"One of the things you’re not allowed to say in this country is that the tyrant is a tyrant."

I went into this story completely blind and in some ways I'm a little regretful of that. Ali Smith is new to me, but I'm at least passingly familiar with her style; however, I was not expecting this strange, big-brother-esque dystopia as narrated by children. The relationship between the narrator sibling and their little sister was interesting, and the way the narrative bent time and perspective equally so. I was immediately drawn in by the appearance of the mother and the abandonment by their acting guardian, but I felt a little lost drifting in the stream of consciousness until I bumped into the future/present voice of the sibling and began to put the whole picture together. I loved the significance of words throughout the story, especially the refrains of 'horse' and 'gliff', yet I feel like I might have missed some of the meaning of the body of the text while I was trying to figure out the larger arc of the story.

I'm planning to reread Prophet Song soon, and I think that may be a strong reference or recommendation for readers of Gliff.

Thank you to Pantheon for the opportunity to read and review!

"So I’ve spent the last five years of my life not letting myself think any of this. Occasionally though, over this time, a sharp-edged piece of it surfaced in me anyway, like a pottery fragment of something that was once a plate or a cup, an ordinary household thing, will if you’re digging in the ground , and you see it, pick it up, wipe the earth off it and turn it over in your hand."

In Ali Smith's latest novel Gliff, narrator Bri is recalling events spent with sister Rose, a time they were separated from their mother and moved to a "safe" house where they were left to fend for themselves. They were children. They befriended a horse. 

The circumstances are unsettling, the setting a vaguely dystopian future where there are "unverifieds" and a family might wake up to its house surrounded by a freshly painted red boundary line, indicating it's time for them to move on. Bri and Rose are barely surviving, sheltering with other unverifieds. And the horse. 

It's dreamy, it's sad, it's harrowing, it's laugh out loud funny. Ali Smith's signature playful prose make this a novel that lingers, that is worthy of long, uninterrupted reading. 

"Is your name really Colon? I said. He spelled it. It really was. Who called you that? Everyone calls me it. My father. My brother. Have you got a little brother called Semi? my sister said. Or are you named after an ancestor’s intestines? He looked bewildered. Is your second name Ization? my sister said. I laughed."

Gliff will have a companion novel, Glyph, published later this year. I'll be in line...

My thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the digital ARC. Gliff is out February 4, 2025.

Finding hope and humor in a grim future

Two British siblings are living in a future world defined by strict rules and near complete surveillance, and they have unfortunately found themselves outside the accepted boundaries of it. As "unverifiables" Brice (later Briar) and Rose are looked at with suspicion, kept separate from those who live according to the dictates of society and are even in line for a form of re-education; a brave new world indeed. They set off on a journey that sees them cross paths with a horse named Griff (which in Scotland, the reader is told, means a transient moment, a shock, or a faint glimpse). As the pair search for a way to maintain their freedom in this dystopian world that does not value it, Gliff provides them with hope and a way to connect.
When I think of dystopian fiction I don't often consider humor to be an integral part of its makeup, but here author Ali Smith finds a way to weave it into the story, one rendered through the both innocent and perceptive views of the two young protagonists. For those anxious about a world of increasing technological advances which increase the level of surveillance possible to inflict upon the people of the world as well as the encouragement of divisions that separate us all into groups of "accepted" and "other" rather than identifying ways to make all become "us", this story will take you along one path towards which we may all be headed. The author's imagination and gift for language make this an interesting tale which confronts several issues confronting today's world, issuing a chilling warning of what could happen while showing the resilience of human nature which in turn offers hope. Readers of authors like Rachel Kushner, Ian McEwan and of course Aldous Huxley might find this novel of appeal. My thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor/Pantheon Books for allowing me access to a copy of Gliff in exchange for my honest review.

In a not too distant future, where Chanel, Gucci and Nike continue to operate in tourist venues, two young teens, Brice or Briar,the non-binary narrator of Smith’s inventive speculative novel, and their sister, Rose, accompany their mother’s partner, Leif, as he ferries their mother to her new job at a fancy hotel. When the trio return home, their house is ominously encircled in red paint and Leif urges that it is time to go. After their camper is also marked with red paint in the Tesco lot where they had spent the night, Leif leaves Briar and Rose in an abandoned house with cans of tinned food and some cash, promising that he will return in a fortnight. They eventually join a group of “unverifiables” who are squatting in a former school where they have access to a telephone, but they are unable to contact Leif, whose number was disconnected, or their mother, as the hotel claimed there was nobody by her name working there.

Booker-prize nominated Smith has created a world of environmental collapse and pandemics (we are told that there were lockdowns, and when they were lifted, people were delighted to return to the theater) with a populace under government surveillance and subject to data collectors: “cultural threats were everywhere according to the socialnet and social web.” As the novel progresses, we learn that the machine that paints red lines around houses and individuals is called a Supera Bounder resulting in the eradication of whatever is inside the red lines. Some people are described as “immortals’ while others are “temporary” or “unverifiables” who are subject to “re-education,” receiving foul jobs tending to human excrement and industrial waste, while children were given jobs suited to their small hand sizes, like removing metal from old batteries, resulting in horrific injuries. Although not specified, it seems that the duo’s mother — who thought smartphones were liabilities — was sacked for engaging in whistleblowing activities when she was the publicist for a chemical company causing the family to be deemed “unverifiables.”

Inquisitive Briar and Rose bring a sense of wonder to the dystopian story, saving a horse Rose names Gliff (“like cliff with a G”) destined for the slaughterhouse. Smith’s dark vision is lightened by her innovative and engaging wordplay. Smith presents various definitions for the word “gliff,” a word that is polysemous, i.e., “a word that doesn’t just mean so many things, it can also mean all of them and none of them at once.” She opens a chapter with the words “Brave new world” and then presents variations on that theme: “rave new old,” “rave no,” “rave no us.” This is a challenging book that requires the reader to think. I understand that Smith will follow this novel with Glyph, which “will tell a story that is hidden in the first [book].” I cannot wait to return to this unsettling dystopia.

Forever love Ali Smith. Some beautiful writing here, and feels very classic Smith. Sad, heartbreaking. Maybe the right time for the book, maybe the absolute wrong time. She creates a world that isn’t quite our present, but a near-future that feels unnervingly plausible given today’s political, economic and social climate.

Ali Smith does dystopia. Fans know that she enjoys playing with words and this is a prime example of that. You, like me. might get lost in the language and lose track of the relatively slim plot which is heavy on warnings about, well, you'll see. While it wasn't my favorite of her works, it was interesting to spend time with her mind. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. For fans of literary fiction.

For anyone familiar with her body of work, it is very difficult to dispute the fact that Ali Smith is one of the greatest writers of our era. I've been a fan of hers since I read How To Be Both in my first undergrad English lit class. I remember reading it for hours down in my dorm's basement laundry room, shocked and delighted by Smith's playful grammar and profoundly human characters. The experience of reading How To Be Both was foundational to my love of literature.

All of which is to say — I'm a fan of Smith's. I am familiar with her style — poetic, post-structuralist, dreamy, and joyfully confusing — so the novel's format wasn't surprising. I enjoyed reading Gliff. Spending time with Smith's prose is always a delightful and worthwhile experience. However, Gliff didn't captivate me as much as I had hoped it would. The dystopian setting felt thin to me, mismatched with the novel's tone and narrative structure. Additionally, I found the pacing uneven. I wanted to love Gliff, but reading it left me underwhelmed.

I think it's worth noting that I wasn't exactly in the proper Ali Smith headspace when I picked up this novel, around the time of the US inauguration. Smith's books require patience and dedication. I'm not sure that, at this point in my life, I was ready to rise to the occasion. Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading Gliff and would recommend it to fans of more challenging literary fiction. Like I said, Smith is one of my favorite authors, and I always enjoy her work, even when it doesn't quite meet my expectations.

Many thanks to Pantheon and NetGalley for providing this e-gally!

Ali Smith is a new author for me, so I was curious to read her newest, "Gliff." The story of two sisters and a horse in a dystopian future was compelling, but I did have to get used to the way Smith uses language to tell a story. It's like stream-of-consciousness or poetry. However, I don't mind doing extra work as a reader, and in this case it was worth it. Will be looking for more books by this author. Recommended. Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon for the ARC. Pub Date. is March 6, 2025.

#Gliff

I usually like reading dystopian books but this was not the book for me. I spent the first third of the book so confused that I had to stop and read reviews to understand the book. Even after understanding, I never embraced the world. Fortunately, it was pretty short.

intricately hypnotic in the weirdest way possible in a near future that feels so close to now and yet completely not. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of Gliff in exchange for an honest review.

WOW, what a story. Dystopian but also just barely—near future that is believable, eerily so. Ali Smith is a master—her prose is so taut that each sentence and every word adds to and propels her story forward.

This book is shorter than some but when each word matters, it packs a punch.

What happens when the government takes more power and control away from citizens? What happens when you can’t choose to live your life in a way you want because the government says you can’t? These themes were striking, particularly reading this as an American during inauguration week.

This book is incredible, a compelling story told by a master of the craft. You can’t go wrong picking this one up and sitting with its themes. Highly recommend!

Once again, Ali Smith delivers a stunning exploration of language, our current dangerous political atmosphere, and a warning about what will inevitably come next. She throws us right into the story right away, and while she doesn’t give us explicit explanations (which is great), she guides us to understand that this isn’t our time, but it very well could be, and we should be scared. Lovely characters both ethereal and grounded. Poignant and moving, sad and hopeful. I’m excited that a connected novel, Glyph, is also coming out this year. I’ll read anything she writes. I especially loved the way the characters loved each other; “I am all my me’s.”

Didn’t enjoy the wordplay here. It read like a strange work from AI. Found it hard to get into the story as a result. Just not for me I suppose.

Dear Author,

Having never read your works before I was compelled by the cover and the meaning of Gliff. This story of two young sisters and a horse in a world collapsing in on itself was beautifully melancholia, intertwined with a bright sense of hope.

Thank you,

J.D. McCoughtry

Thank you, NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for this e-ARC.

Ali Smith has once again changed genres and produced a masterpiece.
She has created a strange, big new world while keeping the story very small. No need to revert to sweeping descriptions of global disaster leading to authoritarianism - the story of two abandoned siblings and their discovery of a horse tells it all.
Below the surface lie what I suspect Smith is worried about: concern about the direction our modern world is taking, environmental destruction, the impact of smartphones on creativity and the lack of independent thinking.

What's absolutely haunting about this story is how easily this dystopian world could come to be. This is my first Ali Smith book so I really didn't know what to expect. I enjoyed the writing and the themes woven throughout the story were very well done. The ending does leave you with a bit of hope, but many unanswered questions. According to other reviewers, there is going to be another installment that comes out next year. I can't wait to pick it up!

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for this arc

Thought-provoking and haunting. A quiet dystopian that feels all too plausible. I haven’t read Brave New World (*gasp*), so I’m looking forward to reading other reviews to see if there were Easter eggs in Gliff that went over my head.

Futuristic surveillance state cautionary tale was not what I expected from Ali Smith - but, as with most subjects, she created a book I raced through, with some hope at the end.

This was my first Ali Smith, and it won’t be my last.

In Gliff, Smith drops you into a world that makes little sense and gets only more confusing as the story unravels, but she does this in such a tender way that you feel capable of exploring what she’s set out for you.

To be honest, I have no idea what she’s doing half the time. She makes my brain hurt in the best way possible. There are two children named Briar and Rose, a horse called Gliff, lots of living off the grid, and something sinister going on with data collection. I’m curious to read more reviews when this comes out so I can see what people more intelligent than me made of it all.

“Sometimes I think you're a very old and wise person disguised as you, I said.
Thanks, she said.
And sometimes, I said, I think you're one of the youngest greenest people I'll ever know.
I am all my me's, she said. I am complete.”

Thank you to NetGalley, Pantheon, and Ali Smith for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

"Gliff" by Ali Smith is a book that may not resonate with every reader, but that is part of its unique charm.

The story unfolds like a modern fairy tale, set against the backdrop of a near-dystopian future that feels both haunting and eerily familiar. The narrative departs from traditional storytelling, reading more like a lyrical exploration or a poem.

Throughout the book, Smith employs wordplay, emphasizing the importance of pedantic rules and the creation and observance of boundaries in an increasingly metaphorical and literal toxic environment.

This artsy work feels like a rumination on language, literature, and the social dynamics of our time. Those who approach it with an open mind and a willingness to embrace its innovative structure and style may find it rewarding or thought-provoking.

Thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for providing the advanced reader's copy (ARC).