Gliff by Ali Smith

Just when you thought there were enough Orwellian-style dystopias in the world along comes a book like Ali Smith’s Gliff. Smith draws on the deep British tradition of authoritarian dystopias in this short novel and uses these influences to craft something unique. Following Orwell, Smith is also interested in language and the use of language, an aspect that becomes clearer with the knowledge that a companion book called Glyph will be released next year.

When Gliff opens, two teenagers are leaving their mother behind. They travel with a man called Leif back to their home but have to leave again when the building is surrounded by an ominous red circle. Leif ends up abandoning the two (although he says that he will be back) in an empty house in a small town. It turns out that the two are now ‘unverifiables’ (or UVs) and likely to be picked up by the authorities if they are not careful. But when younger of the two, Rose, finds horses in an adjoining field to their house and the two fall in with other unverifiables their trajectory changes, at least for a while.

Besides the ominous, dystopian styling, readers a clued in early that things are not going to go well for the siblings. An early section entitled “Brave New World” is set five years further on in a time in which the older of the two siblings – Bri, or Briar or Brice – has found themselves a position in the bureaucratic hierarchy and claims to have no sister. In this future, UVs, including children, work a production line and many are injured as they are forced to work stripping down old batteries.

But through all of this Smith still manages to be creative with her language and use of English. Whether it be in the word ‘gliff’ itself which has many meanings and no meaning. Or in her chapter titles which morph from the original Brave New World to “ rave new o ld” to “rave n o (us)”.

Gliff is dystopia firmly in the tradition of Orwell and Huxley with some hints of traditional fairytale (given it has main characters called Briar and Rose). UVs are people who the authorities have just decided are undesirable for some reason – immigrants, whistleblowers, poor people. And they are re-educated or put to work. The red line is used to indicate to the rest of the populace no go areas before those places are razed and replaced. Despite the book being narrated through the eyes of teenagers and young adults, it is not styled as a young adult book. This is not an adventure or a coming-of-age story so much as a story of survival under a repressive regime.

As already noted, there will be a companion novel coming in 2025 called Glyph. Given the content and ending of Gliff, what that book might be is anybody’s guess but it promises to be interesting.

Gliff by Ali Smith

9

9.0/10