Synopsis
Imagine you give a dinner party and a friend of a friend brings a stranger to your house as his guest. He seems pleasant enough.
Imagine that this stranger goes upstairs halfway through the dinner party and locks himself in one of your bedrooms and won't come out.
Imagine you can't move him for days, weeks, months. If ever.
This is what Miles does, in a chichi house in the historic borough of Greenwich, in the year 2009-10, in There but for the. Who is Miles, then? And what does it mean, exactly, to live with other people?
Sharply satirical and sharply compassionate, with an eye to the meanings of the smallest of words and the slightest of resonances, There but for the fuses disparate perspectives in a crucially communal expression of identity and explores our very human attempts to navigate between despair and hope, enormity and intimacy, cliché and grace.
Ali Smith's dazzling new novel is a funny, moving book about time, memory, thought, presence, quietness in a noisy time, and the importance of hearing ourselves think.
» Read the first pages of There But For The by downloading the Penguin Taster here
Reviews
» Submit a reviewCritic Review:
'Remarkable. A brilliant novel: funny, serious, always surprising' -- Erica Wagner, The Times
'Whimsically devastating, playful, humorous, serious, profoundly clever and profoundly affecting' -- Alex Clark, Guardian
'Dazzling, spry, agile, funny' -- Sunday Telegraph
'A playfully serious, or seriously playful, novel full of wit and pleasure' -- Sarah Churchwell, Observer
'Full of graceful and witty prose, this novel is a real joy' -- Good Housekeeping
'Not just supple, it's acrobatic. Smith can make anything happen, which is why she is one of our most exciting writers today.' -- Telegraph
'Compelling, playful, intelligent, witty' -- Lionel Shriver, Financial Times
Product details
Format :
Hardback
ISBN: 9780241143407
Size : 135 x 216mm
Pages : 384
Published : 13 May 2011
Publisher : Hamish Hamilton
Other formats for There but for the:
» Paperback : £8.99
» ePub eBook: eBook : £5.50
There but for the
£16.99
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