There But For The: A Novel, by Ali Smith, is an interesting book. The writer has a unique style that includes stream of conscious, witty puns, jokes, and some beautiful prose. The plot centers about a man, Miles, who goes to a dinner party. During the party he goes upstairs in the house and locks himself in. He then proceeds to stay in a room and refuses to say a word.
The plot is written is through the view point of 4 different characters all of whom only slightly know Miles. Each character is broken and lonely in some way. What I found so beautiful about the book is that Miles gives them each something in life which makes their lives better. You end the book still knowing very little about Miles except that he brings meaning to other's lives. It was simply in the small things that we as Christians, or even decent people, can bring good to others and impact them.
Several of the reviews I have read point to the title's continuation...grace of God go I. Miles treats everyone he meets as someone who truly believes that phrase would. I think there are many saints like this, that is people who make it to heaven. They make a big impact on those around them without pointing to themselves.
At first I really disliked the book, the stream of conscious. made me feel a little dizzy, the puns could be distracting, and the writer appeared to be writing very obscurely. Only about 2/3's of the way through did I realize what she was trying to do. The things that annoyed me at the beginning of the book faded away. The author uses stream of concious as the best way one can get into the minds of the characters. The obscure writing is intentional, all of the pieces are there, but you need to be paying attention since it is very well woven. One just doesn't see it until the end. And the puns - well, I think the author just really likes them.
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