The Accidental by Ali Smith (2005): A Review

Title: The Accidental

Author: Ali Smith

Publication Year: 2005

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

Pages: 305

Source: book

Genre: literary fiction, postmodern, experimental

Awards: winner of the Whitbread Award; shortlisted for the Orange Prize, the Man Booker Prize, & James Tait Black Memorial Prize

In Ali Smith’s The Accidental, apparently, nothing is accidental, and everything is unbelievably weird. I’ve read five of her novels so far, and every single time I think, “Okay, this one is the weirdest,” only to pick up the next book and realize she has somehow leveled up on weird again.

What I adore about Smith is her style. I love books that leave me completely confused at the end, doubting my own reading comprehension, and low‑key wondering if I’m just not smart enough to know whether I understood anything at all. That’s my happy place, apparently.

Unlike her other novels, which often begin in the future or at the end and then rewind to the beginning or the middle, this one looks deceptively simple. It’s very linear – so linear that the sections are literally called “The Beginning,” “The Middle,” and “The End.” I’m fairly sure Smith is making fun of the whole idea of a straightforward plot here. Anyway, do not be fooled by this apparent clarity. You will get lost and possibly a bit angry.

First of all: who on earth is Amber? She feels like some kind of ethereal presence, always there, somehow fused with the film industry, and you have no idea whether she’s a savior, a perpetrator, or something even less convenient to categorize.

Then we have Michael, the husband: a thoroughly hateful academic jerk. Next is Eve (yes, that Eve-and-Adam Eve), who is almost unbearable in her own special way. Then there’s Magnus, about whom I had no idea how to feel – should I hate him or pity him? And finally, the daughter, Astrid, who left me not knowing what on earth I was supposed to do with her either.

What I love is how these people are connected through Smith’s signature move: multiple points of view circling the same scenes, with additional, character‑specific episodes branching off in different directions. I am a total sucker for experiments with time, space, POV – you name it. The book absolutely delivers on that front. Unfortunately, the characters themselves are so deeply unbearable that they made me so angry I considered giving the book three stars.

But then the last ten pages happened. Those final pages basically redeemed the whole thing. If I hadn’t spent most of the book seething at these people, it would have been an easy five stars. However, someone has to pay for making me that irritated, and that someone is the book. So: 4.5 stars.

Oh, and did I mention that you more or less need an encyclopedia of “things Ali Smith cares about” just to understand half the references? Without that, you won’t get even fifty percent of what’s going on. The intertextuality is on steroids, which is both one of the most delightful and one of the most disturbing features of Smith’s work.