Although the central theme of The
Accidental is of an unhappy middle class family who do not communicate with
each other, which is at best well-worn, Ali Smith’s novel is mesmerizing.  It
is told by the four members of the family, in their different voices, and the
mysterious visitor Amber who stays with them in their holiday home. (The audio
book uses five actors in the performance, one for each of the main characters,
and this works well.)   Astrid is twelve years old, and her brother Magnus is
seventeen.  Their parents are Michael, who teaches literature at a local
university, and Eve, who has written a series of commercially successful books
about the lives of people who were killed in the Second World War. 

This Smart family has left their London
home to spend the summer in rural Norfolk.  Astrid carries an expensive camera
around with her everywhere, filming everything.  She spends most of her time
alone, thinking about the world, trying to entertain herself.  Magnus spends
most of his time alone in his room, not even staying with his family at
dinner.  He is a geeky awkward boy who has done something at school he deeply
regrets, and he seems very depressed.  Their stepfather Michael is a
philandering middle-aged man embroiled in department politics.  Eve spends her
days sitting at her word processor trying to work on the next book in her
series, and has little time for the rest of her family.  Then one day a woman called
Amber turns up at the house and ends up staying with them.  The children become
devoted to Amber and the family starts talking to each other again.  Amber has
almost a magical effect on them, allowing each of them to live better lives and
feel real emotions.  Amber remains an elusive figure throughout the book,
leaving us wonder where she came from and whether she is hiding from people in
her past.  She tells the truth about people around her, although it quickly
becomes clear that others are not ready to hear the truth. 

Smith’s language varies according
to the voice of the person she is writing in.  Astrid’s words are simple and
her sentences are short.  While it is inconceivable that a 12-year-old would
actually talk to herself as eloquently as Astrid does, she is nevertheless a
convincing character, with quirky interests and typical reactions.  Similarly,
Magnus’ thoughts are convincing despite being very unlike the real internal
stream of consciousness of a teen boy.  Michael comes across as the least
likeable of the family, pompous and self-satisfied, pleased with his own
cleverness.  Eve seems lost, out of touch with her family, and uncomfortable
with her life.  All four of these characters are intriguing, and we want to
know what happens to them.  Yet at the same time, they seem to be abstractions
in some sense, the whole novel being a thesis about modern society.  Yet, with
the unexplained figure of Amber, who seems in some ways like the author
confronting her characters with their problems, makes it difficult to know
exactly what the thesis is.

We might expect that once the
family starts talking to each other and the children cheer up, their problems
would be solved.  It is not so simple, however.  Magnus’ troubles were not just
his own personal emotions; he had helped other boys create a composite image of
a girl with her head on a pornographic image of another woman, and then emailed
it out to a school email list.  The girl had then killed herself.  Amber takes
away Magnus’ depression about his actions by carrying on an affair with him. 
He is 17 and she is in her thirties.  They are secretive, and deceive the rest
of the family about their trysts.   Magnus does not own up to his parents about
how he has contributed to another’s suicide.  Once Amber moves in with the
family, Michael falls in love with her, but she does not encourage him.  He
does not own up to his series of affairs with his students.  Eve does not spend
any more time with her children: Amber simply acts as a friend to Astrid, but
she is not a real friend.  Amber’s actions are not altruistic, and her motives
seem selfish.  Amber herself seems entirely isolated and emotionally closed. 
So Amber is not providing a solution to the family’s troubles. 

Even the title of the book, The Accidental,
suggests it is about an abstract theme, the role of accidents and coincidences
in life; moral luck and fate.  The story is open to multiple interpretations,
although the ending does not leave much room for optimism about the possibility
of happiness.  Yet the tone of the writing seems more important than the plot:
Smith conveys some sympathy for the preoccupations and problems of her
characters, but impatience too.  She wins the reader over by raising questions
about what happens at certain dramatic moments, and then cleverly dissolving
the resulting tensions.  Time flows backwards and forwards, and the characters
become concerned with small bizarre ideas.  The reader is kept off balance,
wondering what is going on, almost in a battle of wits with the author.  There
is no moral center to the story, and the reader is never quite reassured.  This
makes Smith’s novel striking, memorable, and more provocative than most that
address family dysfunction.   Highly recommended.

Link: Highbridge
Audiobook

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© 2006 Christian Perring. All
rights reserved.