THERE BUT FOR THE by Ali Smith

Finished Th 4/17/14

April 2014 selection Contemporary Book Club. At this meeting, Judith was there via Skype from Santa Fe, NM.

Link from Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_But_For_The

NOTES
The title quote is from John Bradford. English reformer burned at the stake at Tower of London, 1555. BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD GO JOHN BRADFORD, is the actual quote.
Book divided into the four words of the title
BUT- Anna's connection to Miles and her first meeting with Brook
THERE- Mark's introduction. Sets the location of The Observatory and Park in Greenwich, England. Suburb of London. Mark's mother was an artist who committed suicide when he was a boy, and she speaks to him in crazed poetry. He met Miles during a production of Shakespeare's, A WINTER'S TALE. Cell phone goes off, yet Miles thought it was a perfect touch to the play. This chapter develops what happened at the dinner party of Gen and Eric's. Dismal people who ask Blacks and Gays as 'alternative types' to round out the party.
One of the guests is ecstatic over his work with 'microdrones'
FOR- The 80 plus grandmother who is suffering from dementia, May Young. She is in and out of reality, and is trying not to be put in an old age home. She had been there before and one of the patients tried to get her to pay up. This woman was nuts and didn't have any connection to the management. It's barely revealed that May Young had a young daughter who died many years before and Miles would visit May on the anniversary of her death. This is very subtle.
Jennifer was the child's name, and she seemed bright and inquisitive. She would question May about what would happen if she spontaneously combusted.
Talks of someone's grandfather who failed his driver's test, but got a young guy to take it for him. He angrily goes back to the relatives and demands back his keys. The don't find out until the grandfather dies that he cheated to get back the license.
Philip, May's husband, gives her a camera, and the card reads, 'U-No-Hoo'

Check out Queen Boudicca. She burned town the city of Londinium about 60 AD. I had never heard of this.

Ali Smith was asked what she wanted on her tombstone, and she said, "She never actually wanted a tombstone".