Stuart: A Life Backwards

by Alexander Masters

‘Stuart does not like the manuscript. He’s after a bestseller, “like what Tom Clancy writes”. “But you are not an assassin trying to frazzle the president with anthrax bombs,” I point out. You are an ex-homeless, ex-junkie psychopath, I do not add.’

This is the story of a remarkable friendship between a reclusive writer (‘a middle-class scum ponce, if you want to be honest about it, Alexander’), and Stuart Shorter, a homeless, knife-wielding thief. Told backwards – Stuart’s idea – it starts with a deeply troubled thirty-two-year-old and ends with a ‘happy-go-lucky little boy’ of twelve. This brilliant biography, winner of the Guardian First Book Award, presents a humbling portrait of homeless life, and is as extraordinary and unexpected as the man it describes.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir, Book Club, Mental Health, Biography Memoir, British Literature

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Alexander Masters is an author and screenwriter. He is the son of authors Dexter Masters and Joan Brady.

Reviews

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excuse me while I go pick up the broken pieces of my shattered heart from the floor.

[Peter Boyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the late 1990s, the author Alexander Masters met a homeless man, Stuart Shorter, on the streets of Cambridge. They campaigned together for the release of Ruth Wyner and John Brock: homeless shelter proprietors who were incarcerated when drug-dealing had been unknowingly carried out on their premises. The two men became friends and agreed that Alexander should write Stuart's life story.

The book has two timelines running through it. Some chapters occur in the present, where Stuart is doing his best to keep things on the straight and narrow. He has been given a small flat to live in and scrawls in a diary to keep track of the various activities he has planned. But it is clear he is suffering from poor mental health. He is scattered, forgetful and prone to bouts of rage. He also comments on the book Masters is writing and points out mistakes in it, lending the biography a very meta feel.

The second timeline examines Stuart's history in reverse. We learn about his life on the streets - the alcohol and drug addiction, the many fights that he got into, the injuries he sustained. We find out about his time in prison and what he had to do to survive there. The story goes all the way back to his childhood and we discover that Stuart wasn't always like this. He battled with muscular dystrophy, which marked him out as different in school, but he was mostly a happy-go-lucky boy. However, it also delves into the horrendous abuse Stuart experienced at this age, and this goes a long way to explaining the problems he struggled with in later life.

What a sad and tragic tale this is. It taught me more about the plight of homelessness that anything I've ever watched or read. I learned that it's not enough to give affected people a house to live in. They often have deep-seated psychological issues that need to be addressed if they are to have any hope of improving their lifestyle. Stuart was a complex character - an intelligent and often funny individual on the one hand, but somebody who could flip at the drop of a hat and carry out some despicable acts. He was an impulsive, restless kind of guy who had been beaten down by life, yet found a way to carry on. He deserved to have his story told, and to be remembered. His friend Alexander did a wonderful thing in writing this book - it is an empathetic, penetrating account of a heartbreaking and troubled existence.

[Paul Bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful dog, some kind of retriever probably, had a litter of puppies, every one of them a golden ball of pure joy, and this directly led to the deaths of three people in Oxford, that famous university town in England, some years ago. The people were homeless, and it's a known fact that homeless people love their dogs, because their dogs are their family. And plus, a dog will keep you warm at night. And especially they loved these little puppies and were thrilled when the owner of the puppies gave them all away. But it was a cold, cold winter that year, so cold that in the January even hardcore homeless people were needing a shelter, which usually they would avoid like the plague. But they had the beautiful little puppies. And the rule at the shelter was : NO DOGS. So the homeless people stayed with their dogs and died of hypothermia. The puppies weren't big enough to keep them from dying.

This is just one of a lot of stories from the difficult life of Stuart Shorter, a man who had more problems than the last ten people you met where you said to yourself "whoah, they've got problems" put together, as told to and meditated upon by Alexander Masters. They must be the strangest double act in modern times.

This is a sad, sad book but it's pretty much a must read.

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve just finished this book, and honestly I’m so ineloquent with words I’m not going to even try and write a proper review, I could never do it any justice or hope to explain all the little thoughts about life it made me have - but I want everyone to read it.

It was incredibly sad, insightful, funny, heart warming and disturbing. I know Stuart had done some terrible things in his short life, that he was incredibly damaged but I thought he was also extremely charismatic and intellegent, a beautiful soul and all through the book like Alexander I was maddened at how he could of been extrodaianry but he chose this chaotic life of violence and addiction and self abuse, and like his mum I wanted to grab him by his feet turn him upside down and shake all the bad things out of him.

It broke my heart the things that he went through as a child, the horrific abuse he suffered, It was like a murder mystery, what murdered the person that he could of become, the sad thing is that their are men like Stuart everywhere, the man who sells the big issue outside sainsburys I bet he has a simular story to tell, I bet I pass men like him everyday.

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should be part of the English literary canon. Second time I've read this -- still horrifying and heartbreaking and funny in the saddest possible way.

[JustJayneIA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having spent most of my life working in the human services field, this book really gave me a lot to think about. Then again, it would have done that no matter what. For years I tried so hard not to let myself become jaded or cynical about the clients I worked with, realizing that the behavior I witnessed and the personal details I knew about probably only scratched the surfaces of the sum total of their lives' experiences (full admission: ultimately, I failed). This book delves deep beneath surface perceptions and exposes a lot of ugliness. Reading "Stuart," I was simultaneously deeply touched, disgusted, horrified, glad I read it, and sorry I'd pulled my head out of the sand.

For anyone who thinks we're "all equal," especially in America (yes, I realize this book was written by a Brit about a Brit), hopefully this book will make you think again. Some of us are born into circumstances that will always prevent a level playing field. We may all share the same planet, but we don't all live in the same world.

However, the fact that Stuart was still able to display any type of humor, intelligence or sensitivity despite what his fellow human beings had done to him, does give me some hope.

[Charles Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The truly terrible anguish this man suffered as a child explains a lot. Why some people turn to drugs, violence, offending, self-harm, homelessness, and utter chaos. The next time I see such a person on the street, I will still be a bit apprehensive. And rightly so. However, I will also understand and feel more sympathy because there are commonalities in trauma. If you're interested to learn about very messed up people, and how they become disturbed and broken, this book offers insight. But more than that, it's also a tale of redemption, proving that every life can make a difference.

[Sally Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't read a lot of biographies and I picked this book up on a whim a few days ago when I was filling in time browsing in the bookshop because I was early for my hairdresser appointment. I bought the book because of the opening page, which I read in the shop. Hair done, magazines read, holiday's discussed (not really), I went home and ignored my teetering 'to read' pile and got stuck into 'Stuart' because of page 6. Basically, if you like pages 1 to 6 of this book then you'll like the rest. I loved pages 1-6. And page 6 got me hooked.
Alexander Masters, the biographer, captures in his wit and frustration the problems of a middle class person trying to understand the chaotic person that is Stuart, wonderfully. I do mean wonderfully. His writing is beautiful and funny and clever.
Ultimately however, the story of Stuart is a tragedy.

[liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

So all of the praise on the jacket seems to involve people falling over themselves. Not that there's anything wrong with that. And not that I don't get it. It's just that, well... it's not that kind of a book. Stuart is a homeless guy... except he's not, when we meet him. Who's mentally ill... except he's doing okay, when we meet him. Who's been in prison countless times. Who the system failed... except it didn't, because somebody who wasn't himself had to get him out of that parking garage. Stuart and Alexander both live in Oxford, where Alex is a... writer? Social activist? Shelter worker? All at the same time. A little about Stuart:

Stuart cannot have a driving licence. There are already so many penalty points lined up in police stations waiting to be put on that licence the moment the licence comes into existence that, even if such a licence ever were to exist, it would at one and the same time be impossible for it to exist. Only Stuart could manage to give his relationship with vehicle documentation a flavour of quantum mechanics.

Stuart is curious and opinionated and educated and insanely disfunctional. There are so many disparate parts and qualifications, it's almost impossible to figure out how the whole thing works. Which is what Alexander is trying to work out.

Sour with disapproval, a plump man with bookshelf glasses accuses Stuart of wanting to legalise heroin.
'No, sir, just cannabis. Smack means more junkies and less long-term economic production.'
Does the man know 'how many detox beds there is in Oxford for all them junkies? Two, sir. And half the time when they've been in them beds for five or six days they're put straight back into the situation they were in before they went there. They fall off the wagon as quick as they got on the wagon. Where, the tax off puff would actually pay for all the treatment programmes and policing for heroin addiction. Legalise cannabis but come down like a ton of bricks on the class As.'
When I come back after fifteen minutes, Stuart and the man with the glasses are having an amiable conversation about South American politics.

It's just that Stuart has these tendencies toward violence... and is so unstable...
'If you got a picture of a sixth-form college now,' he concludes sentimentally, 'you'd be lucky if you found two people who didn't look exactly the same as everyone else. But in them days it wasn't boring and materialistic, like today.'
'Then you'd get together and beat the hell out of each other?'
'Yeah.'

[Mark Glover · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very moving accurate and unromanticised view of the issue of homelessness, addiction and mental illness, Masters achieves something quite rare in confronting the inherent tragedy of these issues without glossing over the real life choices that led to Stuart's dilemma. There is seemingly a whole industry spawned from tragic life stories and those that have overcome great difficulties to simply have a normal existence but what Masters achieves through his telling of Stuart's story is highlight the story that all too often goes untold of the person who is never capable of overcoming the great misfortunes that life has thrown their way. Stuart is as mentioned you're stereotypical local nutter, the kind that is evident in just about any city of size and whom most of us would cross the street to avoid. Master's turns tables on the situation by actually confronting Stuart and listening to his story, something you feel is far too seldom the case and between the two of them an uneasy friendship is formed. Their friendship which in essence frames the story is one in its truest sense with Masters, who comes across as far from a bleeding hearted liberal, taking the unique approach of actually treating Stuart as a human being rather than a victim. The story he tells is not one that sympathises with every aspect of Stuart's life choices and you realise as you read it that in fact a large portion of the blame for Stuart's circumstance's must fall to Stuart himself, who time and again self sabotages the opportunities that are granted him to escape the cycle of addiction and poverty. Through Stuart's story Masters illustrates the many problems faced with dealing with the issues that he faces, ones that sadly it would seem cannot be resolved by policy or social welfare and at the end seems only to push for the treatment of everyone regardless of situation as a human being first as the only effective means of gaining understanding and hopefully fostering the society that policy often fails to achieve.

[minnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This biography tells the life story of Stuart Shorter, a homeless knife wielding nutter, from the present back to his childhood, to explain how he went from being a happy go lucky little boy to a homeless drug addict. I loved this book, but read it with a sense of foreboding, knowing that it was going to go back to some horrible events in his childhood , and it does. The book jumps back and forth quite a bit, some of it is funny as Stuart tells of his various stints in prisons all over England, and his method of not getting bullied in prison- to establish yourself as the resident psycho. Stuart’s conversations with Alexander Masters are priceless, and the two become friends, even though Alexander finds Stuart’s chaotic lifestyle frustrating and constantly seeks answers. Their hilarious conversation where Stuart explains what a “rung” car is, proves what different worlds they come from. I liked the way Masters shows us the writing of the book, and we see Stuart’s reaction to various chapters as it progresses “Bollocks Boring” being his reaction to the first draft. Stuart’s main enemy, ‘The System’ failed him from school to prison, and one of the most poignant parts of this book is a letter from Stuart’s primary school teacher to the author, as she reflects whether she could have done more to help him then. Everyone should read this book, anyone who’s ever passed a homeless person in the street and thought “ He looks so normal, what’s he doing there” should read this. This book brought out a real person behind the underclass we see shambling around our cities every day.

[Perri · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author did a great job helping me understand Stuart's life, a man of the streets. Addiction, abuse, mental illness, physical challenges, -it's no mystery why Stuart lived the way he did. What really stood out for me was the insight into the man's mind. For most of us, there's a chronology and schedule to our days. When that falls apart, there's confusion. With a steady flow of chaotic events, our very sense of self becomes unstable. Sadly, there's not much hope offered for how to improve lives, except early intervention. I didn't understand some of the UK terminology and system, but I would think the experience translates pretty well to the American one.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I bought this book I didn’t realise it was a biography. After starting reading it, I still wasn’t quite sure whether it was a novel about a biographer & his subject or an actual biography. But..what a sad and shocking short life Stuart had. The abuse was absolutely appalling not only from a figure in authority who should have been helping and looking after him but also by a member of his family. I felt very angry for the young Stuart & that will stay with me for a while.

[Elisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Questo libro mi serviva proprio. E dire che l'ho scelto per il pozzo letterario di gennaio solamente perché il film che è stato prodotto dopo l'uscita di Stuart ha come attore Benedict Cumberbatch.
Non avevo idea di che cosa parlasse. Non avevo idea che fosse una storia vera.
Questo libro mi ha tirato uno schiaffo, mi ha svegliato via, mi ha tirato addosso una vagonata di realtà, quale non ne avevo mai visto prima.
Stuart: una vita al contrario narra la storia a partire dalla fine di Stuart, un trentatreenne senzatetto che ne ha passate di tutte.
Stuart, che viene picchiato dal padre, violentato dal fratello, dal babysitter e dal preside di una delle tante scuole che ha frequentato, che è sempre stato preso in giro dai ragazzi della sua età perché aveva le gambe storte e andava a scuola con gli spastici.
Stuart, che pur di scappare dal fratello, scongiura la mamma di portarlo ai servizi sociali e di affidarlo a qualcuno. Che quando può ricevere aiuto scappa e finisce in strada.
Stuart, che riesce a scappare dalla strada e inizia a ricostruirsi una vita, piano piano.
Leggendo Stuart: una vita al contrario mi sono resa conto una volta per tutte che il mondo che conosco è solo la milionesima parte del mondo che c'è là fuori.

[Bettie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bettie's Books

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a must read. It’ll break your heart, but hearts ought to be broken if we hope ever to do better.

[Bookmaniac70 · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an unusual book. The phenomenon of homelessness has been always a mystery to me;I have been always asking myself how it happens,is it only poverty or something else; why people used to living in the streets,cannot return their lives to normal even if given the opportunity? The book says a lot about all these things but also,it doesn`t and can`t answer all the questions.

First of all,"Stuart" is a precious document of a human life. It is also a valuable document on how homeless people think and why many social benefits don`t work. For me this information side of the book was the most interesting part. I found it difficult to define my own feelings toward Stuart.The sympathy of the writer was evident through all the writing but he knew him personally and we don`t.It seems there was a lot of good in him,but also a lot of aggression and violence.

The book doesn`t give an answer to the main question- what exactly drives a man to deviate from the normal life and choose the path of violence and anger? Of course, a troubled childhood,sexual abuse are enough to drive one outside the boundaries of the normal but as Stuart says himself,a lot of people have been through the same and yet turned as good citizens.Perhaps after all,it is a matter of personal choice?

All this said,I liked the book very much.It was touching,human and written from the heart. It is such a pity that Stuart`s life was too short to be changed for good

[emilee · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was assigned reading for my undergrad degree and I've only just gotten around to reading it. The irony is that it was assigned for two separate creative writing classes, yet I couldn't stand the writing. The structure was meant to be clever, to create an atmosphere of intrigue and mystery, but for me it just made the story disjointed and difficult to follow. I found it very hard to connect with Stuart and care much about his story until about 75% of the way in the book, when his early life is finally touched upon in any detail.

And I certainly couldn't make myself care about Alexander - for all the summaries of this book that claim Stuart was Alexander's friend, I didn't see much empathy for Stuart coming from Alexander at all. Alexander mentions multiple times that he thought certain things would make for good pieces in the newspaper, and it seems like Stuart was little more to him than a story that would make for a good book that would sell lots of copies. Even towards the end, Alexander is constantly frustrated with Stuart and seems totally unwilling to understand his way of thinking - it just didn't sit well with me.

It was an interesting story and gave me insight into a kind of life that I can't imagine living, but I don't think I'd recommend this book to anyone. I'm sure there are other books that have told similar stories in much more sensitive and effective ways.

[Tara Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will admit, I saw the film first. Benedict Cumberbatch. ‘Nuff said. But I was so captivated by the story of Stuart Shorter and his subsequent portrayal by Tom Hardy (he was ace!), that I had to read the book.

This is a wonderful book. Alexander Masters captures the essence of Stuart in a way that is compelling and heartbreaking all at the same time. It is the story of a young man so embroiled in pain and tragedy, yet has such a profound outlook on life. I ached for Stuart, Alexander, and Stuart’s family.

You will find yourself laughing on one page and then crying at the next. Also a treatise on the plight of the homeless and mentally ill, Mr. Masters lays these social issues out in the spotlight through Stuart’s troubled life. Stuart is not a man easily forgotten, and his story will stay with you long after you finish the book. I also recommend seeing the film as well, as it stays true to the heart of the novel.

One of the best books I have read in ages. Read this. Read it now.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wonderful biography of a troubled soul. This book has all the "feels." Sad, happy, frustrated, amused, angry, confused: all in one package. Stuart gives a very different perspective of life on the streets. Suffering from MD since childhood, and abused most of his life, Stuart finds ways to escape the hell that is his life by using drugs and alcohol. He gets in trouble constantly, and yet, he's a very caring person deep down. Although, as an adult, Stuart has trouble with his memory, he can still tell you the exact moment he became a sociopath. Such a rich, yet poignant story. Wonderful. Makes you think. Makes you feel. Thank you for the book, Marla!

This story was made into a movie in 2007, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hardy. I would very much like to find a copy of it somewhere.

[Malcolm · Rating 5 out of 5]

harrowing - but worth persevering with

[m d · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cambridge. Homelessness. Violence. Addiction. Trauma. Tragedy. So familiar, so close to what I do for a living right now, so heartbreaking, and yet bitter-sweet and funny.

[Cynthea · Rating 2 out of 5]

i hated this book. i gave it TWO stars, because well, stuart and alexander shouldn't be punished because i work in the social services field w/ mentally ill chemically addicted offenders. it is a tough book to read - it is not funny (or, at least i didn't find it funny anywhere as other reviewers have), the lack of any british slang translation makes other things really difficult, and i mean come on, how much of a train wreck of a life can you read without getting really depressed?

i work with this population everyday so i think that is why different ppl. from different walks of my life recommended this book, but, ya know - i forced myself to finish it. i DO think that it is an excellent depiction of the life of the homeless, mentally ill, drug addicted, offender. i even kind of want some of the case managers that work for me to pick it up and read it. however, since i live this every day from 9 - 5, i just couldn't stomach anymore of it on the train to and from work.

ick.

on to bigger and better "forget about real life" book reading endeavors.

[Sian Wadey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters

When I found out that this was one of the 25 books I had won from Booka I was really excited. I'd seen the film and absolutley loved it thanks to Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hardy. It hadn't taken me long to love Stuart. When I started the book I felt that same tone. Despite the potentially depressing subject matter I found myself smiling at what Stuart said and I was eager to read the next chapter. Unlike most biographies there was real humour and warmth. Normally I find they are simply the bare facts. The book is obviously more detailed than the film and the friendship between Alexander and Stuart really shines through. Masters does a brilliant job of making chaotic, homeless, violent, druggie Stuart likeable as well as someone you care about and would like to meet. Unfortunately the latter isn't possible. The only reason I gave it four rather than five was because I found the book lagged slightly in the middle before picking up again at the end.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not usually the sort of person to read biographies, but this just captivated me. From this book I have learned so much about the lives of people like stuart, who we alienate from society so much. That alone should be a good reason for anyone to read this book. Stuart is a great person: logical, clever and funny, and it's enjoyable to 'be' around him in this book, which makes me all the more sympathetic towards his situation and life's events, which have stopped him from being and excellent person. The layout is a very good idea, starting from the ruined life of present, and working back to dissect his problems, and finally meeting his shocking and sickening childhood. The way Masters writes is very frank (sometimes I think his thoughts are a little too cruel) but this brings reality to the book, making Stuart all the more real to me. The humour kept the book entertaining and not too depressing, but overall this is a fantastic insight into the world of Stuart, and it will stay with me for a long time. Very inspirational. RIP Stuart

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alexander Masters presents a riveting and humanizing portrait of Stuart Shorter, aka “Psycho,” an off-again/on-again homeless Brit, an ex-convict, a former junkie, alcoholic, and an all-around decent and forgivable human being. As the subtitle explains, Masters tells Shorter’s biography backward, explaining with heartbreaking detail the chapters of Shorter’s unhappy and unlucky life and the circumstances that brought them together. The little illustrations (presumably by Masters?) and reproductions of Shorter’s childlike handwriting are also touching and memorable. After finishing this book, I found myself thinking differently about and with much greater compassion toward the homeless men and women I pass on the street on a regular basis. Shorter, like many people who have been broken down entirely, seems to understand the concept of grace better than the rest of us. As he says of his own condition, “Homelessness—it’s not about not having a home. It’s about something being seriously fucking wrong.” Recommended.

[Sarah Watt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a highly original and captivating memoir which has captured the hearts of readers everywhere. "Stuart, A Life Backwards", is the story of a remarkable friendship between a reclusive writer and illustrator ('a middle class scum ponce, if you want to be honest about it, Alexander') and a chaotic, knife-wielding beggar whom he gets to know during a campaign to release two charity workers from prison. Interwoven into this, is Stuart's confession: the story of his life, told backwards. With humour, compassion (and exasperation) Masters slowly works back through post-office heists, prison riots and the exact day Stuart discovered violence, to unfold the reasons why he changed from a happy-go-lucky little boy into a polydrug-addicted-alcoholic Jekyll and Hyde personality, with a fondness for what he called 'little strips of silver' (knives to you and me). Funny, despairing, brilliantly written and full of surprises: this is the most original and moving biography of recent years.

[Celeste · Rating 2 out of 5]

I get what this biography was trying to do. It was trying to break the stereotypes of homeless people — show us that cause and effect are more complex that they seem, that justice isn’t the same as law, and remind us to show more curiosity and compassion to the downtrodden.

I just didn’t appreciate the writing style and the narration. I understand that the flashback sequence was supposed to lead up to the Unmentionable Crime — and frankly, the biography only picked up in the final 20% of the book where we go, aha, this all makes sense now! Even though Stuart would warn us against how we ordinary folk made meaning out of things — but the overall story was hard to follow. It seemed overwhelmed with unnecessary details/ anecdotes and too much dialogue.

While the horror of the Unmentionable Crime would stick with me, most of the book was truly tortuously long without adding much new insight.

[Mitzi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I was expecting a different type of book. Or maybe I just wasn't in the mood, but I could never fully get into the life of Stuart, a homeless man in England. Masters writes Stuart's life backwards as a sort of mystery to figure out how Sturart ended up on the streets. That was actually Stuart's idea, and the best idea of the whole book. The rest seems sort of rambling, too much about Masters trying to write the book, and in the end, what makes Stuart homeless is pretty much what you'd expect: abuse, mental problems, drugs. No great mystery.

[[ J o ] · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Quick review from memory before I re-read and re-review at a later date]

(Oh my goodness. I remember almost everything about this book and I can feel within my bones that it will never not be a five star book. A definite re-read but when I couldn't say. So sad, so beautiful, so ridiculous. So human. So stupid. So absolutely everything. I just wish I could remember whether I saw the adaptation first or read the book first. I imagine it was the former, since I never read real-life inspired works, ever.)