Every Man for Himself by Beryl Bainbridge (March 2022)

[Roman Clodia]

This is our thread for discussing Every Man for Himself by Beryl Bainbridge, her fictional take on the Titanic disaster which some of us have been reading about:

The fated voyage of the Titanic, with its heroics and horror, has been dramatized many times before, but never by an artist with the skills and sensibility of Beryl Bainbridge. Bainbridge vividly recreates each scene of the voyage, from the suspicious fire in the Number 10 coal bunker, to the champagne and crystal of the first-class public rooms, to that terrible midnight chaos in the frigid North Atlantic. This is remarkable, haunting tale substantiates Bainbridge as a consummate observer of the human condition.

We'll be starting the discussion in March 2022 but this thread is open from now for any comments or thoughts.

[Susan]

I really enjoyed my re-read of this one. Is anyone else reading it?

[Roman Clodia]

I will be but haven't started yet, so thanks for the prompt :)

[Susan]

Look forward to hearing your thoughts.

[Pamela]

I will be reading this, probably mid month once I’ve finished some other group reads.

[Ce Ce]

I plan on reading this.

[Susan]

Good to hear Pamela and CeCe.

[WndyJW]

I wish I had time to reread this now. I read it 10 years ago and gave it 3 stars when 3 stars was a higher rating for me than it is now. It was my first Bainbridge and I guess I was expecting more drama from a Titanic book so I didn’t appreciate her subdued style.

[Susan]

I have to admit that I preferred it better on a second reading.

[Roman Clodia]

I've started... and am not sure about this. It's reassuring to hear that Susan, you preferred the reread, and Wendy, you noted the lack of drama.

I've not read Bainbridge before so wasn't sure what to expect. She certainly writes elegant sentences but I'm not engaging with the narrator.

That opening incident with the man just dying in the street was odd and I didn't really understand what was going on there, especially the way he was described as hanging on the railings. Then all those deaths around Morgan - are they meant to be omens of what's the come?

I'm glad I read the Titanic book last year so that I understand the significance of Bruce Ismay and Captain Smith.

I will continue a bit longer and have got the audio so maybe that will help.

[Hugh]

I read this book a few years ago and thought it was one of her better ones. I can't promise to find time to reread, but will follow the discussion.

[Susan]

I got the audio and discovered it was abridged, so ditched it (overboard, so to speak) and went with kindle instead.

[Roman Clodia]

Haha, I got the audio from the library and don't think it's abridged but will check.

[Susan]

The first time I read this, I did find it quite lacking in pace and quite restrained. However, perhaps having read a lot of Titanic books recently, I was more aware of who was who and what would happen to them, so I felt more invested. I did think the beginning was a portent and I also felt Bainbridge centred the story on the expectations of what was expected of men, however young, to be stoic.

[Jill]

Reading this, knowing what would happen to these people, I was quite happy to just stand back and watch them. I did not engage with any of them. I think Bainbridge timed it right. Any longer and I think I would have become bored with them.

[Roman Clodia]

Yes, I think I'll agree with you, Jill, about the length - I've got 2 hours showing to read on Kindle so will just push on now.

I'm far less knowledgeable about the Titanic that you, Susan, but I suspect I would have felt even more lost if I hadn't recently read A Night to Remember.

It's almost like Bainbridge can't really be bothered to create depth in her characters because she expects us almost to know them or at least know their types.

That said, I didn't know that Lucy Duff Gordon was a couturier which is interesting.

[Susan]

Her sister was also Elinor Glin, the writer. I believe she left on the first lifeboat, which only held a few people, despite obviously having capacity for more. Her husband was criticised, but Lady Duff Gordon toughed it out, refusing to allow her husband to be blamed and saying she refused to leave without him, etc. She wrote an autobiography, which I have on my TBR list Discretions and Indiscretions: Edwardian Couturier, It Girl & Titanic Survivor

[Roman Clodia]

I googled Lucy Duff Gordon and read about how she and her husband had to give evidence in the Titanic enquiry because they, as you say, left on the first lifeboat that had only 12 people in it, though it was designed for far more. He was accused of bribing the crew not to go back for survivors, though he claimed he was just rewarding them.

I've recently come across a reference to Elinor Glyn and think she must have been mentioned by Morgan as a throwaway comment earlier. I didn't know about the connection to Duff Gordon at the time but clever referencing from Bainbridge.

[Roman Clodia]

What do you make of the number of coincidences in the book? I know Bainbridge makes that bald statement about how 'everyone' (Morgan meaning, presumably, everyone in first class) is intimately connected, going to the same schools, universities, intermarrying etc. but even so, it seems rather incredible. Putting the two instances I've met so far in spoiler tags:

(view spoiler)[first that Scurra turns out to have known Morgan's parents, met the boy and know more about Morgan's early life than he does himself; and that Adele's lover was the man who died in Morgan's arms in the street (hide spoiler)].

Not sure what the book is getting at here, that everything is connected seems a bit trite.

[Susan]

I agree there are a lot of coincidences. I think I struggled with this a lot the first time I read it. Second time around, I didn't really think too hard about it and I feel the point she was making was more about what a small world that class lived in that era. How inter-related they all were. I will admit that I was not so fond of this the first time I read it, but I felt warmer about it on a second reading when I guess I knew the shortcomings. The writing is somehow underwhelming at first, but I do think she does a lot well, including create a sense of what it was to be on board Titanic.

[Roman Clodia]

I've finished now and am a bit puzzled as to what the book intends to do and say. I felt that it is reliant on A Night to Remember for the actual disaster chapter and many of the details were very familiar.

I agree that one element that comes over is the interconnectedness of the first class passengers - but I'm surprised that Bainbridge didn't take the opportunity to give faces and names, lives and voices to the steerage passengers who pretty much get ignored as a mass in the official records (apart from Leonardo de Caprio!)

Adele is the only one who has some presence - I wasn't sure if the Jewish tailor was first class? I think so.

I'm glad I've read this but am still puzzled by it.

[Jill]

Roman Clodia wrote: "I've finished now and am a bit puzzled as to what the book intends to do and say. I felt that it is reliant on A Night to Remember for the actual disaster chapter and many of the detai..."

That is how I felt. I was waiting for something from the non-privileged passengers to happen, but it never came.

[Ce Ce]

My knowledge of the Titanic stems from information generally known about such a monumental tragedy gleaned piecemeal through life. A fascinating exhibit in San Francisco about 15 years ago. It was an exhibit of recovered artifacts, the 30,000 pound hull of the Titanic, recreation of the Grand Staircase and audios telling various passenger's stories. Of course the movie. And a documentary of the exploration of the Titanic underwater.

This is my first Beryl Bainbridge novel. I am only on page 35 but I am finding her writing beautifully surreal. At first I questioned the jarring spree of death at the beginning. Soon I found myself relaxing into an abstracted portrait being painted of a story that is so well known. Her writing seems to hum with a dark premonition...a psychological tension where we know what will happen while the narrator does not. Although the narrator, by virtue of losing his parents at an early age, is no stranger to life's vagaries. He is introducing us to his insular world with wry observation.

[Roman Clodia]

Ce Ce wrote: "Soon I found myself relaxing into an abstracted portrait being painted of a story that is so well known. Her writing seems to hum with a dark premonition..."

Oh I wish I'd felt that, Ce Ce! If I'd just read your post, I'd have rushed off to grab the book immediately. For whatever reason it just didn't gel with me but I do hope you continue to share your impressions as I'd love to get a feel for how another reader responds to this more positively.

[Ce Ce]

I have just finished the first chapter so this is an early thought. What if "Every Man for Himself" is not primarily about the sinking of the Titanic? But rather an allegory for the end of an era? The vehicle for the last gasps of the Edwardians and the prelude to WWI.

I noted a long list of bread crumbs in Ch 1. The death in the street in Morgan's arms. The mysterious photograph given to Morgan tucked
in his pocket. Andrews who doesn't believe in succession as a right, but rather proving himself. Fate arises...sentences of gods. Death as a light gone out. The elder couple in deck chairs hands folded in laps. While younger first class passengers peer at the vibrant dancing of steerage. On a floating palace. It seems to speak of the foreshadowing of a tidal wave...an irrevocable shift coming to the world.

There were also bread crumbs pointing to the sinking we know is coming...a clear glimpse of the awesome monster fueling the ship, the laughability of the possibility of an accident, the ship listing to portside...but somehow it does not read as the primary tension to me. There's a reference at the end of the chapter. We learn that Morgan traveled steerage himself as an orphaned child. Which speaks less to me of the Titanic and more of a radically shifting world. There's a poignant reference to something pleasurable in his (Morgan's) moment of fear. In that sentence I am reminded of the sinking to come.

[Ce Ce]

I am also finding humor...most of it subtle and some of it dark.

But this made me actually chuckle. She (an American) was strident. "They're never backward in coming forward."

Not how we would describe ourselves! But recognizable. ;-p

[Ce Ce]

Chapter 2 is not going near so well.

I just read (speaking of Ismay)..."this was so much baloney. He did have layers, but like an onion they were all the same."

[Roman Clodia]

Ce Ce wrote: "Chapter 2 is not going near so well.""

Oh dear! I think you're right about the end of an era but this is often discussed around the Titanic with its visible separation and treatment of classes, and WW1, so it's not an especially fresh viewpoint that Bainbridge is articulating, I felt.

One of the things I found unsatisfying is that the stories about passengers are abbreviated by the sinking - I do wonder if that was a technical decision to match the way real lives were cut short but, all the same, it was abrupt and felt unfinished to me.

[Ce Ce]

I finished.

From Ch 2 on I found it uneven. Some of the sentences were elegant and evocative. I thought she captured the atmosphere and daily experience of a transatlantic passenger ship beautifully. But then there was the cringe worthy and lazy. Rosenfelder's "Aie Yi Yi". over an incident with Adele. Scurro speaking of Wallis, "She was rather tied up when the call came." There were many.

By the time the tragedy unfolded I didn't really care. I didn't feel invested in, or even really like, any of the characters. I just wanted it to be over. Even the appearance of the Carpathia fell flat. Although there were beautiful passages. I thought the floating detritus was moving. It just wasn't enough.

The abandonment of men felt so flat. So cold. So empty. At the same time that we are witnessing heart wrenching contemporary separation of women and children from men in Ukraine.

I retract any idea that this was an allegory. It became quite evident that it was simply a historical novel.

I can't remember the last time I experienced such a full range of response to a book.

[WndyJW]

I found this discussion of Everyman for Himself more interesting than the novel! The only other novels I’ve read by Bainbridge are Master Georgie and The Bottle Factory Outing, both of which I liked quite a bit.

[Susan]

This was published in 1996. I am wondering how many books about Titanic there were then? There are flurries around anniversaries and I remember lots around 2015 on the 100th anniverary. Perhaps people were not quite as familiar with the themes.

With Bainbridge, I have read An Awfully Big Adventure, Young Adolf and The Girl in the Polka Dot Dress. I have enjoyed the ones I read, but they were all fairly slight in length and had a similar style.

[Ce Ce]

I have "The Bottle Factory Outing". With some time to settle this in my mind, I will read it.

[Ce Ce]

Susan wrote: "This was published in 1996. I am wondering how many books about Titanic there were then? There are flurries around anniversaries and I remember lots around 2015 on the 100th anniverary. Perhaps peo..."

I was thinking about this as well this evening. Maybe it was opportunistic and it was evident. I will have to read another Bainbridge to gauge.

[Susan]

RC points out that this was not a fresh viewpoint, the abandonment of - often very young - men, who were expected to be brave and stoic. Yet, perhaps it is something that still needs to be said as society still gives young men such mixed messages about masculinity.

[Roman Clodia]

Susan wrote: "This was published in 1996. I am wondering how many books about Titanic there were then?"

That's a good point, Susan. It's interesting though that on one hand I felt like I already knew what would happen but, on the other, if I hadn't read Night to Remember, I wouldn't have noted Bruce Ismay and Captain Smith in the same way and their presence would likely have passed me by.

I just checked and the film was released 1997 which was probably my first exposure to the full story.

I'm glad I've read this and yes, Bainbridge gives an excellent snapshot of that leisured life on board with all the small developments in people's lives: would Rosenfelder break into the couturier space with Lucy DG's help? What would happen to Adele? And Wallis?

[Susan]

One of the parts I thought Bainbridge got spot on was the actual sinking. It took a long while, so panic did not build for a while. Just that sense of wandering around, suddenly realising there was a tilt to the deck, or water washing over the stairs. I thought that was very well done.

[Roman Clodia]

Being generous, I can sort of see Bainbridge's quandary over the actual evacuation: she probably didn't want to go for full weepy sentimentalism but, on the other hand, might have gone too far with the restraint so that we all seem to have felt cold and unengaged - quite different from when we read A Night to Remember.

Agree completely, Susan, about pressures on what 'masculinity' means - and the other side of all that repression and stiff-upper-lip stuff shown is misogyny and toxic behaviour.

As Wendy says above, I've enjoyed our chat about this book perhaps more than the book itself :)

[Susan]

One novel I really loved about Titanic was The Watch That Ends the Night

[Roman Clodia]

Susan wrote: "One of the parts I thought Bainbridge got spot on was the actual sinking. It took a long while, so panic did not build for a while."

I thought that too, and the resistance of the first class passengers to following orders.

It seems extraordinary all over again that the designers and builders could have claimed the ship 'unsinkable' when on board they spot very fast that once the water starts flooding in, the ship is going to tip and go down.

[Susan]

She also mentions the fire that had broken out before the ship left Belfast. I am unsure wheat effect that actually had. Have to head out soon, so must stop chatting. Have a great day everyone!

[Ce Ce]

Susan wrote: "RC points out that this was not a fresh viewpoint, the abandonment of - often very young - men, who were expected to be brave and stoic. Yet, perhaps it is something that still needs to be said as ..."

Bainbridge did introduce the male female relationships as remote and rigidly defined. Girls and women of the young men's own socioeconomic sphere were all like sisters and mothers. There were wives...and then there were mistresses. For the young men there were always those other women...prostitutes. All of which made it stunning when Morgan saw someone with their hand on a young woman's waist. I am sorry I don't recall who. Shocking when he inadvertently discovered Scurro and Wallis. The mere fact that he was in her bedroom was unsettling. And then there was the affectionate elderly couple. Morgan found them endearing but troublesome with what he considered an uncomfortably deep dependence.

Faced with such a tragedy and imminent death wouldn't those mores crack? Scurro, coldly indifferent, reluctantly talked with Wallis to save her life. There were a few examples of women refusing to part from their husbands. I know there was chaos and angst. Bainbridge just seemed to handle it all so coolly and remotely. Too remotely. I wasn't looking for overwrought and melodramatic. But she certainly had the capacity to render beautifully. Throughout the book she caught my breath at times with surreal elegance.

I agree that the slow setting in of panic was well done.

[Ce Ce]

Susan wrote: "She also mentions the fire that had broken out before the ship left Belfast. I am unsure wheat effect that actually had. Have to head out soon, so must stop chatting. Have a great day everyone!"

Bainbridge had one of the young men (was it Charles? not sure) but he made an offhand remark that turned out to be true. They would (or should?) not have been certified. She mentioned that a fire such as this weakened the steel.

[Roman Clodia]

Yes, that was shocking! I remember hearing about it previously but the idea of a fire being covered up like that and no-one being especially bothered was mind-blowing.

[Ce Ce]

Especially since a fire at sea is the greatest fear!

[WndyJW]

Ce Ce wrote: "I have "The Bottle Factory Outing". With some time to settle this in my mind, I will read it."

I really liked this one! It’s not what I expected.

[Ce Ce]

WndyJW wrote: "Ce Ce wrote: "I have "The Bottle Factory Outing". With some time to settle this in my mind, I will read it."

I really liked this one! It’s not what I expected."

I will check back in about this. It will be the end of the month at least.

[Pamela]

I’m really enjoying this so far. I can appreciate what people are saying about the way it feels detached, but I like the ironic, self-deprecating tone of the narrator. His observations about the wealthy are often quite amusing (the aunt who claimed to have her bag stolen for example).

I also like the way the crew are portrayed, servile to the first class passengers’ faces but obviously quite resentful at the way they are being treated. I take the point about the lack of steerage characters, but I guess that having chosen to orient the book around the first class, the contact with steerage will be minimal until disaster strikes.

I’ll see if I feel any different as the novel progresses, but generally I like Bainbridge’s understated writing.

[Susan]

I also liked this, Pamela. I think I had similar questions to some of the group on my first reading, but, second time around, I found myself accepting it on its own terms and enjoying it far more.