There But For The by Ali Smith (2011): A Review
Title : There But For The Author : Ali Smith Publication Year : 2011 Rating : ⭐⭐⭐💫 Pages : 288 Source : ebook Genre : literary fiction, queer Awards : longlisted for the 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction There But For The is Ali Smith’s fifth novel, starring a man named Miles Garth, an "ethical consultant" who decides the most ethical thing he can do is…lock himself in a spare room in a stranger’s house and stay there. For a long time. Why does he do it? Why does he stop doing it? Smith refuses to tell us in any straightforward way, and as someone who agrees with Katherine Mansfield’s “I hate mystery” (quoted in epigraph), I was not exactly thrilled to be handed this particular knot and told, “Enjoy!” The book quickly wanders away from its human hermit and starts circling the lives of people who crossed paths with Miles at some point. He becomes less a character and more a rumor, the novel once heard and is still thinking about. Through them, Smith ruminates on time, sp...
