There But For The by Ali Smith

We were back at our old haunt, The Warwick, for Rachel's leaving do.  Lovely food as always and we even remembered to talk a bit about the book ... which was nice :-)

I think, overall, we were quite disappointed by this book.  The blurb on the back set quite an interesting concept and we were looking forwards to finding out why Miles shut himself in a strangers bedroom during a dinner party.  We wanted to learn more about his thought processes and how all the people featured in the book fitted together.  Instead we were faced with incredibly long chapters (the book has only five) and long, rambling, seemingly non-linear narratives which made it difficult to read in short bursts.  Or rather, difficult to remember what you've read in the last session and link it to what you're reading now.  The ending was also unsatisfactory, leaving us with lots of questions about Miles and every other character in this random book.

Concept: 7/10
Plot: 2/10
Ending: 0/10
Cover: 1/10
Page Turner: 1/10
Slap: The woman who owned the house and profited from Miles' stunt whilst losing her husband and mind in the process.

Overall: 2/10

We chose our next book from the following:

• Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
• Above Average by Amitabha Bagchi
• Street Freak by Jared Dillan
• The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
• The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood
• The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng

We chose 'Above Average' by Amitabha Bagchi which we will be reading for the November meeting.

Our next meeting will be at Kate's house, 8pm on Wed 10th October.  Please bring along a book review based on the theme 'Christmas Lunch' as we will be choosing the book we'll be reading for the December meeting.