How long is it?
285 pages in the Lippincott 1969 hardcover edition.
Fiction · Novel · Literary Fiction · Political Fiction
Something to Answer For
Highly regardedBooker Prize, 1969Reading facts
✓ Checked- Reading effort
- 58 / 100High
- Length
- 285 pagesLippincott · 1969
- Reading time
- 5 h 45 minat 50 pages an hour ·
- Pace
- Measured
- Emotional intensity
- 3 / 5
About 5 h 45 min · at 30 minutes a day, about 12 days
Estimated from the page count of this edition. Dense books can take longer than the estimate.
About the book
In Port Said in 1956, small-time crook Townrow answers a summons from Mrs. Khoury, who believes her husband Elie was murdered. Townrow sees a chance to get at her inheritance, but an attack leaves him with a head injury and an uncertain grasp of his own past and identity. As the Suez Crisis develops around him, his belief in British decency becomes harder to sustain alongside his own conduct.
Reader notes
Macabre humor runs through the literary novel, whose shifting memories and absurd encounters keep the reader inside Townrow's confusion. Even ordinary conversations can be difficult to place, so the suspected murder offers little of a conventional mystery's orderly progress.
How it reads
- Writing style
- Atmospheric · Experimental · Witty
- Tone
- Absurdist · Cerebral · Dark · Unsettling
- Structure
- Fragmented · Nonlinear
- Driven by
- Character · Ideas · Mystery
- Point of view
- Third person, limited
- Setting
- Egypt · Port Said
Reading complexity
- Writing
- 3 / 5
- Ideas
- 4 / 5
- Structure
- 4 / 5
- Background knowledge
- 2 / 5
About this profile
Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).
- Writing
- How much attention the sentences and language require.
- Ideas
- How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
- Structure
- How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
- Background knowledge
- Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
- Emotional intensity
- Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.
Themes
- Colonialism and empire
- Guilt
- Identity
- Knowledge and truth
- Politics and ideology
Content notes
- Violence
- Strong
- Sexual content
- Mild
- Swearing
- Mild
- Substance use
- Strong
- Abuse
- Mild
- Self-harm or suicide
- None
Standing and awards
Highly regarded
- Booker Prize, 1969
Questions readers ask
Which edition is shown here?
Lippincott · 1969 · Hardcover.
How long does it take to read Something to Answer For?
About 5 hours 45 minutes at 50 pages an hour, based on the 285-page Lippincott edition. Dense books can take longer.
If you liked this
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
Shehan Karunatilaka
Literary Fiction · Political Fiction · Literary fiction
One, No One, and One Hundred Thousand
Luigi Pirandello
Literary Fiction · Literary fiction · Psychological fiction
Edition and details
- Publisher
- Lippincott
- Publication year
- 1969
- Format
- Hardcover
- Pages
- 285
- Edition language
- English
- Original language
- English
- First published
- 1968
- Genres and form
- Fiction · Novel · Literary Fiction · Political Fiction · Literary fiction · Psychological fiction · Absurdism · Dark comedy
- Editions
- 4
- Languages
- 1 (English)
The catalog does not yet include a matching edition. Details may differ between editions.