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How to be Both

By Ali Smith
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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
How to be Both by Ali Smith is a cleverly structured novel that intertwines two distinct narratives across time. The story explores themes of art, love, and identity through the eyes of a Renaissance artist and a contemporary teenager grieving the loss of their mother. The novel brilliantly plays with form, challenging traditional storytelling approaches by offering alternative ways to experience its intertwined tales.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book may appeal to you if you enjoy narratives that blend different time periods and perspectives, offering a unique exploration of art, identity, and connection. The innovative structure challenges traditional storytelling, providing an enriching reading experience that invites reflection on the fluidity of life and art. You'll find delight in its wit and emotional depth.

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How to be Both

Borrowing from painting's fresco technique to make an original literary double-take, this book features forms, times, truths and fictions.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

The runner-up for the Man Booker Prize and one of the top sellers on the shortlist - now in paperback.

Passionate, compassionate, vitally inventive and scrupulously playful, Ali Smith's novels are like nothing else.

How to be Both is a novel all about art's versatility. Borrowing from painting's fresco technique to make an original literary double-take, it's a fast-moving genre-bending conversation between forms, times, truths and fictions. There's a renaissance artist of the 1460s. There's the child of a child of the 1960s. Two tales of love and injustice twist into a singular yarn where time gets timeless, structural gets playful, knowing gets mysterious, fictional gets real - and all life's givens get given a second chance.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Ali Smith's How to be both has been lauded as an inventive and exuberant masterpiece, blending past and present with creativity and wit. Critics praise its sophisticated structure, dual narratives, and vibrant prose, calling it both a joyful and challenging read. The novel is celebrated for its distinctive voice and emotional depth, with reviewers noting its ability to enchant and engage readers across different eras and themes.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780141025209

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 16 April 2015

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Penguin Books Ltd

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 28.0mm

Width: 128.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 270g

Pages: 384

Collections

Ali Smith Featured Fiction General Fiction Literary Fiction New Release Fiction New Zealand's Best Selling Books Penguin Books

About the Author

Ali Smith was born in Inverness in 1962. She is the author of Free Love and Other Stories, Like, Other Stories and Other Stories, Hotel World, The Whole Story and Other Stories, The Accidental, Girl Meets Boy, The First Person and Other Stories, There but for the, Artful, How to be both, and Public library and other stories. Hotel World was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Orange Prize and The Accidental was shortlisted for the Man Booker and the Orange Prize. How to be both won the Baileys Prize, the Goldsmiths Prize and the Costa Novel Award and was shortlisted for the Man Booker and the Folio Prize. Ali Smith lives in Cambridge and her next novel is forthcoming in 2016.

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