There are many parts of this book I would like to quote and refer to…Anthea’s description of Robin “She has the swagger of a girl. She blushed like a boy. She had a girl’s toughness. She had a boy’s gentleness. She was as brave and handsome and rough as a girl. She was as pretty and delicate and dainty as a boy”. The words make you redefine the norm, as the legend of Iphis does.

My favourite character was Imogen, whose internal dialogue of distress over everything was just so funny.

One of my favourite reads of 2008.

My daughter tried to introduce me to the delights of Ali Smith’s poetic prose a couple of years ago, but I didn’t get it then, probably because she lent me a book of short stories which just isn’t my genre. I get it now! This short novel has me convinced! There’s something special about her use of language, some of her descriptive passages are breath-taking – not to mention that some of them run on without giving you time to breathe!

I love the sisters and Robin, both on and off the page. It’s a sign of good writing when you think you might meet one of the characters and I can easily imagine all the players in this story having a real life, including the Big Bad Keith!

I didn’t know the Iphis Myth until I met Girl Meets Boy. Now I’ll never forget it. Thank you for the introduction.

This is only the second in the Myths series that I’ve read – but I’m sure it won’t be the last

The book was so short and I was left wanting more. The conflict between the two sisters, the imagined wedding ceremony, the gender politics relevant today as they were 2, 000 years ago. At times I wondered if the contemporary references (such as renditions from the Pussycat Dolls) gelled with an older story. By golly they did. The oldies are the best.

The link between the Iphis myth is very apparent in this wonderful description of Robin (female, but with the usual boys spelling of her name). She “had the swagger of a girl. She blushed like a boy. She had a girl’s toughness. She had a boy’s gentleness. She was as meaty as a girl. She was as graceful as a boy…”

As an Invernessian, I enjoyed the references to my home town. Not just the locations and place names, but the more hidden references such as the fact that when the girls were at school they thought Robin was a bit different and an outsider, partly because she came on the Beauly bus!

I really enjoyed the wordplay in the passages describing the love scenes and loved the wit in the wedding scene – “A male-voice choir from the Inverness Police Force sang a beautiful arrangement of songs from Gilbert and Sullivan. Then the Inverness Constabulary female-voice choir sang an equally beautiful choral arrangement of Don’t Cha (Wish Your Girlfriend Was Hot Like Me)”

For such a timeless myth, Smith manages to incorporate elements which are very now such as political street art and corporate warfare in both internal and external policies. The casual homophobia and sexism of modern British society and the role of women throughout history and how little of ‘our’ lot has changed are all brought to bear in fleeting capsule moments which stick with you throughout the book.

I was reluctant to turn the page on this modern yet ancient myth as I was left clamouring for more.

Thank you Ali! You books locate me and connect me to all that is life and human! You are wonderful!

You live up to:

“… it was always the stories that needed the telling that gave us the rope we could cross any river with. They balanced us high above any crevasse. They made us be natural acrobats. They made us brave. They met us well. They changed us. It was in their nature to.”
From ‘Girl Meets Boy’.