Reading 1001 discussion

1. What is the significance of the title?

I presume it means "There but for the grace of God go I" with the second part of the quote left in the air, so it could mean something else altogether. The book has four sections, one for each word in the title, which are told in the voice of four different people, whose connection only becomes clear in the last section. So the title is a puzzle and so is the story.

I am with Pip There but for the grace of God go I and I think you can read that into every section. Anna could have been the one to end up locked in a lonely room, Mark is grieving (something that happens to us all), May is in a care home that she considers hell and Brooke is being bullied all situations we would like to avoid.

Before reading the book at all, this title intrigued me. Of course there's the known "grace of God"; in any case, anything could have happened if not for...

"There but for the" could introduce ANY phrase: right turn instead of the left, choice made, wrong partner, wrong parents, lack of money, loss of someone, traffic accident on the way to the interview, etc.

Anyway, I found the concept interesting and I started thinking about how many things would be different if not for some action or inaction or good luck or bad luck.

It is an interesting title. I agree that it would see that it is the first four words of There but for the Grace of God I go? But really, does that work for the story. I did like that each chapter started with one word from the phrase. I liked that the story was told from the different perspectives. I really liked the book.

Thanks all for the enlightenment, I had no clue about the possible significance of the title.