Tournament of Books discussion

location to discuss the Tournament of Rooster winners book: The Accidental by Ali Smith

I am reading (listening to) this one now - it's one of just three I haven't read on the Super-Rooster list! SO EXCITING.

I look forward to hearing from others about this book. I thought "How to Be Both" was completely brilliant. This one I've not yet read.

This is one of the few from the list I haven’t read at least once. I see the audio is available on Hoopla so I’m going to start here with my read/reread of the winners list.

I haven’t really gotten along with the Ali Smith books I’ve tried in the past but this one seems like a more straightforward narrative so I’m looking forward to it.

I'm over 100 pages into this book and still struggling. Is it worth it to keep going or should I move on to the next super-rooster book on my list?

Aw, it’s one of my favorites! (I read it years ago and listened last year. LOVED the audio.) But I just love Ali Smith in general. If
you didn’t like the beginning, there’s probably no point in continuing.

I love and adore Ali Smith now, but I didn't really click with her books until Autumn, which was the 3rd book of hers I'd read. Reading that one felt like I unlocked something somehow. I haven't gone back to reread The Accidental since, and I'm wondering if I'd connect better with it now.

Sduff222 wrote: "I love and adore Ali Smith now, but I didn't really click with her books until Autumn, which was the 3rd book of hers I'd read. Reading that one felt like I unlocked something somehow. I haven't go..."

Maybe the third time is the charm? I still need to read this for the Super Rooster and have read so far only There But For The and Autumn. Some authors have been like that for me...right time, right place and BOOM. Crossing my fingers it will be that way for The Accidental.

So I ended up going ahead and finishing it. I did enjoy the writing style, but nothing about the characters or plot intrigued me. Ah well, on to the next one.

I just finished this one for the first time. I loved it. I loved how one character—Amber—could be so many different things to the different family members. They all needed her in some way, and they all responded to her strongly, but in very different ways. Almost like Amber was a dark, adult-version of Mary Poppins. And the ending was truly brilliant—bringing everything full circle in a clever way.

Gwendolyn wrote: " Amber was a dark, adult-version of Mary Poppins"

Yes...if not a little rape-y.