Patrick Melrose

by Edward St. Aubyn

NOW COLLECTED INTO ONE VOLUME FOR THE FIRST TIME, ALL FIVE INSTALLMENTS OF EDWARD ST. AUBYN'S CELEBRATED PATRICK MELROSE NOVELS

Now a 5-Part Limited Event Series on Showtime, Starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Blythe Danner

Edward St. Aubyn has penned one of the most acclaimed series of the decade with the Patrick Melrose Novels. Now you can read all five novels in one volume: Never Mind, Bad News, Mother's Milk, Some Hope, and At Last.

By turns harrowing and hilarious, this ambitious novel cycle dissects the English upper class. Edward St. Aubyn offers his reader the often darkly funny and self-loathing world of privilege as we follow Patrick Melrose's story of abuse, addiction, and recovery from the age of five into early middle age.

The Patrick Melrose Novels are "a memorable tour de force" (The New York Times Book Review) by one of "the most brilliant English novelists of his generation" (Alan Hollinghurst).

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, 21st Century, Literature, Novels, Collections, Psychology

880 pages, Paperback

Published May 8, 2018

About the author

Edward St Aubyn was born in London in 1960. He was educated at Westminster school and Keble college, Oxford University. He is the author of six novels, the most recent of which, ‘Mother’s Milk’, was shortlisted for the 2006 Man Booker Prize, won the 2007 Prix Femina Etranger and won the 2007 South Bank Show award on literature.

His first novel, ‘Never Mind’ (1992) won the Betty Trask award. This novel, along with ‘Bad News’ (1992) and ‘Some Hope’ (1994) became a trilogy, now collectively published under the title ‘Some Hope’.

His other fiction consists of ‘On the Edge’ (1998) which was shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Prize and A Clue to the Exit (2000).

Reviews

[Bram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each of these novels is like a high-end entrée: exquisite and varied in flavor, yet unable on its own to satisfy the appetite. But together they provide complete satiation and not a hint of surfeit. St. Aubyn's sharp and justly-lauded prose is addicting; he manages to craft a story of the leading man least-deserving of your sympathy into something not only bleak and funny but oddly moving and genuine. One of the most enjoyable experiences I've had since reading Proust, who receives his fair share of nods in this modern masterstroke.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

An unprecedented reading experience: 5-4-3-2-1. A tetralogy descending from audacious LOL greatness to who cares I think I'm gonna skim it. Of course I've read novels that started really strong and fizzled but never have they fizzled so evenly, their fizzle delineated by individually published volumes collected for the first time in a beautiful paperback with deckled edges and French flaps. The fizzle in my reading pleasure/engagement/interest I suppose matches the Melrose family's financial decline but that's way too generous an interpretation. The first novel is hardly much more than a novella but it's a zinger, the sort from which you read aloud passages to anyone nearby, bon mots forever, perfect images like killing ants with a cigar tip or making one's loved one kneel and eat fallen figs, all of it flowing and smart, charged with a bit of incestuous pedophilia, a few pages that create a shockwave that should've reverberated through these novels but really didn't. The second enjoyable novel (close third POV) takes place in NYC in the early '80s with Patrick a roving English Patrick Bateman junkie-type, not murderous but nihilistic. There's a wonderful image in the back of a cab imagining the lights in windows of passing office buildings as a crossword puzzle, but there's also a scene trying to buy heroin in Alphabet City that borders on cartoonish farce reminiscent, not in a good way, of The Confederacy of Dunces. By the third novel he's older, cleaned up, and ready to confess to a friend what happened as a child but the world around him opens up with a return to a roving third-person POV that never feels steady enough to jump from character to character at a posh dinner party. It's easy reading, relatively enjoyable, but becoming too diffuse, losing the focused psychological and emotional charge of the first two books. Everything in the final two novels dealing with Patrick's family, Patrick and his wife's affairs, and disinheritance and death of his mother felt sort of unnecessary, as though the supremely talented and intelligent and insightful writer of the first volume were coasting, letting the characters he'd created and new ones he concocted just spill out onto the page and do nothing more than talk. The charge or urgency of the first two books seemed replaced by always graceful but inconsistently worth-it verbosity, and so I felt nearly nothing for Patrick's dissolution into alcoholism or his mother's decline and death. Occasionally there were sentences or phrases I lingered over to appreciate ("psychedelic authority") but everything moved along on the skates of an automatic sort of semi-excellence. There's a fantastic story about his father as a young man on a wild boar hunt in India dispatching a man afflicted with rabies but it's too short and came too late to restore my love for this. The father David Melrose was a monster but so clever and so devilishly fucked-up it seemed like he needed to dominate things either on or off stage but he was dead by the beginning of the second novel and insufficiently sensed by the third one. Generally, in an ~850-page novel collection there wasn't enough devoted to David Melrose's youth, only a few pages really. These novels pretty much escaped David's gravity and/or seemed to fail to use his heft sufficiently, and also seemed not to remember themselves -- the Patrick of the last two books hardly seems to have shared the experiences of the abused boy or the young junkie. For a long story of the dissolution of a wealthy family, Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family seems like the reigning champ. Or at least I had it in my head as I read as a template/standard. Anyway, a great start that slowly but surely fizzled. Something else: it made me not want to write, like the author's prose was so consistently flowing and intelligent and descriptive and always readable but ultimately failed to really engage me in way that made me think toward the end why even bother with reading and writing? I first became interested in this book when I saw it suggested that A Little Life stole a lot from it and that this was in many ways superior -- the gray cover of the paperback also seems similar, as though the publishers wanted to capitalize on the association -- but really other than the fact that both central characters are victims of sexual abuse there's not much of a comparison to be made (A Little Life is, apparently very intentionally, the opposite of a family novel), particularly on a formal level but also Yanagihara's characters are so much stronger and the novel as a whole is so much steadier and unified, which makes sense of course since St. Aubyn's novels were published separately over time and Yanagihara's novel was written in a year and a half. I should also note that the inauguration occurred on the day I started the third novel and as we all know pretty much everything, particularly everyone's ability to concentrate, has gone downhill since then, so it's possible that the horrific reality show playing out recently at a granular level on Twitter warped my brain and hampered my ability to read the final three installments, but regardless I can proclaim with confidence that these volumes didn't offer a sufficiently strong immersive literary distraction since a certain fuckwit took an oath in front of the largest crowd ever assembled anywhere ever to undermine the Constitution and grab the world by its ya-ya.

[BukowyCzytajnik · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5/5
To jest wybitnie przygnębiająca historia. Ohyda świata łączy się z ponurym żartem. Jest humor, śmiech przez płacz, mnóstwo przemyśleń i charyzmatyczny główny bohater.
Książka balansuje emocjami, najpierw rozśmiesza w środku tragedii a następnie sprawia, że odczuwa się nic innego jak smutek i obrzydzenie.

Jak dla mnie zatrważający obraz walki z tragedią dzieciństwa.
Nie jest to historia dla wszystkich, porusza trudny temat bez żadnych skrótów i taryf ulgowych.

Odejmuje pół gwiazdki przez to, że książka jest podzielona na części, które konkretnie opisują dany okres życia Patricka. Jak dla mnie nie były równie dobre, ale tego się spodziewałam. Niektórym przeszkadzały opisy uniesień narkotykowych. Jak dla mnie dodawały szczerości.

Myślę, że warto też dodać, że powieść ta może być uznawana za powieść autobiograficzną, ponieważ autor niejako opisywał swoje życie i swoje przykre doświadczenia.

[Teri Reck · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating read--very, very cerebral, in some ways too much so. Sometimes I wanted to shout, Stop thinking so much and just live! At first, I thought that it was very male, but then there was a female character trying to be the perfect mother whose thoughts and feelings were spot on. In some ways, depressing, but in others, not so much, as people seem to carry on despite adversity and even some willful self destruction. Lots of self analysis as characters try to come to grips with everything from serious childhood abuse to plain old family drama. Very British seeming with a great deal of sarcasm and wit and resignation. A picture of the extraordinarily rich and privileged possessing everything but happiness and how they contend with losing that money and privilege which makes them even less happy. Plenty of intergenerational antagonism as characters try to work out their relationships with parents and then with their own children and then with parents who become as dependent as children as they near life's end. At points I loved this book series, and at points I quite disliked it, but it has a very satisfying ending which I did not anticipate. Good stuff.

[marcia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Never Mind ★★★★☆
Bad News ★★★☆☆
Some Hope ★★☆☆☆
Mother's Milk ★☆☆☆☆

Technically, I didn't finish this: I have 100 pages left to go. However, I've read enough to know it's not getting any better. If the series is more like Never Mind, it would've been one of my favorite works of all time. Edward St. Aubyn shows an acute understanding of how the cycle of abuse works and the way trauma gets passed on from one generation to the next. Even Bad News serves a purpose in the narrative: it shows Patrick being addicted to drugs as a way to cope with his upbringing. Unfortunately, the next three books are completely directionless. They aren't plot- or character-driven enough to be riveting. There are so many unnecessary characters thrown into the mix. On top of that, Patrick becomes increasingly self-absorbed and insufferable. His penchant for rambling gets tiring very quickly. By the end, I couldn't care less about him.

[Perri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to read the books before I saw the TV series with Cumberbatch, and have to say I'm more curious than ever about the adaptation. The writing was terrific focusing on the intensive and I mean INTENSIVE examination of feelings and relationship issues. Each book covers a short slice of life in Melrose's life and what a dysfunctional one he has. The first two (Never Mind and Bad News) and the last (At Last) are especially brutal. I was hooked by the characters and had to find out what happened. Some Hope did offer some hope. Mother's Milk is the one that received the awards, but strangely enough I found it the most dull to read. It was my least favorite. Others comment on the humor, but I guess I don't appreciate wit bone dry. I'm giving the five books an overall four star rating for the writing, but I won't recommend them except to those who want to commit to an intensive character study

So I liked the video version better than the book. Cumberbatch was amazing, but really the whole cast were too. Very moving and I could actually see the humor that I missed in the book.

[Justine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I’m glad that I read all of these volumes back to back or I may have stopped after the first book. The first book, focusing on Patrick’s childhood was sad and at times extremely harrowing. Check trigger warnings if needed. The following 3 volumes track the fallout of his childhood as he continues to be surrounded by the most insufferable people imaginable. I am glad I stuck with it as the final volume ties everything together as we hear from Patrick’s mother and Patrick comes to terms with his past trauma and the loss of both parents. Lots of humour and thoughtful commentary on the perils of inherited wealth woven throughout. Money really didn’t buy anyone happiness in this story.

[Joe Zivak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cynicky pribeh anglickej najvyssej socialnej triedy. Prirodzeny vyvoj toho, comu sa u nas naivne hovori suchy anglicky humor. Tento text je takmer dokonaly, ale uzivat si ho sa neda. Preto si dalsie diely precitam s rovnakym nepotesenim, ako tento prvy. P.S.: Preklad je velmi dobry.

[Erik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mean people being horrible to each other. Perhaps one book at a time every couple years would be tolerable, but all in one piece it becomes tiresome. I read about half and got fed up.

[Ylenia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Never Mind: 2.5 ⭐
Bad News: 3.5 ⭐
Some Hope: 3.75 ⭐
Mother’s Milk: 2.5 ⭐
At Last: 2.5 ⭐

[Svetlana · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good! Going to watch the movie as well. I did not really like the 3rd novel, or maybe missed the point. 4.5⭐️
* * * * *
Just wanted to add, after reading the book I took a DVD to watch. It’s also so good! Benedict Cumberbatch is stunning. So, recommend to everyone who wants to get into the story but too lazy to read the book ;)

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fabulous. One of the top ten books I've ever read. Or maybe top 20 in my life. He gets under the skin of these very troubling characters in phenomenal ways.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

5-star books leave me inarticulate, so I'll just say this book is everything.

[Melly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. Gorgeous. Tragic. Exhilarating. Five of the best books I've ever read.

[Fraser Simons · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the gamut of each instalment is somewhat uneven, the macro story that comes together was near perfect, for me. Unlikable, sometimes abhorrent characters, biting wit and humour, tap into a surprisingly relatable human experience. It takes something extra, typically, for me to care at all about rich people, and this has “it”. All good fiction tends to be about many things, so much so that when people ask what it’s about, I tend to shrug and say Everything, because narrowing it diminishes it.

There’s a pleasant symmetry that comes together from first to last books as well. The ending fits what it is. It becomes more funny, somehow, despite it becoming more heartbreaking, as the vividness of which a particular character is drawn, and is one of the closest things to as vile a person as I could imagine. Fitting that he be in the 1% then, but not exclusionary to it, since everything that makes him terrible could be found in another man of another background, but there’s an extra dash of disgust when there’s a helping of privilege and lack of accountability.

Patrick too, has a surprisingly engaging arc, despite the matter-of-fact writing style that cuts and splays every character. No one is safe from the writer, least of all Patrick. The psychology behind their behaviour is tragic because the reader gains so much insight about them they will never achieve. The reality of a person is in so much of what their perception is by others, which is why a more solipsistic work centred on Patrick and company wouldn’t work.

[Francesca · Rating 2 out of 5]

La mia sarà una recensione molto critica, per quello che può valere. Cercherò di articolarla in diversi punti:
1. Riassumendo, questo libro è composto di pagine e pagine piene di vuote digressioni filosofiche e di personaggi esagerati e grotteschi i quali sono impossibili da amare e impossibili da odiare. Anzi, è proprio impossibile provare alcunché verso di loro.
2. Dell'introspezione psicologica tanto decantata da tutti non ho trovato molto, un po' perché l'unico personaggio veramente analizzato nel dettaglio è Patrick, un po' perché Patrick é un personaggio impossibile da comprendere, sia perché nessuno di noi (spero) ha mai passato quello che accade a lui, sia perché la sua vicenda non segue nessuna logica e lui stesso per il 99% del tempo non sa cosa lo spinge a fare quello che sta facendo.
3. Nessuno di questi 5 libri è in grado di brillare sufficientemente, da solo. Potrete anche dire "e chi se ne frega, vanno letti insieme" ma io ho trovato alcuni libri particolarmente pesanti. Ho faticato tantissimo a portare avanti questa lettura e ho dovuto quasi farmi violenza per finirla, tanto poco mi coinvolgeva.
3. Ci sono in circolazione autori infinitamente più acuti, infinitamente più tristi e infinitamente più bravi nell'introspezione psicologica e nel sarcasmo di St. Aubyn. Fatevi un favore e leggete altro.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about terrible rich people doing awful things to one another. And yet. It is a compelling read. There’s a reason this collection of novels was so popular.

This is a collection of five novellas, ranging from about 130 pages to 250. It deals with some very dark subject matter: abuse (emotional, sexual, and physical), addiction and alcoholism, and a variety of emotional distance. The entire tome clocks in at about 850 pages, but it took me less time than a lot of 400 page books.

The first book focuses on Patrick’s childhood, the second on a bender in New York, the third on his recovery, the fourth on his becoming a parent, and the fifth on a death. I have to be honest that some of the more drug-induced or dreamlike passages didn’t really work as well for me, but that’s all made up by the secondary characters, who are ridiculous or hilarious or sympathetic.

I’m even interested in seeing the TV show, which is supposed to be good, though there are some long passages that are basically inner monologue. I’ll be curious to see how the adaptation handles them.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually all 5 Patrick Melrose novels in one edition. A bunch of wholly unlikable characters drawn with a finely barbed pen (if that is a thing.) I Liked some more than others. The second was my least favorite--- a day in the life of a drug addict. But the whole set tells a haunting story of a man tormented by his childhood.

[Sally]

"Nevermind" was such a tough start to this series. It's beautiful, smart and so painfully dark and seemingly self-engrossed that you want to stop. The sharp observations and dialogue kept me going and I'm glad. The mix of wit, violence, self destruction, familial combat and, in a way, redemption over the course of Patrick's life, and the swirl of related characters, was worth it.

[Mariangeles De La Cruz Laguna]

El año pasado vi la serie y me gusto tanto que encuanto vi que en Play books estaba la edición con los cinco libros no dude en comprarla y aunque hasta el momento solo he leído las primeras dos novelas que contiene este volumen, esta saga me ha sacado de mi zona de confort.
Y la serie me ha parecido una de las mejores adaptaciones que he visto hasta la fecha.

[Jan Wicher Emmens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh oh oh. Wat een inkijk in het leven van de elite (in dit geval Britse adel). Maar eigenlijk vooral een inkijk in het leven. Ongelooflijk natuurlijke scènes en dialogen, mensenkennis, interessante inzichten... Just. Wow. Sef, let je op? #deleven.

[Dominika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pierwsze trzy części były cudowne, książka naprawdę mnie wciągnęła, tylko później zaczęło robić się za dużo, nie spodobał mi się wątek Eleanor, totalnie mnie nie wkręcił. Zakończenie super, ale tak ostatecznie moja ocena to jakieś 3,5

chyba nikomu od siebie nie polecę:(

[niko · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,75

[Chandrabrown80 Brown · Rating 1 out of 5]

This storyline dragged and found it boring.

[Daniel KML · Rating 3 out of 5]

An overall disappointing series that starts strong but loses steam with each additional novel.

- Never Mind: An excellent short novel on the dysfunctions (and horrors) of an old-money family.
- Bad News: An interesting excerpt on the life of a trauma-afflicted drug addict.
- Some Hope: A fragmented attempt at portraying the futility of the English upper class at a countryside party.
- Mother’s Milk: I could not have cared less about the protagonist's conflicts or the family dynamics. Furthermore, the child-POV sections are not particularly convincing.
- At Last: A lazy and uninspired attempt at wrapping up an unnecessarily long series.

Final Thoughts:
These novels might have worked as an instrument of self-analysis for the author, but they proved to be a boring and unsatisfying reading experience for me. The narrator's cynicism, which could have been a feat of style, feels exaggerated and far-fetched more often than not.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zaczyna wywołując w czytelniku masę mieszanych uczuć i z jeszcze większą pulą tych uczuć go pozostawia. W dobrym sensie oczywiście

[Agnieszka Pelc · Rating 2 out of 5]

A joined review (2.2/5) on the following independent-like parts:

Never Mind (2/5)
A rocky, but still - somehow - pretty solid start. This novel focuses solely on the time of Patrick's childhood, although it did manage to finish, before it really started. After reading this part I kept having this not-so-pleasant feeling, that if i bought this book as a solo, I would never reach for the rest of the Patrick Melrose novels.

Bad News (2/5)
This one might have been somewhat interesting thanks to the descriptions of the state of intoxication, and as such was more or less worth sticking trough, although the plot was pretty simple - Patrick stays in NYC to pick up his late father's remains and taste the drug life of The City That Never Sleeps. Again, wouldn't have bought the rest of the novels after only reading the first two.

Some Hope (1/5)
"Some Hope" was unfortunately the worst out of all of them. I want to admit I am not English though, maybe if I was, I would find the reflections on English bourgeoisie more engaging. But given, that it was almost all this part was about, it was raher difficult to read everything word-for-word. A true misery, really.

Mother's Milk (3/5) & At Last (3/5)
The last two novels is really were it gets better - but I'm not sure, if it's because they're really miraculously good or - because of the contrast between these two and their terrible company (novels 1-3). Nevertheless, these two did contain some interesting insights on difficulty of life and making the right choices (here: choices concering the end of Eleanor's life, especially hard because of her betrayal), the ongoing war with Patrcik's addictions as weel as his mental problems and unresolved trauma, the nightmare of losing one's health and mind.
I didn't, however, love the very end of the last novel, where - I assume - Patrick supposedly had an epiphany of his life, started to see things clearly and feel his freedom just after the death of Nicholas - really clichee. It even reads as if it was an oversimplified, unfinished ending that someone is hopefully still working on.
On the other hand the idea behind this ending did correspond well with the 1. novel and the scene of dinner in Saint-Nazaire. A good idea, a rather poor execution.


The book wasn't a complete disaster, but wasn't one to keep you on the tips of your toes, either. It can scare a little, especially those with unresolved childhood trauma - mainly cause you really feel sorry for Patrick and you really don't want to end up like him. Also, you don't want to stick up with the english bourgeoisie, the way Patrick has to, but these people unfortunately proove to be so annoying and dull, that the descriptions of their feelings and thoughts - especially present in the 2. novel - kind of kill your mood and interest, making it really hard sometimes to be able to stick around.

All in all, is this book worth recommending to people struggling with unloving, problematic parents?
Sure, why not. Within the 800-900 pages there's bound to be a few fragments they can identify with, maybe even one or two to make them think and analyse their own not-so-cheery endeavours.

Is it worth recommeding to a friend of that description, that is at the same time acustomed to a good book in their hand, and in general literature-loving-and-appreciating creature?
Not so much. The quality of these novels leave - in my opinion - a lot expectations unmet and desires unfulfilled, while the very lust for an answer or a breaktrough where it comes to one's own dilemmas keeps growing only to never be adressed, let alone satisfied.

[Kira Thebookbella · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of books 1-5 of the Patrick Melrose series.

I struggle to rate this series because there were so many good things about this series, I loved Patrick's sarcasm and his humor and I loved the philosophy and the depth so much of this was written in. This captured so much about humanity and life. It was lovely. At the same time this also had a lot of parts I felt dragged a bit for me and so many characters that were terribly shallow that I didn't care for. This was a definitely an above average read for me but I also can't say it is a personal favorite.

The summaries of the books are as follows:

NEVERMIND: This is the first book in the series and takes place when Patrick is 5 years old. We first meet his father and mother before we meet the carefree Patrick who is playing by the well. We quickly see that his father is cruel and abusive and his mother is completely uninvolved as she too is victimized by Patrick's father.

This was a really good introduction to Patrick's childhood and the people that surrounded him. Mostly toxic people, the books introduced several couples. The most confusing thing about this is that they didn't always tell me who these people were in relation to the Melrose family until later on. It sometimes felt they were on a tangent and I didn't know where it was headed. Overall a really good start to the series.

BADNEWS: We meet back up with Patrick when he is in his early twenties, just after he has discovered his father has died. He travels to the states in a herione induced stupor to retrieve his father's body. Patrick seems okay with his father's death because he had the abused that was inflicted upon him during his childhood.

This was the first episode in the showtime series and the one we have been seeing the most promos for. This made us realize early on the damage that was done to an innocent child as Patrick tries to self medicate by popping pills and shooting up cocaine and heroine. This was the most entertaining of the stories and my favorite one of the bunch.

SOME HOPE: We meet Patrick again in his thirties, as a recovering drug addict who is still trying to find alternate ways to heal from his past. This story takes us to a social gathering with other English high society members.

This story went deeper into some of the dynamics of the English high society and we start to see patterns emerge that are common conduct to others in this realm.

MOTHER'S MILK: This time we are introduced to the story by Robert, Patrick's son. He is an articulate and observant child who delves in to what I mean to be connected to a mother. This becomes a sort of philosophy all it own and we see where Patrick falls on this continum. Patrick, never having had a strong bond with his mother, feels both the pull of his wife to his children and his desire to be a good father and offer them the things he never had. His relationship with his wife is strained by this especially by the second son, Thomas who forms a closers bond.

This is the longest book of the series, and while it is important to see who Patrick is in relation to his mother, it was tedious read as there was so many details I felt had been brushed over before.

AT LAST: Patrick is now in his late thirties and is attending a funeral. This was a suitable wrap up for the series as we get to re-meet many people we have already met in previous stories.

While I enjoyed this addition it was some more review to things we had touched upon before.

[Bill Krieger · Rating 4 out of 5]

 
Headline: Extreme satire. Extremely funny.

Wow, this is an extreme book. It's pure satire. The author rips everyone and everything in his path. It reminds me of Don Rickles, sort of. Rickles did the same comedy routine over and over again where he made fun of the audience, his family, current events, etc. It worked because it was funny. The same is true of this book. There's a ton of repetition but Patrick Melrose is smart and lol-funny. It's a guilty pleasure to enjoy the author's wanton destruction of all he sees.

This book is actually a collection of 5 books. Patrick Melrose is the main character. It's a satire of life in in jolly, old England, and the aristocracy, but that sells it short. I don't think there's a single likable character in the book, including even young children and the elderly. Every aspect of life is fair game for ridicule. There's rarely a moment where the author lets up and lets the sun shine in.

QOTD

He had cooked a Moroccan dish of pigeon stuffed with almonds. He served it to her on a bed of saffron rice and then drew back the plate. ‘Will you do something for me?’ he asked.

‘Of course,’ she said. ‘What?’

He put the plate on the floor behind her chair and said, ‘Would you eat your food without using a knife and fork, or your hands, just eat it off the plate?’

‘Like a dog, you mean?’ she asked.

‘Like a girl pretending to be a dog.’

‘But why?’

‘Because I want you to.’

- Patrick Melrose, his abusive father and downtrodden mother

As a reader, we're immersed in negativity. Every plot device leads us to a place where soul-crushing sarcasm is sure to follow. Sometimes the third person narrator jumps in, but usually, the characters hang themselves with their idiotic or repulsive actions, speech, or thoughts. Some of the major themes are abuse, addiction, entitlement, narcissism, psychology, etc. Patrick Melrose, the guy, is an addict who loves to complain about and criticize everything around him. It's sad, but it's also hysterical.

Am I missing the author's higher purpose here? Probably. Does the author like and/or empathize with the people he skewers. I don't know. Some characters, like Patrick Melrose himself, have good reason to be a hot mess. Usually, they've been exposed to some form of abuse or neglect as a child. These questions are somewhat irrelevant because the book is so well written and so funny.

QOTD2

Most of the ‘quality time’ in his life had been spent in a bathroom. Injecting, snorting, swallowing, stealing, overdosing; examining his pupils, his arms, his tongue, his stash.

‘O bathrooms!’ he intoned, spreading out his arms in front of the mirror.

- the life and times of Patrick Melrose

There are a few gaps, but Patrick Melrose is pretty funny-dense. I have a zillion highlighted sections in my Kindle. It was recently turned into a BBC show. I might try those DVDs. We'll see.

A good read. thanks...yow, bill

 

[Lars K Jensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I går havde jeg følelsen af, at jeg sagde farvel til en person - ja, nærmest en ven, efterhånden - der har fulgt mig i godt og vel to måneder. I går blev jeg nemlig færdig med det femte og sidste bind i serien om Patrick Melrose.

Det har været en følelsesladet rejser. Fra en incestuøs barndom over drug-fuelled tyvere, ironiske tredivere og et forvirret faderskab.

Da St. Aubyn fornylig var på besøg i København, var jeg en af tilhørerne, og jeg følte nærmest, at intervieweren talte på mine vegne, da han bemærkede forfatterens evne til at fortælle nogle triste, syrede og til tider direkte tragiske ting på en måde, så man må tage sig i at trække på smilebåndet eller hive telefonen frem for at tage et fotografi af en passage (der sagtens kan strejke sig over flere sider) med et udefineret ønske om at vise det til en eller anden.

At læse Melrose-bøgerne er på en gang den mest fantastiske og mærkeligste læseoplevelse, jeg har haft. Fantastisk fordi historien er gribende, og fordi St. Aubyns beherskelse af det engelske ord er som en kejser, der på uforudsigelig vis betvinger sit folk; alt kan ske på den næste side, en hvilken som helst tanke eller idé kan ramme vores hovedperson. Men ikke mærkelig som i semisyrede værker som Bulgakovs 'Mesteren og Margarita', der til tider nærmest er direkte absurd i sin handling. Men mærkelig af netop den grund at St. Aubyn kan tage det dybt alvorlige, tragiske og livsdefinerende (på godt og ondt) og levere det med britisk coolness, satire og ironi. Den kombination er noget af det unikke ved Patrick Melrose-bøgerne.

Når man hører mig tale om bøgerne, kan man få den tanke, at de skal læses på originalsproget. Tjaeh, det skal de måske. Men flere af dem, jeg kender, der har læst bøgerne, har gjort det i de daske oversættelser - og har været ganske, ganske tilfredse. Det vigtigste må til hver en tid være, at folk stifter bekendtskab med personer som St. Aubyn, Patrick Melrose og resten af hans kulørte roller.

Jeg tror, at mange af os, der læser bøgerne, har en sær, tveægget kærlighed til en person som Nicholas Pratt. Et karakteristisk, nærmest stereotyp, upper class twit. Mit absolutte højdepunkt på tværs af de fem bøger er festen, hvor Princess Margaret deltager. Her giver Edward St. Aubyn den ikke for lidt. Og dele af festen var også en af de tekststykker, St. Aubyn læste op under sit besøg i Danmark. Forståeligt nok - det er verdensklasse litteratur.

Og det er hele samlingen, faktisk. Der bliver ikke lagt fingre imellem, så hvis du lidt er den sarte type (ikke at det nødvendigvis er en dårlig ting), så tror jeg ikke, denne kvintet af beretninger fra den dysfunktionelle britiske overklasse er noget for dig.

Men lyder det som noget for dig, så kast dig ud i det. Du vil ikke blive skuffet.

Tak til Edward St. Aubyn for at have skrevet et værk, der efterlader sig et ekko og en række af følelser, når man bladrer forbi den sidste side og lukker bogen. Det er stort.