Girl Meets Boy: The Myth of Iphis - Hardcover

Smith, Ali

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1841958697 ISBN 13: 9781841958699

Publisher: Canongate Books, 2007

Synopsis

Girl meets boy. It's a story as old as time. But what happens when an old story meets a brand new set of circumstances? Ali Smith's re-mix of Ovid's most joyful metamorphosis is a story about the kind of fluidity that can't be bottled and sold. It is about girls and boys, girls and girls, love and transformation, a story of puns and doubles, reversals and revelations. Funny and fresh, poetic and political, Girl meets boy is a myth of metamorphosis for the modern world.

About this title

Review:

"A glorious wide-awake dream of a book...Smith is a gravely moral writer - and that is partly why her contribution to the world of myth is so powerful. . . By the time I finished the book, my heart was beating and tears stood in my eyes, even as I had the biggest smile written all over my face." (Kirsty Gunn Observer 2007-10-28)

"In this modern-day reinterpretation, Ali Smith, with humour and typical linguistic versatility, explores issues of homophobia, corporate and social responsibility and the sheer vertiginous feeling of falling in love . . . a delicate tale with a solid message of conscientious objection at its heart." (Catherine Taylor Independent On Sunday 2007-10-28)

"The novella is authentically Ovidian in its lightness, grace and exuberance...It's a lovely piece or writing." (Allan Massie Scotsman 2007-10-27)

"Girl Meets Boy is not about life after death, but it is a joyful celebration of life in all its strange shapes, on all sides of the wall." (Jeanette Winterson The Times 2007-10-27)

"Everywhere there is playfulness, mischief, delight in love and language, startlingly graceful trapeze-leaps of thought. Smith writes with unplugged energy of the fiddler she conjures up to play at Anthea's "dream" wedding . . . "" (Jennie Renton Sunday Herald 2007-11-04)

"The tale is charming, the prose (in places) poetic. . . Smith remembers what the ancients knew: that musical words drum a beat through to understanding." (Bettany Hughes The Times 2007-11-03)

"It is a clever use of the myth, and Ali Smith has delivered another exuberant cascade of words; the romance is described in a lyrical flood and Imogen's part is dealt with mainly in accomplished streams of consciousness." (Spectator)

"...a sweet and perceptive take on lesbian love in Scotland...As fanciful as it is honest and as moving as it is hilarious, this is a gorgeous story." (Alexandra Heminsley London Paper 2007-10-25)

"Girl Meets Boy is a joyful, experimental work. Smith deftly employs all kind of linguistic tricks to paint her characters . . . Smith is a playful writer who takes fun seriously, and whose ease, erudition and eloquence can sometimes be mistaken for an end in itself . . . I'm sure that the urbane and witty Ovid would have wholeheartedly approved." (Stuart Kelly Scotland On Sunday 2007-11-11)

"The skeleton of the story itself is intriguing, but the flesh that Smith chooses to give it is clever, complex and thrilling ... Girl Meets Boy delights because it refuses to stop at a single metamorphosis; despite its compactness, its stories multiply and rebound exuberantly ..." (Alex Clark TLS 2007-11-09)

Book Description:

A dazzling piece of storytelling from one of Britain's most brilliant writers

About this edition

• Publisher: Canongate Books
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1841958697
• ISBN 13: 9781841958699
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 176