AUTUMN by Ali Smith

Elisabeth is a child when she meets her elderly neighbor Daniel Gluck.  He has written myriad song lyrics and introduces Elisabeth to art by describing paintings.  They become close friends, despite their age difference.  Fast forward 25 or so years, and Daniel is almost comatose in a hospital bed.  Elisabeth reads at his side and reflects on her childhood with Daniel as sort of a life guide.  This is a strange book, and it did not appeal to me at all.  There is no plot whatsoever, and Daniel is the only character who is really developed, and even his portrait has major gaps.  He admired a little known artist named Pauline Boty, and I did not follow her story at all.  This book is largely about art, and it’s just way too artsy for me.  There are lots of references to trees and leaves, and they must have some connection to the title, but that connection escapes me.  At 102 years old, Daniel is well past the autumn of his life, so that metaphor doesn’t work, either.  One humorous and/or frustrating incident, or actually a series of incidents, is Elisabeth’s effort to get her expired passport renewed.  The clerks at the post office are hell-bent on finding something wrong with her photo each time she attempts to apply.  This recurring problem, plus the inordinate wait time involved, is funny, while at the same time a little too familiar in its bureaucratic nonsense.  The fact that she manages to circumvent this obstacle is cause for celebration, but it’s not enough to carry this novel.