With a wink and a nod the playful book, Glyph, shares traits with other Ali Smith novels I've read. Smith employs clever-by-half storytelling that intentionally obscures the narrators voice: is this a character's opinion or Smith's? The storyline bounces abruptly between present day to story to memory and back. Ghosts are raised. The meaning of words is stretched and flipped to the point of overanalyzing. Occasionally I wondered if the information I was reading was relevant to the story. Is Smith playing with the reader as well? Feel it, don't fight it.

What if the whole point is that the information isn't the point?

This is not a sequel, but Smith's "sister" novel Gliff is present. The two novels share obvious similarities like their politics, sisters, and children who seemingly have more clarity than the adults. Glyph is a more reflective novel. There is very little plot or world building. It's an intimate and personal story, driven by the characters, their memories and their traumas. There's not much resolution. Similar to Gliff, the novel has strong politics that confront the horrors of war and cultural politics. And simultaneously Smith weaves these contemporary issues into the characters' personal struggles, like facing a mental breakdown or expressing frustration over their child’s truancy.

Real or not’s quite a good description of anything looked up online nowadays.

The book follows the story of two sisters in childhood and adulthood. In the backdrop of a separation, COVID, debt, and underemployment, Petra recalls the stories passed on to her during when she was a child. She and her sister, Patricia, "raise a ghost," Glyph, while they were living with their ailing mother and abusive father. These ghost stories bonded and protected them. They backfilled the missing familial details they were denied by their parents with Glyph's increasingly complex story. Petra has trouble recalling names of relatives and yet remembers the most ridiculous details from her ghost stories.

can I ask, am I allowed to ask, about how you yourself are feeling about the going ons in the world? Or aren’t appropriate adults allowed to comment?

The sisters are complemented by Billie. She is the outspoken, curious caricature of a teenage girl whose combative idealism heaves a stone into the placid relationship of Petra and Patricia. She challenges both sisters. She looks outward for connection and meaning in an unjust world, compared to the sisters exclusive, personal reflections. Even as a foil, it appears that Billie's traumas, different in source, allow her to raise a ghost of her own.

In a moment of familial connection the "story within a story," Gliff, ratifies the differences between Petra and Billie. After reading this book I'll have to reread Gliff, which I remember liking quite a bit. It would be nice to know if my memory of the story is correct.