Something to Answer for by P. H. Newby

[George]

Please comment here on ‘Something to Answer for by P. H. Newly, 1969 inaugural Booker Prize winner.

[Irene]

I started this last night and read 2 chapters. It has me rather confused. I feel like there is a grand joke that I don't have the context to understand. After Townsrow wakes up naked, the story seems more and more... is the word surreal? Things seem to jump in the strange way dreams sequences connect. Is Townsrow crazy, delusional, drunk or is life in Egypt in the 1950s so irrational that it looks crazy to an outsider?

[George]

I have read the first three chapters. Townrow is such an odd character. I do not know whether the assault on him at the start of this novel has made him delusional. He appears to be quite an unreliable character. He doesn't know whether he is Irish and cannot remember what his confiscated passport actually states, which adds to the view that his mind is not functioning properly.

Lots have happened so far and I have no idea where this novel is heading, which keeps me intrigued. I think one of this novel's themes is in highlighting aspects of British colonialism and Britain's world leader role diminishing.

The last British forces withdrew from Egypt in 1956. British forces remained in Egypt from 1882 to 1956. Egypt became an independent state in 1922. However the British along with the French controlled the Suez Canal. The Egyptians believed this asset in their own country should belong to them. In 1956 the Egyptians took control of the Suez Canal and Britain's response towards the end of 1956 is fairly quickly negated by the USA and Russia.

[Irene]

I am part way through chapter 5. Yes, he is an unreliable narrator. I just can't figure out if he is deliberately lying. His assertions of an Irish passport seems to be deliberately calculated to give him a better chance at the widow's fortune, although I can't quite understand his logic. It seems to have something to do with there being no Irish embasy in Egypt, so less likely that the Egyptian government would confiscate the estate if under the care of an Irish citizen then under the care of a English citizen. Other times, he seems strangely confused. He loses his companion at the Yacht Club when she goes to take a shower. Did he black out? No one else acknowledges that he arrived with a female companion, so was he hallucinating all the time he was in the boat? Certainly his descriptions of the police on shore is wierd, dream like or hallucinatory. I can't figure out if any of the other characters are there or conjured by Townrow or some mix of reality and delusion. Are we supposed to read elements of this story as metaphors for British presence in Egypt at this time? Townrow's periodic nakedness? his breaks with reality? the strange uncertainty if the guy was murdered or is even dead? And if some elements are metaphors, which ones? I don't know enough about this period of British/Egyptian history to make sense of this story. I am not even sure which elements are supposed to be funny. This feels as if it is supposed to have a level of satire about it, but I don't know enough to get the satire.

[George]

I am towards the end of chapter 5. It continues to be an oddball of a novel with switches from past to present occurring at random. It's the unpredictability of the plot that keeps me turning the pages. Townrow is a weird, unpredictable, unlikeable character. The cause of his odd behaviour will hopefully be explained by the end of the novel.

[Irene]

I have about 50 pages left and should finish tonight. Rather than intriguing, I find the switching of time line frustrating. We are in a jail, then we are in a bedroom and I think my mind must have wandered and I missed something only to realize that we just abruptly left one scene and time and are in another and I have to read to figure out if this was a past or is a future scene from the jail. Maybe I am lazy and don't want to work too hard when I read, but this is not my prefered way of engaging with a story. I hope you are right and we get some answers by the end of the story.

[Irene]

Finished this last night and I am no more clear than I was at the mid point.

[George]

In the end I thought the novel was an interesting, clever and memorable read. I think the novel is about Townrow's grappling with his morality and identity. Whilst the ending is open-ended, I came away with Townrow trying to be a more moral person. I am guessing he will quit his Insurance job where he makes money lying about finding the donors.

Pushing a man from a sixth floor balcony, witnessing people killed and lucky not to be killed and being imprisoned as a suspected spy would certainly have impacted on Townrow's mind. Somewhere near the end of the novel it is stated that in turbulent times people do mad things.

Townrow no longer takes for granted that the British act honourably. He now has doubts about British radio broadcasts in 1942 that made no mention that boarding trains would lead to the deaths of many Jews. The British and French bombing of Eygptian cities were poorly viewed by the rest of the world. During this time Britain's role as a major world power is diminished.

In the end I gave this novel 3.5 stars. I found that the book was a hard read due to the sudden switching from past to present and present to past. Townrow's dreams and wishful thinking lead to confusing me as to what was the true state of affairs.

[Irene]

I am not sure I came away with a sense that Townrow was embarking on a more moral life. But, then I never had a real sense of him. He is so unreliable as a narrator that I did not know what to believe, what to accept as true, what he actually did or said and what was imagined that I could not assess his future intentions. I do think that his unquestioning trust in his government was shattered by the end. He no longer feels that he can or needs to defend his government's actions. I am not sure what the title refers to. Who has what to answer for?

[George]

Thanks for your comments Irene. I agree with you about Townrow being annoyingly unreliable.

The British Government has something to answer for. Why bomb Egypt? Why continue with colonisation? Why were the Jews not forewarned about getting on the trains to death?
Townrow has something to answer for. Why continue working for his Insurance company knowing he is doing something that is not morally right? Why behave the way he does in Egypt?

[Irene]

And I suppose that each of the characters have something to answer for, those who died from the guns that were smuggled, collaborating with foreigners, anti-semitism, etc. In big and little ways, there is much to answer for.