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neculara's review against another edition
3.0
I really liked the premise of this book. A man is invited to a dinner party. He doesn't know the hosts. In the middle of the party, he locks himself in the upstairs guestroom and refuses to come out. He stays in there for months, and becomes somewhat of a local celebrity because of this.
This man - Miles - is the nucleus of the story. The reader are invited into the lives of people surrounding him, mostly people he doesn't know very well. Acquaintances. People who have crossed paths with him somehow. It's like we are circling around him, trying to get closer and closer. But Miles never gets to tell his own story. We only get to see him through other people's eyes.
As usual, Smith's language is outstanding, playful, and inventive, for the most part. She explores the meaning and usage of words in fascinating ways. She gives us little stories inside of stories, usually interesting, sad, or funny. But there were a couple of sections in this book - rather long sections - that failed to interest me. A few times the stories strayed too far from Miles and the central topic/concept of the book. Not that everything has to be about Miles, but I ended up feeling like this book presented me with a series of people and stories so loosely connected that there was no coherent whole. This is most prominent in the chapter about May. This part definitely it dragged on for too long and was just a bit boring to get through. And the connection she has to Miles is only very superficial. The chapter about May could have been a separate short story.
So I was a bit disappointed. The brilliance of Ali Smith, that carried me all the way through How to be both, came and went several times throughout There But for The. This seems to be the way it has to be, with me and my favorite authors. Some of their books I absolutely love, while other works are just ok. This one is a bit better than ok, though. It is a good gook. But it only gets three stars from me.
This man - Miles - is the nucleus of the story. The reader are invited into the lives of people surrounding him, mostly people he doesn't know very well. Acquaintances. People who have crossed paths with him somehow. It's like we are circling around him, trying to get closer and closer. But Miles never gets to tell his own story. We only get to see him through other people's eyes.
As usual, Smith's language is outstanding, playful, and inventive, for the most part. She explores the meaning and usage of words in fascinating ways. She gives us little stories inside of stories, usually interesting, sad, or funny. But there were a couple of sections in this book - rather long sections - that failed to interest me. A few times the stories strayed too far from Miles and the central topic/concept of the book. Not that everything has to be about Miles, but I ended up feeling like this book presented me with a series of people and stories so loosely connected that there was no coherent whole. This is most prominent in the chapter about May. This part definitely it dragged on for too long and was just a bit boring to get through. And the connection she has to Miles is only very superficial. The chapter about May could have been a separate short story.
So I was a bit disappointed. The brilliance of Ali Smith, that carried me all the way through How to be both, came and went several times throughout There But for The. This seems to be the way it has to be, with me and my favorite authors. Some of their books I absolutely love, while other works are just ok. This one is a bit better than ok, though. It is a good gook. But it only gets three stars from me.
chloe_hazel's review against another edition
challenging
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
northerly_heart_reads's review against another edition
challenging
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
faintgirl's review against another edition
4.0
This was really fun. Miles is a guest at a dinner party, and just before dessert, he decides to shut himself in an upstairs room and stay there. We learn about people loosely associated with Miles, their hopes and dreams. as they are peripherally associated with trying to get him out. It's a lovely picture of life in modern day Greenwich, with some sweet characters and some really, really bad jokes. As the cult of "Milo" grows, will he ever come out? And will we find out why he's in there in the first place?
didemertens's review against another edition
4.0
There but for the is a novel spilt into four parts, all giving a voice to different characters. The man who links all the other persons together is Miles. He sets the novel in motion by locking himself up in a stranger’s spare bedroom during a dinner party and by refusing to leave. His action triggers all kinds of events, from an old friend remembering the past to a huge, festival-like gathering outside his window.
Even though this sounds strange (good strange), this novel deals with very real themes. It's about loss, love, history, memory and most importantly (for me) about empathy, about connecting with people.
There but for the isn't my favourite novel by Ali Smith (that's still How to be Both), but this one is placed high on my general list of favo books. What immediately grabbed me when I opened this book was the first sentence:
"The fact is, imagine a man sitting on an exercise bike in a spare room."
This mixture of facts and imagination is present throughout the novel. Can you say that history is made out of facts? Or is it an imagined fact? What are facts anyway?
But this book isn't just contemplating these great themes of life. No, There but for the is also very moving and at times hilarious. Take for example the character of Brooke. She is a 'too smart for her own good tween' and gets the last chapter of the book. In this chapters many, many jokes are told:
"Tell me, why is a theatre always sad?
Because the seats are in tears."
You cannot but love Brooke.
I know Ali Smith’s books can look scary sometimes. They don’t include quotation marks and Smith often uses the stream-of-consciousness technique, but the trick is just to let go off all of those conventions. Read chapters in one sitting, or the whole book if you’ve got the time, and let the rhythm take over – if this sounds too dotty, too Luna Lovegood for you then just think of it like this: Stop dreading it. Just read. I'm sure you'll enjoy it!
Even though this sounds strange (good strange), this novel deals with very real themes. It's about loss, love, history, memory and most importantly (for me) about empathy, about connecting with people.
There but for the isn't my favourite novel by Ali Smith (that's still How to be Both), but this one is placed high on my general list of favo books. What immediately grabbed me when I opened this book was the first sentence:
"The fact is, imagine a man sitting on an exercise bike in a spare room."
This mixture of facts and imagination is present throughout the novel. Can you say that history is made out of facts? Or is it an imagined fact? What are facts anyway?
But this book isn't just contemplating these great themes of life. No, There but for the is also very moving and at times hilarious. Take for example the character of Brooke. She is a 'too smart for her own good tween' and gets the last chapter of the book. In this chapters many, many jokes are told:
"Tell me, why is a theatre always sad?
Because the seats are in tears."
You cannot but love Brooke.
I know Ali Smith’s books can look scary sometimes. They don’t include quotation marks and Smith often uses the stream-of-consciousness technique, but the trick is just to let go off all of those conventions. Read chapters in one sitting, or the whole book if you’ve got the time, and let the rhythm take over – if this sounds too dotty, too Luna Lovegood for you then just think of it like this: Stop dreading it. Just read. I'm sure you'll enjoy it!
lauraborkpower's review against another edition
5.0
The fact is, I loved this book.
I don't feel like I can write a very good review of it, though, since I finished it just a few minutes ago (and then immediately re-read a few bits of it) and will probably be thinking about it for hours and days to come. But I'll try to write something small.
Smith has written a book about memory and time that is beautiful, sad, and silly, frequently all at the same time. The characters she focuses on in the four sections--Anna, Mark, May, and Brooke--are perfectly drawn and honest. Smith writes their experiences in a way that allows the reader to feel them immediately: their "present" experiences, including dialogue done without quotation marks to be read quickly and personally, internally (I felt as though I were remembering these things being said, as though I were hearing them in my own head) as well as the "past" experiences, the remembrances, which come back in rushes while the characters are just sitting or talking or walking, or doing anything other than trying to remember. This is so frequently the way memories come back and Smith's handle on this pacing and the weaving of language and story is impeccable.
In some ways this book reminded me of David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest: the way the characters are explored that have a sometimes only tangential relationship to Miles and the main plot, the history and focus on Greenwich and time, and the oddball playfulness merging into melancholy, and then back again. Smith could have easily made this three times as long and I'd have been thrilled. Yet I don't feel short-changed or lacking in anything, so maybe it's better that she didn't. No matter what, the fact is that I'll be reading everything else she's written.
And thanks to Candace and book club for suggesting this.
What did one Cajun say to the other?
How's bayou?
I don't feel like I can write a very good review of it, though, since I finished it just a few minutes ago (and then immediately re-read a few bits of it) and will probably be thinking about it for hours and days to come. But I'll try to write something small.
Smith has written a book about memory and time that is beautiful, sad, and silly, frequently all at the same time. The characters she focuses on in the four sections--Anna, Mark, May, and Brooke--are perfectly drawn and honest. Smith writes their experiences in a way that allows the reader to feel them immediately: their "present" experiences, including dialogue done without quotation marks to be read quickly and personally, internally (I felt as though I were remembering these things being said, as though I were hearing them in my own head) as well as the "past" experiences, the remembrances, which come back in rushes while the characters are just sitting or talking or walking, or doing anything other than trying to remember. This is so frequently the way memories come back and Smith's handle on this pacing and the weaving of language and story is impeccable.
In some ways this book reminded me of David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest: the way the characters are explored that have a sometimes only tangential relationship to Miles and the main plot, the history and focus on Greenwich and time, and the oddball playfulness merging into melancholy, and then back again. Smith could have easily made this three times as long and I'd have been thrilled. Yet I don't feel short-changed or lacking in anything, so maybe it's better that she didn't. No matter what, the fact is that I'll be reading everything else she's written.
And thanks to Candace and book club for suggesting this.
What did one Cajun say to the other?
How's bayou?
pascalpascalpascal's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
brunogcarr's review against another edition
3.0
Tem momentos em que parece que a narrativa nos quer agarrar... e depois levamos com momentos em que parece que nos quer distrair. E, como passa muito tempo nisto, não pode aspirar a mais. É uma pena, pelo que chega a prometer.
abbyoreilly's review against another edition
5.0
I LOVE ali smith’s writing style, I love the way she explores time through blending sentences and events into these big non linear sequences, it is so human GOD she’s so GOOD