Published by Hamish Hamilton
Ali Smith, author of acclaimed novels The Accidental and Hotel World, loves to use unconventional forms. The Booker Prize short-listed How To Be Both begins as a poem, changes to standard paragraphs, then goes back again to a poem; it is anything but an ordinary read.
The book is split into two sections; one following the spirit of the Renaissance painter Francesco del Cossa as he explores the modern world, and the other focusing on troubled teenager George.
It has been printed with the stories in different orders, as Smith insists that either can be read first.
Nicknamed the ‘heir to Virginia Woolf’, Smith explores the idea that gender isn’t fixed.
Del Cossa is born a girl but decides to become a boy to further her career, and when we first meet the somewhat androgynous looking George, she is presumed to be a boy. In fact, the entire novel proves that time, forms, genders and narratives can be changed.
Such an unusual book may seem intimidating on first glance; it certainly makes you think and it’s definitely worth reading up on Smith’s theories on it afterwards. However, the story flows effortlessly, and it’s an enjoyable, witty and gripping read.
This looks set to become her most talked-about novel yet; book clubs, literary academics and indeed every keen reader, will have a field day analysing it.