Companion Piece (Literature Annotation)

 

Title: Companion Piece

Author: Ali Smith

Genre: Literature

Publication Date: May 3, 2022

Pages: 229 pages

Geographical Setting: England

Time Period: Current Day (with some scenes during the black plague and 1930)

Plot Summary:  

Sandy gets a call late one night from an old acquaintance she barely remembers. With Sandy's dad in the hospital and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Sandy isn't in the mood to catch up with people she barely remembers. But this acquaintance, Martina has an intriguing story to tell about being unexpectedly detained at an airport while transporting an ancient artisan lock. Martina receives a message during her detainment that sticks in her mind, leading her to reach out to Sandy, "Curlew or Curfew: You choose." Sandy is quickly intrigued and sets about finding meaning in the words and playing with those meanings. The story is told in fragments that include Sandy's encounters with Martina's twin children that strangely depict a hyperbolic version of the frustrating social dynamics that have occurred during the Pandemic and sometimes between generations these days. There is also the story of Sandy's encounter with a homeless girl and her pet bird, who may just be the same girl whose life story of being a blacksmith during the plague is later told. These are interspersed between calls to her hospitalized father and various memories of time spent with her father.

Quotes

In a moment reflecting on the Pandemic, an imagined Cerberus thinks, "let the bodies pile high, more the merrier in a country full of people in mourning gaslit by the constant pressure to act like it's not a country of people in mourning."

There is another moment when a band of traveling entertainers in the 13th century a branded as troublemakers for spreading the idea that, "your wages are low on purpose so that you can't prosper from working. It's prosperous for some people to keep other people starving." This sentiment is spread today as well.

Subjects:

Social Change

Plagues

Covid 19

Interpersonal Relationships

Language

Appeals:

Tone - Reflective

Pace - Leisurely

Storyline - Unconventional

These appeals are major characteristics of Literary Fiction according to Wyatt and Saricks. The novel includes a style that is "complex and experimental" (p.75) as it weaves together episodes of dreams, possible hallucinations, everyday mundane moments, and ordinary memories. The ending was open (p.74) and the pacing was slower (p.74), the writing choosing to linger on the meaning of a turn of phrase or a single word and its history, rather than focusing on a plot that moves the story forward.

3 terms that best describe this book:

Contemplative

Wordplay

Intriguing 

Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors

A Journal of The Plague Year by Daniel Defoe

For readers intrigued by the story of the blacksmith girl, this account of a year of life during the plague may be interesting.

How We Live Now: Scenes from the Pandemic by Bill Hayes

Similarly, this book records various scenes from COVID's New York lockdown. While an earlier point in the Pandemic than this novel is set, reading Companion Piece calls to mind those experiences.

The Poem is You: 60 Contemporary American Poems and How to Read Them by Stephanie Burt

In Companion Piece, Sandy and Martina meet when Martina is trying to decipher a poem. Throughout the book, Sandy is also recalling poems and looking at the various meanings of the words and phrases within them. Her art is all about visualizing poetry into paintings. This work of non-fiction might be of interest to others looking to learn more about poetry.

Relevant Fiction Works and Authors

Seasonal Quartet by Ali Smith

Ali Smith apparently has a seasonal quartet (each book named after a season) that has connections to Companion Piece. Several reviews say that Companion Piece is a spin-off of the other series. I try not to read too much before I dive into a book, so I didn't realize it was a "spin-off" that may have more meaning if read in conjunction with this series.

Emergency by Daisy Hildyard

This book is also set during Covid 19 and plays with how interconnected the past and the present are. The narrator is also at home, during a stricter phase of lockdown than the narrator in Companion Piece. 

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

This book is all about wordplay. While Oscar Wilde's is a classic with more humor to it, I think both are an interesting look at how language is used.