I like the seasonal quartet for its timeliness, although the books have not all been successful to me as a reading experience. The main focus of these books is definitely the commentary on a lot of things that are going wrong in the world, not because these things just happen, but because the human race is behaving as they do. And I enjoyed reading Ali Smith's sharp writing and how she brings art into all of this.
This one though didn't leave a great impact on me and I couldn't really see what the purpose of this was. And I have already completely forgotten what it was about. Yes, there were still some smart sentences in it, but in my opinion this companion was one that should have stayed at home.

Of all the Seasonal books by Ali Smith, this was one of the strongest entries for me! Aside from the random meander towards the end into a different plot that I couldn’t quite figure out the reason for until the book was almost done, I really enjoyed it. 

I can see why she’d write such a book as the world navigated Covid and human contact was compromised. The previous entries were very much focused on Britain post-Brexit and this was a continuation of that. It was interesting to look at the current, ever changing socio-political climate that she had so meticulously mapped in the four previous books and use that to start to explore the human impact of the pandemic.

It was unexpectedly funny, it was hopeful and the pastoral and modern married beautifully at the end. Sandra/Sand was such a great protagonist. She was funny in the face of her various trials and the problems facing the world, but her emotional trajectory will probably ring true to many readers who lived through the pandemic. I’m sure there aren’t many among us who could verbalise it as Smith manages to, though!