The technology in "The Accidental" will strike some younger readers and hopelessly dated, and apparently the author has gone on to bigger and better things, but this one's still a novel that's well worth picking up. The writing, for one, is top-notch. Bad writers tend to use the same voice to transcribe the thoughts of all of their characters, and middling writers tend to write children as miniature adults. Smith's the rare writer that can give each of her characters -- pre-teen Astrid, moody teenager Magnus, and both of the adults in the Smart household -- voices that are unmistakably their own. Morose, haunted Magnus is beset by guilt while Astrid is in the first throes of thrilling adolescent discovery. Michael Smart is a posh British academic but far from a caricature. Eve frets and drifts, even as she finds herself on the brink of big-time literary fame. Smith never forgets that her characters see and talk about the world differently. Yes, that sounds like a pretty basic task if you're business is writing novels, but it's much harder to pull off than it sounds. By doing this, Smith, to put it bluntly, demonstrates that she's got the touch.

It would be easy to read "The Accidental" as a story about the fragility of British upper-class life and how one family's existence comes apart when Amber -- mysterious, impulsive, and strangely charismatic -- walks into their lives. But Smith also demonstrates her chops by not tying up all of her loose ends here. Amber's character stubbornly refuses analysis and even identification: we never even learn her last name, or whether or not Amber is indeed her real name. While each of the Smarts come off as a fully formed character, Amber remains, by contrast, entirely unknowable, a blank space that moves purposefully but chaotically through the story. It'd be easy to see her as a mere advantage-taker, and it's quite possible that that is all she is. But readers who go through this one carefully might conclude -- as I did -- that there's just enough about her behavior to call this judgment into question. The psychological needs that Amber satisfies in each member of the Smart family are, in the end, more real than anything we know about Amber herself. I can't help but respect authors who refuse to provide their readers with easy answers, and Smith's far too good a writer to simplify her story for the sake of a tidy ending. This one isn't perhaps, a life-changer, but it was the first novel of Smith's I'd ever read. It left no doubt in my mind that she's the real thing, and I hope that I'll be able to pick up more of her work soon. Recommended. ( )

No. This is NOT Literature. Trying to create a story of a problematic family and an enticing, mysterious stranger is all well and good. Describing intercourse with underage boys in horrifyingly heinous sentences, paragraphs, pages is completely UNACCEPTABLE. Throwing pseudo-intellectual, stream-of-consciousness passages is NOT Art. It is porn. And porn is NOT Literature. It is NOT Art. It is a degradation of human existence. It is NOT fashionable or feministic or any kind of "down with the patriarchy" nonsense. Ali Smith has done so much better. This novel is the definition of trash. And one more indication of the dubious criteria that dictate the Booker lists. For shame...Truly. When reviewers shamelessly gush about a novel, they take the writer's life and personal choices into account and pay little to no attention to the material itself. So, let's praise someone we ''like'' despite the fact that their latest work is absolute toilet-paper quality...

There is nothing ''postmodern'' or ''funny'' in this novel. All I found was a grotesque ugliness and a desperate attempt to appear ''modern'' and ''unique''...I suppose amateur readers who would like to appear ''educated'' and ''It'' may enjoy this. Seasoned readers beg to differ. ( )

The blurb on the inside of the book jacket sounded interesting and the first couple of chapters held my interest. I kept waiting for something to happen to reflect that book jacket blurb but for naught....... what a disappointment.. ( )

A tale of a typical nuclear family who, on holiday, unexpectedly welcome a visitor names Amber into their house and let her stay with them, and slowly let her change their lives.

Or rather, that's what the book starts off as, but it doesn't feel much like that to me.

I enjoyed the way the story is presented, with each character taking chapter of each section (Beginning, Middle and End) and exploring themselves in it. Agnes, the almost-teenager who was being bullied at school, finds a friend in Amber and finds the confidence to stand up to her bullies. Magnus, involved in the suicide of a fellow student, loses his virginity to Amber and learns to accept what happened and accept the consequences along with it. Michael, a lecherous English professor, pursues Amber only to be let down and then finally get caught out for his infidelity and abuse of power after several of his students who he has slept with speak out. And finally, Eve, a writer with very bad writer's block contemplating her next move in life.

I did enjoy the story, don't get me wrong, but I felt like I was being primed for something life changing and nothing really happened in the end. Sure, Michael and Magnus get their comeuppance, but other than that I just couldn't really feel like anything happened beyond that.

I will say, though, that the middle section from Michael written almost entirely as a poem was an absolute joy to read. If Smith writes poetry too, I would love to read that!! ( )

A for creativity and a unique writing style for sure, but this is just not my kind of book. There are just too many holes left for the reader to fill in and at times I had to re-read sections becuase I was just not connected to what was going on in the story. I appreciate the novel, but would not recommend. ( )