Group Read, April 2014: There But For The

This is the thread for our April Group Read, Ali Smith's There But For The. I'll be getting a copy of this from my local library this weekend.

Started it last night, really enjoying it. Very engaging style, an air of mystery that makes you want to keep reading.

I'm in! How nice to read a book with a big font for a change. And to not have to struggle to get through the first pages :)

I started yesterday. My wife's reaction was the same as yours - "Ooh, what lovely big writing". Good or bad I don't think this will take long.

I read this quickly, too. It is easy to get caught up in the story, with each part linked to the central elusive character. Like listening to friends catching up on gossip at a nearby table.

As predicted this didn't take long to finish

SPOILERS AHEAD

I liked the premise of this story - a stranger at a dinner party locks himself in your spare room with no intention of leaving - and was intrigued by the way the subject was dealt with, or not. The motivations of Miles in locking himself in, and the Lees who are initially extremely frustrated but don't make a serious effort to evict him, are never explored directly. The centre of the story is ignored and the connections with the four acquaintances are so slight as to give (me at least) no sense of a coherent whole.

I am jealous about everyone who is having an easy time reading this one. I am not enjoying it all and am having a hard time reading more than a few pages at a time.

This novel has become one of my absolute favorites. I have a review for it up, if anyone's finished/interested.

I finished it also and agree completely with Puckers. A premise so promising, but Smith leaves us in the dark about Miles's motives. The main characters are interesting but all in all I thought it a nice read but very unsatisfying.

I was about 40 pages into this when I started running a fever and this book was not mindless enough. So I have switched to reading children's books. Will return when fever is down.

So now I'm about 3/4 done. Very uneven. I really disliked the dinner party section (and who would invite to a dinner party people who would so obviously dislike one another??). The first part was kind of good. The old woman section is catching my interest but that may be because of having just read Molloy, a long rambling monologue in the voice of an old man. I also have a sense that the central premise of the novel has no real point, which is annoying.

I agree - "annoying' is good word to use for this book. The backcover describes a scenario that looks like it would make an interesting novel, but then the book you read never tackles it. There is presumably something deep and meaningful in the way the stories of the peripheral characters relate to each other, or don't, but I'd have much preferred to read about why someone was driven to lock themselves in a room for months.

>11 annamorphic: Completely agree. I liked the 'There' section and hated the 'But' section. That dinner party sounds hellish and the people insufferable. I haven't made it to the old woman section yet.

I am finding it interesting how people are reacting to Miles' confinement. How the 'perfect hostess' is feeding her vegetarian guest meat in the hopes that he will leave before any damage is done to her 18th century door. Anna and Mark's reflections on their relationship with Miles (for me the redeeming factor of the But section was the story of how Miles and Mark met). And how so many random people have set up camp outside the house to convey food and supplies to Miles.

I will say that based on the comments here that this book has no point, I have adjusted my expectations while reading and am trying to just go along for the ride and pick out things, other than plot, to focus on.

I just loved this story! It shows so many facets of human nature - none of which too glamorous. The first part was a good stage setter for the bizarre and almost comical occurrence. The dinner party was my favourite with its latent racism and ignorance, hypocrisy and intolerance: no wonder Miles, the ethics consultant, decided to "check out" (although why he would choose such a household is beyond me).
The third part is very moving with May's story - I must say I didn't see the end coming although I'd concocted my share of potential endings. I would have liked to see Jennifer and Miles's story better depicted, but then again... the magic in this book is all what's left unsaid and up to the reader's imagination.
Brooke, in the last part, I found a little too precocious. It took the literal curiosity of a child to go back to basics: knock and open the door.

What struck me throughout the book was the power of silence: Anna as a disconnected adult who reconnects with a precious part of her youth; Eric who says little but suddenly divorces Gen (the shrew); Josie who barely speaks but rebels and acts kindly; May who has a rich interior dialogue but who speaks jumbled words and understands Miles's act of kindness; Mark so mild mannered and forgiving; and finally Miles whom we see in snippets and through other people's eyes - to me they are the ones who are take the most action (albeit wayward), with the exception of Brooke. The others, the talkers like Gen, Hugo or even Terence and Bernice, just talk and fret and analyze and ultimately really do nothing.

I think that's the point of this book: to appreciate the silence and what it can open up.

Loved it! Finished it a couple of days ago. When I got to the end, I returned to the beginning and reread the introductory chapter - the bit before 'there' starts. It is a man and a boy making paper aeroplanes. I think Miles may have been the boy - what does anyone else think? This is one of the things I liked about the novel, there are loads of bits and pieces where the answer is not written for you, so we all imagine our own variations. A very clever piece of writing I think.