith a marvellous writer.
March 4, 2025
“…we were two girls hanging around in an old rotting theatre, blindly taking steps towards and away from each other like it was all that mattered, like it meant something.”
I’ve been putting off writing this one for a while, both out of a difficulty verbalising my thoughts, and the daunting task of living up to the pretty excessive review I wrote for the last Ali Smith book I read. Similarly, I also put off reading Like, as I was a bit worried about losing an essence of the Ali Smith mystery; her first novel, the proto-smith, felt like it would include a rawness that showed some of the inner workings of the complex, cerebral body of her later works. I didn’t want to spoil that, and in a way, it did- but like finishing a puzzle, I had to slot in this piece and eventually end the fun of reading her complete works. Anyway, this isn’t a review.
What to say about Like? What is it Like? That’s the question, really, though not the central question I alluded to in my last review- the donut-hole of aporia Smith has a tendency to dance around in her narrative (though this certainly does exist in Like as we wonder Just What Happened to Amy and Ash). Instead, this seems to be the real query of her explorative first novel that dances (or fights) between England and Scotland, Academic and Pastoral, Fear and Wonder; in the 90’s, as women, what (was) is it Like?
Brilliant in flow, far more direct than her later prose, Like asks us to consider just that, what it’s like to live, to love, to grow, and, at various points of life, to look back and think about what we’ve done. How do we see the past compared to others who lived it too? How do we consider the relationships we made and missed? How do we get on with it when everything is either going too fast or not moving at all?
A fantastic read and debut, Like perhaps isn’t as polished as her later novels, and she seems to miss the mark sometimes in elevating certain questions before shuffling onto the next, but Like is still well worth the time. It’s also excellently sapphic. As with all her books, I found myself staring into the middle distance after finishing, wondering what it’s really like to be here- and would anyone else agree with me if I wrote it down?
I’ve been putting off writing this one for a while, both out of a difficulty verbalising my thoughts, and the daunting task of living up to the pretty excessive review I wrote for the last Ali Smith book I read. Similarly, I also put off reading Like, as I was a bit worried about losing an essence of the Ali Smith mystery; her first novel, the proto-smith, felt like it would include a rawness that showed some of the inner workings of the complex, cerebral body of her later works. I didn’t want to spoil that, and in a way, it did- but like finishing a puzzle, I had to slot in this piece and eventually end the fun of reading her complete works. Anyway, this isn’t a review.
What to say about Like? What is it Like? That’s the question, really, though not the central question I alluded to in my last review- the donut-hole of aporia Smith has a tendency to dance around in her narrative (though this certainly does exist in Like as we wonder Just What Happened to Amy and Ash). Instead, this seems to be the real query of her explorative first novel that dances (or fights) between England and Scotland, Academic and Pastoral, Fear and Wonder; in the 90’s, as women, what (was) is it Like?
Brilliant in flow, far more direct than her later prose, Like asks us to consider just that, what it’s like to live, to love, to grow, and, at various points of life, to look back and think about what we’ve done. How do we see the past compared to others who lived it too? How do we consider the relationships we made and missed? How do we get on with it when everything is either going too fast or not moving at all?
A fantastic read and debut, Like perhaps isn’t as polished as her later novels, and she seems to miss the mark sometimes in elevating certain questions before shuffling onto the next, but Like is still well worth the time. It’s also excellently sapphic. As with all her books, I found myself staring into the middle distance after finishing, wondering what it’s really like to be here- and would anyone else agree with me if I wrote it down?
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