Look At You
by Amanda Smyth
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Pub Date Apr 24 2025 | Archive Date Apr 24 2025
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Description
Look at You is a novel in stories that follows the young narrator as she navigates the complexities of growing up in a divided family.
Shifting between Trinidad and England, the writing is shapely, alive and has the grace to offer the reader space as privileged witness, eavesdropper – of being there – without manipulation or elbow-holding. This book grabs the attention elegantly, with sharp dialogue, acuteness of detail in observation, and the joy of meeting complex characters, worthy of attention. The frank and engaging narrator, recognising both the independent otherness of the people she writes about, has an alert eye for moments of epiphany, absurdity, sadness and comedy.
'Amanda Smyth writes like a descendant of Jean Rhys...a born novelist' ALI SMITH
‘Smyth’s writing is as lushly beautiful as the landscape she describes’ THE TIMES
‘Like Alice Walker, Smyth vividly and empathetically re-creates gender and racial tensions’ ELLE MAGAZINE
Advance Praise
“Delicate, beautiful, intensely moving. Her best yet.” Claire Adam
“Through a succession of vignettes that quietly build and blossom and a minimalist prose that masterfully illuminates the inner lives of individuals inhabiting complex worlds, Amanda Smyth has created a marvellous tapestry of a novel.” Chloe Aridjis
“A beautiful, moving, and cleverly structured collage of a novel where huge tectonic plates of emotions grind and move under the surface of cool, spare, radiant prose.” Neel Mukherjee
“Look At You sinks seamlessly into the reader’s heart and consciousness. Smyth's pared back, understated prose guides us to big feelings and considerable drama… Smyth writes like a lovechild of Jean Rhys. A remarkable novel. I loved it.” Monique Roffey
“What an engaging and absorbing novelist Amanda Smyth is, always coming at complex human relationships, passions, misunderstandings and loyalties from an unusual angle, and in beautifully crafted prose.” Amanda Craig
“Look At You uses an almost filmic montage of setting, incident and character to reveal the complexity of its central character. Every chapter has the precision and subtlety of a short story and together they offer just enough continuity to allow the reader to be both carried by the overall narrative but also to be becalmed in the simple understanding of how it is to be a person without direction, essentially alone in the world. The mixing – the editing – of these vignettes is beautifully executed. Worlds open up, understanding is granted, the pages flew by.”Jonathan Davidson
“Unfurling with an unassuming grace that belies its cumulative power, Look at You is beguiling, engrossing, penetrating, real.” Claire Kilroy
Available Editions
EDITION | Paperback |
ISBN | 9781845235895 |
PRICE | £10.99 (GBP) |
PAGES | 172 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews

there were many moments i was close to tears when i read this. as someone that’s going through a phase of asking myself where i wanna go, where my place is in the world, and who serves my love and who doesn’t, this was such a beautiful read.

I enjoyed that this book has a collection of stories and it's all about the same character. The plot of this worked well overall and was hooked from the first story and was invested in the character. Amanda Smyth wrote this perfectly and left me wanting to read more from them.
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