Smith, Ali. <Spring>

Smith's got a natural talent in storytelling. <Spring> is the third book of her seasonal quartet of which initial objective was to project a streak of 'on-time' political novels that would directly reflect the status quo of Britain without a delay. And I do not object at all that the three of her novels that I have read up to now have served the purpose stunningly well. Smith amalgamates unimaginably difficult and distant subjects - namely, different genres of the arts, immigrant *crisis*, detainment issues, personal loss, and the subtleties of seasonal change - under the eponymous single keyword. As if spring, especially April, much connotes hopefulness to people, each character representing distinct domestic/international - it has become extremely abrasive and complicated matter to distinguish between these two - issues resolves their own problems in the novel. It is of no use to try to write a plot summary for Smith's seasonal quartet. Above the recital of what happened, how the thread unravels or gets more entangled is way more critical. One is given quite a chance to reflect about the things he either neglected or really dismissed while reading. About the way Britain treats immigrants - or asylum seekers, about the way a so-called developed nation treats its own citizens who cannot afford to sustain a humanly livable routine, about the consequence those raised under the root nominated modern yet dubbed ruth/remorse/merci/heartless necessarily have had to face, about media brutality, about responsibility, and about an individual agaisnt a system. The writer discusses numerous topics on the same plane, but it isn't unnatural since we the readers are already dealing with multiple complexities all at the same time. The concurrentness is the inevitable nature of handling our lives. Richard mourns the death of his dear friend/lover/companion Paddy, locked up in his own world that does not progrsss since the 1970s. In contrast, Brit, pressured and locked up around the four walls of now, cannot escape her own provinicial perspective. These two protagonists lead their own narratives in part one and two, respectively, then as "Spring is the connective," their once parallel lines cross at one point. A single peculiary day on which Brit the security(SA4A) guard who contributes to unjustly detaining immigrants allows and eventually follows, even fears for the loss of a magical girl who breaks laws and conventions (for good), then unexpectedly meets Richard the filmmaker in a random place up in Scotland - Cullovan - and ending up getting cramped in a narrow car front with a local female librarian who detests and secretly aids the (illegal) liberation of the detainees at the DCO. Whatever the processs might have been, there certainly exist a way in which people of different background, such as age, sex, origin, and political orientation, might get mingled. Ali Smith does not show that the instant union of the four people leading up to an ultimate success. Instead, those four people, after that strange day, again return to their own stories seemingly without any dramatic changes. However, what I noted is that at least they became conscious of their situation more vividly. Before they were just thrown into a cloud of literally *things*. However, now they at least know what thet are up to. The writer concocts the year-long realisation very artfully and wittily. Once got accustomed to the style of prose, won't stop laughing at her humour. Trivialities rule over the grave. And I can't wait to finish the last piece of the seasonal quartet before this summer ends.

Smith, Ali. <Spring>. Penguin Books, 2020.