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This Is How
When his fiance breaks off their engagement, Patrick Oxtoby leaves home and moves into a boarding house in a remote seaside town. But in spite of his hopes and determination to build a better life, nothing goes to plan and Patrick is soon driven to take a desperate and chilling course of action.
320 pages, Paperback
Published July 2, 2009
35 people are currently reading
862 people want to read
About the author
M.J. Hyland
22 books108 followersM.J. Hyland was born in London to Irish parents in 1968 and spent her early childhood in Dublin. She studied English and law at the University of Melbourne, Australia and worked as a lawyer for several years. Her first novel, How the Light Gets In (2003) was short-listed for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the Age Book of the Year and also took third place in the Barnes & Noble, Discover Great New Writers Award. How the Light Gets In was also joint winner of the Best Young Australian Novelist Award.
Carry Me Down (2006), her second novel, was winner of both the Encore Prize (2007) and the Hawthornden Prize (2007) and was also short-listed for the Man Booker Prize (2006). Hyland lives in Manchester, England, where she teaches in the Centre for New Writing at Manchester University.
Carry Me Down (2006), her second novel, was winner of both the Encore Prize (2007) and the Hawthornden Prize (2007) and was also short-listed for the Man Booker Prize (2006). Hyland lives in Manchester, England, where she teaches in the Centre for New Writing at Manchester University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 207 reviews
March 16, 2020
went in to this book with no pre-conceptions - I loved How The Light Gets in by this author and have had This is How, sat on my Kindle for the last few years.
It started off with what I though was going to be a lovely period piece set in 1950s England.
23 year old Patrick moves to a sleepy seaside town to start a new job after his break up with his girlfriend. He settles into his lodgings in a boarding house. There are two other boarders in residence looked after by the attractive young widowed landlady, Bridget.
Patrick starts his new job as a mechanic, but things do not go well, he turns up late, he looses his tool kit and although he diligently does the work to a high standard, his hours are cut.
This means he has a lot of time on his hands and he wonders the streets of the town and frequents the local pubs. He spend time in the local cafe and forms an almost obsessive attachment to the waitress (who is quite a bit older than him).
The two other guests at the boarding house are good buddies and try and include Patrick in a jokey laddish way, but Patrick does not really like them, often becoming angry and upset with their antics.
I can’t go into the story any more, without giving away the main plot.
It seems to me that Patrick is definitely socially awkward and is probably fairly high on the autistic scale.
The writing is lovely and the characters are cleverly sketched out with minimal descriptions. But I found it difficult to get into the main character’s mindset and reasoning. Feeling more and more distant from story as I got towards the end of the book. So overall and 3.5 stars for me.
It started off with what I though was going to be a lovely period piece set in 1950s England.
23 year old Patrick moves to a sleepy seaside town to start a new job after his break up with his girlfriend. He settles into his lodgings in a boarding house. There are two other boarders in residence looked after by the attractive young widowed landlady, Bridget.
Patrick starts his new job as a mechanic, but things do not go well, he turns up late, he looses his tool kit and although he diligently does the work to a high standard, his hours are cut.
This means he has a lot of time on his hands and he wonders the streets of the town and frequents the local pubs. He spend time in the local cafe and forms an almost obsessive attachment to the waitress (who is quite a bit older than him).
The two other guests at the boarding house are good buddies and try and include Patrick in a jokey laddish way, but Patrick does not really like them, often becoming angry and upset with their antics.
I can’t go into the story any more, without giving away the main plot.
It seems to me that Patrick is definitely socially awkward and is probably fairly high on the autistic scale.
The writing is lovely and the characters are cleverly sketched out with minimal descriptions. But I found it difficult to get into the main character’s mindset and reasoning. Feeling more and more distant from story as I got towards the end of the book. So overall and 3.5 stars for me.
July 24, 2022
I read this book years ago when it first came out in paperback. It is not enjoyable but it is very, very good. To call it enjoyable would be like calling In Cold Blood a great beach read. Nevertheless, the writing is sparse, elegant, and perfectly suited to the content. Hyland gets what there is to get about the kinds of men (and some women) who live on the edge of society, angry at the world for how its treated them: damaged, fragile, isolated, disconnected, borderline sociopaths ... until the moment they step over that border. While writing in a completely detached manner, Hyland manages to evoke pity and sympathy for a man who is a cold-blooded murderer; or, she did in me. I can't speak to her effect on other readers. I read the book as a kind of tragedy with no hero.
I did not enjoy this book, it's true, but it has stayed with me all these years while many others have been forgotten. It punches well above its weight, and it certainly brought Hyland to my attention as a writer to respect and remember.
I did not enjoy this book, it's true, but it has stayed with me all these years while many others have been forgotten. It punches well above its weight, and it certainly brought Hyland to my attention as a writer to respect and remember.
January 7, 2011
I often like the beginning of a book but hate the ending. Here, I liked the beginning and the end but hated the middle. That's a new one.
The story started off with such promise. I love her writing style. She doesn't beat you over the head with tedious descriptions of every little thing, but when she does describe something, it's perfect: "She looks at me and I look at her and she takes a step back as though she blames the place where she's standing for the silence."
I have a soft spot for sociopathic, lonely, open-wound kind of characters so I enjoyed the narration. I was totally rooting for Patrick, even though he was obviously going to do something Bad eventually and Pay the Price. Long story short, I didn't really buy his Bad Act. And everything that came after it was boring as hell, except the ending. It was kind of like watching paint dry for a few hours and then someone gives you a bag of M&Ms for your trouble. And you think to yourself, "Yay! I love M&Ms." But you also think, "Was it worth it? They only cost 75 cents and I spent three hours watching this paint dry."
The story started off with such promise. I love her writing style. She doesn't beat you over the head with tedious descriptions of every little thing, but when she does describe something, it's perfect: "She looks at me and I look at her and she takes a step back as though she blames the place where she's standing for the silence."
I have a soft spot for sociopathic, lonely, open-wound kind of characters so I enjoyed the narration. I was totally rooting for Patrick, even though he was obviously going to do something Bad eventually and Pay the Price. Long story short, I didn't really buy his Bad Act. And everything that came after it was boring as hell, except the ending. It was kind of like watching paint dry for a few hours and then someone gives you a bag of M&Ms for your trouble. And you think to yourself, "Yay! I love M&Ms." But you also think, "Was it worth it? They only cost 75 cents and I spent three hours watching this paint dry."
September 4, 2009
lotta hype surrounding this one and look, deservedy so. despite being a little bit camus' 'the outsider' THIS IS HOW presents an agonzing portrait of awkwardness with its main man Patrick Oxtoby. every page is tragic in this page turning tale of queit alienation and it finishes so uniquely/beautifully i went back and re-read the last 50 right away just to experience it again. its what we do in this world with the things we are given, if we're lucky enough to see we have such things. simple as that.
THIS IS HOW killers are made
THIS IS HOW much we need love
THIS IS HOW to write a book
THIS IS HOW killers are made
THIS IS HOW much we need love
THIS IS HOW to write a book
June 17, 2019
This book was at times difficult to read because the main character got under my skin with his insecurities, his feelings split between anger expressed by his thoughts and contained politeness towards the outside world. Patrick also exhibits an overwhelming feeling of being misunderstood, coupled with too much alcohol that leads him to commit a crime he cannot remember fully. The muddled depositions he makes thereafter and the abandonment by his family will change his life forever and what makes this such a sad read is that it's something that he can't understand. Overall it was a very good story about how easily a young man can loose his footing when alcohol and unresolved mental health problems are involved, written in a compelling way.
March 15, 2019
The first half of this novel didn't grip me at all, I just felt annoyed. The second half of the book was a lot more interesting. I couldn't relate to the first half at all, and I don't think it was very realistic, but the second half is better. I'd probably give the first half a one-star rating and the second half a four-star rating, so don't give up on this book halfway through. I'm not sure who I'd recommend it to, but I am glad I read it.
February 18, 2019
Hyland speculates, in one of the reflective interviews she gives, that 'None of my fiction (so far) offers redemption or relief from the hurts inflicted and this might explain why my endings are categorically unpopular (and why my books don’t sell very well).' Tin House
I suspect another reason for the lack of sales is her failure to satisfy any genre. It's fiction. It contains crimes. But it isn't crime fiction. Yet because it contains crimes it is no doubt belittled by the anti-crime fiction brigade. And then, she believes strongly in characters and story-line, which makes her damned elsewhere.
more here: https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpre...
I suspect another reason for the lack of sales is her failure to satisfy any genre. It's fiction. It contains crimes. But it isn't crime fiction. Yet because it contains crimes it is no doubt belittled by the anti-crime fiction brigade. And then, she believes strongly in characters and story-line, which makes her damned elsewhere.
more here: https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpre...
July 20, 2019
“We are too much for ourselves because there is far more to us — we feel more — than we can manage.”
—Adam Phillips
On Balance
Compelling, raw, and thought-provoking.
—Adam Phillips
On Balance
Compelling, raw, and thought-provoking.
August 24, 2021
Patrick Oxtoby, having failed his degree after the first year and being deserted by his fiancee, leaves home - and the criticism of his parents, particularly his father - and settles into a boarding house in a small English seaside town where he has landed a job as a car mechanic. Fixing cars is probably the one thing that Patrick does well - he is not especially good with people and his mood fluctuates. Even as he narrates his own story, it is clear that Patrick has problems - possibly depression or even, as some other reviewers have said, more serious mental health problems. These were unlikely to be treatable, or even recognised, at the time the book is set, which I would have thought was the 1960s or 1970s. Patrick's relationships with the other two boarders, both men, and the landlady again seem to be very up and down - sometimes he likes his fellow lodgers and other times he doesn't. As he struggles with his personal life - he has a bit of a crush on his widowed landlady but also sets his sights on a waitress in the local cafe, who is several years older than him. His one consolation is his job - he enjoys fixing cars and is good at it - and immediately earns praise from one of the garage's valued customers for his work. But then the boss cuts his hours to allow his nephew to serve his apprenticeship - which annoys Patrick. When one of the lodgers leaves, the other tries to develop their friendship - but Patrick only seems to want this on his own terms, which shift from day to day. Then a minor altercation with the other lodger leads Patrick to a drastic and life-changing course of action....
I enjoyed this book far more than the first I read by this author ('Carry Me Down') - even though it painted quite a dark picture of Patrick and his life, I found myself hoping things would turn out right for him in the end, despite his spur-of-the-moment actions. I also wish the book had been a bit longer in order to establish some sort of resolution for Patrick but sadly this was not to be - 8/10.
I enjoyed this book far more than the first I read by this author ('Carry Me Down') - even though it painted quite a dark picture of Patrick and his life, I found myself hoping things would turn out right for him in the end, despite his spur-of-the-moment actions. I also wish the book had been a bit longer in order to establish some sort of resolution for Patrick but sadly this was not to be - 8/10.
July 23, 2016
This is How is not the sort of book I usually read. But it was longlisted for the Orange Prize, it was highly lauded, and my library had a copy. It seemed to be time to step of my comfort zone. And I'm very glad that I did.
The story opens with Patrick Oxtoby in his early 20s. He dropped out of university to become a mechanic, a disappointment to his family.
And then his fiancée deserted him. He decided to make a change. He found a new job in a seaside town and lodgings in a boarding house owned by a young widow where two other men are already in residence.
Soon it becomes clear that something is not right. Patrick is socially inept and he has absolutely no empathy with anyone else. He wants to fit in, but he doesn't know how.
It could be depression. It could be that he falls somewhere on the autistic spectrum. Or it could be that he is a psychopath.
Patrick tells this story in the first person. Simply and clearly, reporting conversations, facts, events. It may not seem gripping but it is, it really is.
Some things go well for Patrick. He begins a tentative relationship with a barmaid, he socialises with his fellow lodgers, he gets on friendly terms with his landlady.
But things go wrong too. His equilibrium is disturbed by an unexpected visit from his mother. There isn't enough work to occupy him and he has time on his hands. And everyone else seems to have their own life, things to do. Patrick doesn't.
And Patrick can't cope with things going wrong. Small things begin to annoy him. And that leads him to an extraordinary act.
It would be unfair to say exactly what happens, but it redefines Patrick's life. He is more constrained, but in a strange way he is less troubled, and more able to cope.
I'm struggling to explain why this book works so well.
The prose is sparse, and yet it conveys everything that you need to know. And draws you into Patrick's life. You see the world through the eyes of somebody you wouldn't have noticed, wouldn't have given a thought to otherwise. And you see things that you don't expect to see, in life or in fiction.
It isn't faultless. There are inconsistencies, there are some strange moments. But I was so gripped by the story that I didn't want to stop. And there were far more things that were caught quite perfectly.
This is a book that will stay with me long after it goes back to the library.
A dark and dazzling piece of writing.
The story opens with Patrick Oxtoby in his early 20s. He dropped out of university to become a mechanic, a disappointment to his family.
And then his fiancée deserted him. He decided to make a change. He found a new job in a seaside town and lodgings in a boarding house owned by a young widow where two other men are already in residence.
Soon it becomes clear that something is not right. Patrick is socially inept and he has absolutely no empathy with anyone else. He wants to fit in, but he doesn't know how.
It could be depression. It could be that he falls somewhere on the autistic spectrum. Or it could be that he is a psychopath.
Patrick tells this story in the first person. Simply and clearly, reporting conversations, facts, events. It may not seem gripping but it is, it really is.
Some things go well for Patrick. He begins a tentative relationship with a barmaid, he socialises with his fellow lodgers, he gets on friendly terms with his landlady.
But things go wrong too. His equilibrium is disturbed by an unexpected visit from his mother. There isn't enough work to occupy him and he has time on his hands. And everyone else seems to have their own life, things to do. Patrick doesn't.
And Patrick can't cope with things going wrong. Small things begin to annoy him. And that leads him to an extraordinary act.
It would be unfair to say exactly what happens, but it redefines Patrick's life. He is more constrained, but in a strange way he is less troubled, and more able to cope.
I'm struggling to explain why this book works so well.
The prose is sparse, and yet it conveys everything that you need to know. And draws you into Patrick's life. You see the world through the eyes of somebody you wouldn't have noticed, wouldn't have given a thought to otherwise. And you see things that you don't expect to see, in life or in fiction.
It isn't faultless. There are inconsistencies, there are some strange moments. But I was so gripped by the story that I didn't want to stop. And there were far more things that were caught quite perfectly.
This is a book that will stay with me long after it goes back to the library.
A dark and dazzling piece of writing.
December 27, 2009
Some books are deceptively simple, but this one really is simple... The protagonist, painfully awkward and overwhelmed by choice in the world outside, finds out he can get on quite well in prison. As Kurt Vonnegut once wrote, "A lot of good people can't make it on the outside." - I didn't get much out of Hyland's book that I hadn't already gotten out of that one sentence. However, it's extremely well realized, with masterful control in the use of precise detail or complete vagueness, depending on what the situation calls for.
March 15, 2019
This is one of the most beautiful novels I've read. It's beautifully disturbing. It's haunting. It stays with you. It lingers. It seeps into your thoughts.
The main character, Patrick, is lonely. Stands at the edges of things, the borders. Is a loner. Troubled. Mentally ill (I think. This is never directly said in the book, but I think it's clear he is). Intelligent. Feels unloved. I appreciate that the author shows how intelligent he is, which I think helps to dispel the myth that mentally ill people are somehow not intelligent. He is an ordinary, troubled, human who ends up committing a crime, and another thing I like about this book is the way that it blurs the line between so-called good people and bad people....
....what I mean, is, if you read about such a crime in the paper, you'd tend to think of that person as bad. But it's not that simple. People are a mix of good and bad, people do stupid, hurtful, wrong things and still have goodness in them. I would not have known that when I was younger, or been able to see it, but as an older women with a lot of experience in that area, I understand that.
The writing itself is spare, and elegant. Each word, as needed, and not a single word more.
I think the reason some people react badly to this book is that they're used to being spoon-fed a simpler plot, where good is good and bad is bad and it's all just that simple. I think another reason some react badly to this beautiful book is that they're also used to being spoon-fed a clear, point-A-to-point-B roadmap type of plot, where everything is totally explained. Popular Hollywood-type movies, and crappy "writers" of popular fiction write these types of easy-to-digest books, and if that's what you like, okay, no problem, that's what you like, and go read it - but don't mistake it for real writing, and don't bash real writing just because you've been spoon-fed obvious plots.
This book doesn't spoon-feed you. The author does you the favour of assuming you're intelligent enough to infer things, to wonder about things, to fill in some of the blanks for yourself. There are things that are never fully explained, and even the ending (which is absolutely beautiful) is somewhat ambiguous, in the sense that we never do fully know what becomes of Patrick (although I have my theory on this). It's almost like a slice-of-life, a glance in the window - we get a bit of his childhood, a bit of his adulthood, a bit of his present, and none of his future. But it's enough. It's more than enough. It's refreshing to read a novel that doesn't presume that you're so stupid that you need every detail, every blank space, every element of the plot carved out for you, blased in your ear with a megaphone.
A novel that trusts the reader to follow along, to fill in the blanks; that trusts that the reader is intelligent enough to figure out some things on their own.
One thing is that it was actually very disturbing to me in parts....some of the jail scenes made me actually feel sick to my stomach. But, again, another reason I think some react to the book poorly is that they're unable to understand that just because it's disturbing doesn't mean it's bad. Again, if all you want to read is a fluffy beach story about some steel-jawed man, okey-dokey, do that, no problem, but don't call a disturbing novel bad just because you don't personally enjoy that type of novel....
....I think people tend to think "I like it, so it's good" and "I don't like it, so it's bad", and that's one hundred percent wrong. You can not like a book (or a painting, or a person for that matter, or anything) but your personal preferences don't have anything to do with if the book is good or not. I can think of poets whose poetry I do not like at all, but, I can still see that the poetry took a lot of skill, but is just not my cup of tea. It's good, but I don't like it.
Whether you personally like this book or not, it is a good book. It's skillfully written, thought-provoking, and intelligent.
There is ambiguity in it, more than in most novels, I think, but that's refreshing. The ambiguity, combined with the spare writing makes the book light. Light as smoke, light as thoughts. All that space. All that space to think in. And that's one of the best things of all about this book: because it doesn't do the thinking for you, you are compelled to think - about a great number of things. About lack of love, and what it does to us. About mental illness. About humanity. About our ever-present need for human contact. About justice, what it is and is not. About those on the edge, about to fall.
The main character, Patrick, is lonely. Stands at the edges of things, the borders. Is a loner. Troubled. Mentally ill (I think. This is never directly said in the book, but I think it's clear he is). Intelligent. Feels unloved. I appreciate that the author shows how intelligent he is, which I think helps to dispel the myth that mentally ill people are somehow not intelligent. He is an ordinary, troubled, human who ends up committing a crime, and another thing I like about this book is the way that it blurs the line between so-called good people and bad people....
....what I mean, is, if you read about such a crime in the paper, you'd tend to think of that person as bad. But it's not that simple. People are a mix of good and bad, people do stupid, hurtful, wrong things and still have goodness in them. I would not have known that when I was younger, or been able to see it, but as an older women with a lot of experience in that area, I understand that.
The writing itself is spare, and elegant. Each word, as needed, and not a single word more.
I think the reason some people react badly to this book is that they're used to being spoon-fed a simpler plot, where good is good and bad is bad and it's all just that simple. I think another reason some react badly to this beautiful book is that they're also used to being spoon-fed a clear, point-A-to-point-B roadmap type of plot, where everything is totally explained. Popular Hollywood-type movies, and crappy "writers" of popular fiction write these types of easy-to-digest books, and if that's what you like, okay, no problem, that's what you like, and go read it - but don't mistake it for real writing, and don't bash real writing just because you've been spoon-fed obvious plots.
This book doesn't spoon-feed you. The author does you the favour of assuming you're intelligent enough to infer things, to wonder about things, to fill in some of the blanks for yourself. There are things that are never fully explained, and even the ending (which is absolutely beautiful) is somewhat ambiguous, in the sense that we never do fully know what becomes of Patrick (although I have my theory on this). It's almost like a slice-of-life, a glance in the window - we get a bit of his childhood, a bit of his adulthood, a bit of his present, and none of his future. But it's enough. It's more than enough. It's refreshing to read a novel that doesn't presume that you're so stupid that you need every detail, every blank space, every element of the plot carved out for you, blased in your ear with a megaphone.
A novel that trusts the reader to follow along, to fill in the blanks; that trusts that the reader is intelligent enough to figure out some things on their own.
One thing is that it was actually very disturbing to me in parts....some of the jail scenes made me actually feel sick to my stomach. But, again, another reason I think some react to the book poorly is that they're unable to understand that just because it's disturbing doesn't mean it's bad. Again, if all you want to read is a fluffy beach story about some steel-jawed man, okey-dokey, do that, no problem, but don't call a disturbing novel bad just because you don't personally enjoy that type of novel....
....I think people tend to think "I like it, so it's good" and "I don't like it, so it's bad", and that's one hundred percent wrong. You can not like a book (or a painting, or a person for that matter, or anything) but your personal preferences don't have anything to do with if the book is good or not. I can think of poets whose poetry I do not like at all, but, I can still see that the poetry took a lot of skill, but is just not my cup of tea. It's good, but I don't like it.
Whether you personally like this book or not, it is a good book. It's skillfully written, thought-provoking, and intelligent.
There is ambiguity in it, more than in most novels, I think, but that's refreshing. The ambiguity, combined with the spare writing makes the book light. Light as smoke, light as thoughts. All that space. All that space to think in. And that's one of the best things of all about this book: because it doesn't do the thinking for you, you are compelled to think - about a great number of things. About lack of love, and what it does to us. About mental illness. About humanity. About our ever-present need for human contact. About justice, what it is and is not. About those on the edge, about to fall.
September 5, 2009
This is the saddest book I think I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Quietly galloping into Oxtoby's demise along with him was bittersweet but impossible to turn back from. From his hot flushes and moments of inexplicable anger to his incredibly observant and detail oriented narrative, this whole experience is just heartbreaking really. I couldn't leave the house for 2 days until I'd finished it.
August 17, 2009
The young man who struggles through this tale as the main character is in dire need of love. His fiance has broken up with him and he takes his huge toolbox with him to a small island in Great Britain to work as a mechanic at a garage. He has arranged for a bed and breakfast accommodation and he is ready to start life all over again. He meets his fellow lodgers and his young landlady. Before he can even get to his first day at work, his mother shows up, uninvited and unwelcome. She doesn't seem to understand why her son Patrick won't share everything with her. However, she instantly strikes up a friendship with the other members of the household while her son leaves the conversation, goes to his room, wraps a thick towel around his ball peen hammer and attacks the wall with vigor. Then he goes back downstairs again. This was one of my favorite scenes. This guy is torturing himself constantly over everything. Possibly all guys are like this in their early 20's, possibly ALL of us are like this right up to the end, I don't know. But his inner process is very clear. The writing is wonderful.
The characters alongside this visitor mechanic advance the plot and clue us in to his world there on that island. The two young men staying on as boarders engage with Patrick enough to raise his hopes for friendship, and then let him down somehow and tease him about it. The sarcasm, cynicism, public school snottiness and BBC English that confront Patrick frustrate him and confuse him. He's not sure if they are nice, or nasty, or indifferent and just having him on. And then, of course, there are the women.
Patrick's search for love and a new life pays off, unexpectedly, in the end. It's a brilliant novel, a direct probe into the mind of someone who isn't you... thank goodness. Or not.
The characters alongside this visitor mechanic advance the plot and clue us in to his world there on that island. The two young men staying on as boarders engage with Patrick enough to raise his hopes for friendship, and then let him down somehow and tease him about it. The sarcasm, cynicism, public school snottiness and BBC English that confront Patrick frustrate him and confuse him. He's not sure if they are nice, or nasty, or indifferent and just having him on. And then, of course, there are the women.
Patrick's search for love and a new life pays off, unexpectedly, in the end. It's a brilliant novel, a direct probe into the mind of someone who isn't you... thank goodness. Or not.
November 26, 2009
I finished This Is How today and found myself attached to the writing style of M.J Hyland more so than any other author of recent. Her first- person style of writing concerning the life of Patrick Oxtoby engulfs you in the first few pages and soon after you forget that you are reading a work of fiction. This Is How is definately a journey through the mind of a psychopath, told by the psychopath and we are able to sit on the sidelines and watch everything take place - sometimes with reluctance.
This book should be broken into into two parts and could be two different novels if it were split right in the middle. The first section Hyland paints a vivid picture of the thought life of Oxtoby as he moves and interacts with others. Again, it feels as though you are inside his mind reading his thoughts which makes for some uncomfortable reading. This leads up to the "one act" that changes everything and the turning point of the story.
The second part of the story is Oxtobys journey of self-awareness realizing his incompetence to live and interact with others - which any honest reader might find themselves in this journey.
This is a grat work of fiction and if you have not read M.J. Hyland I definately recommend you start here.
This book should be broken into into two parts and could be two different novels if it were split right in the middle. The first section Hyland paints a vivid picture of the thought life of Oxtoby as he moves and interacts with others. Again, it feels as though you are inside his mind reading his thoughts which makes for some uncomfortable reading. This leads up to the "one act" that changes everything and the turning point of the story.
The second part of the story is Oxtobys journey of self-awareness realizing his incompetence to live and interact with others - which any honest reader might find themselves in this journey.
This is a grat work of fiction and if you have not read M.J. Hyland I definately recommend you start here.
May 5, 2019
This book starts off with a sense of foreboding for the main character who is a lonely rather odd character. There is a crime committed though the crime is not the main focus of the book. It’s more an exploration of where moments of madness can lead a person. It’s a well written slightly strange book.
May 14, 2020
The use of voice and dialogue is wonderfully realised in this insightful examination of how things happen with ordinary people. Well worth a read
September 23, 2011
I can't tell you how many times I've reached for M.J. Hyland's This is How from my bedside TBR stack before finally deciding it was silly to keep putting off starting a book that I so obviously have wanted to read. I bought it last year when it was longlisted for the Orange Prize. I was particularly drawn to last year's list (most of the titles appealed to me), though this is the first book that I've managed to read from it. I really liked it, but in a very strange, uncomfortable sort of way, which I know must sound weird, but there was something a little voyeuristic about reading this book. It was both painful to read but also compelling. And I am sure it's to Hyland's credit as a skilled author that I felt such a sense of compassion towards Patrick despite an act of terrible violence on his part.
Do you know how there are people who exude a sense of insecurity and awkwardness? No matter how hard they try and fit in, it's like a square peg being jammed into a round hole. It won't work, and they'll just look foolish trying. They're not cool or refined and those around them who are more comfortable in their skins and are self-assured smell this shortcoming and often treat it accordingly. That's Patrick Oxtoby. He's twenty-three, a loner but not particularly shy. He's had a year of college but dropped out in favor of becoming a mechanic, and a skilled one at that thanks to a love of and aptitude for fixing things that he discovered as a youth. His family might be disappointed in him, but it's a choice he's not unhappy to have made. Until recently he even had a fiancé, but she's dumped him, so he decides to move to a small seaside community to start fresh.
He moves into a boarding house that is slightly outside his means, but he's already landed a a job in a local garage, so he's optimistic about his future. Bridget, the landlady, is younger and prettier than Patrick expected and almost immediately he feels an attraction towards her. Two other boarders are men of about Patrick's age, both posher and more outgoing with an established friendship, which means Patrick forms a shaky third wheel. What makes for sometimes uncomfortable reading, is that the reader is always inside Patrick's head. Everything he sees, everyone he meets and everything he chooses to do is filtered through Patrick's perception. He seems almost self-confident, or at least willing to try to reach out to others, but he's never on equal footing with the other men, Welkin and Flindall. There's a mockery to their interactions, but it's hard to tell sometimes whether it's really true or whether Patrick is just not seeing their conversations for what they really are.
He's a talented and conscientious mechanic but it's soon apparent that his boss, while trying to be fair to Patrick has also offered a job to a family member, so sends him home early from work or tells him to take a day off when he'd rather earn his pay but in the end incurs hard feelings. Patrick often spends his free time in a neighborhood tea shop where a waitress befriends him, and much like his landlady he feels romantic stirrings for her as well. With each new relationship, however, Patrick almost always starts off on the wrong foot. He's compulsive and paranoid seeing things either for more than they are or assuming the worst, but in any case usually getting it all wrong. And in a moment of anger and misunderstanding he lashes out at one of the other boarders, accidentally killing him.
When explaining why she is breaking up with him, Patrick's fiancé accuses him of being unable to express his emotions and he thinks to himself that he simply doesn't have that many. And it almost seems as though he doesn't. They're simplistic and one sided, which is not to say that the portrait Hyland paints of Patrick isn't a complex one. Being inside his head for the duration of the story was at times almost unendurable, because as a reader I felt the obvious pain and confusion and the uncertainties he was experiencing during his ordeal. He never denies he hit Welkin but he persists in arguing that he never meant to kill him, but an unsympathetic jury sends him to prison. The latter part of the story, which makes up the bulk of the novel, follows Patrick through his trial and incarceration.
I don't want to give too much of the plot away, but unsurprisingly being in prison is transformative for Patrick--in both good and bad ways. There were times I wanted to look away as I was reading, but I couldn't. This is How is a totally gripping read, and despite it's pared down first person narrative style it's also a complex story with much depth. I wouldn't mind rereading it to see what I missed in those moments I was closing my eyes (or one eye at least), but I think I'll first go back and read her two earlier novels, Carry Me Down and How the Light Gets In.
Do you know how there are people who exude a sense of insecurity and awkwardness? No matter how hard they try and fit in, it's like a square peg being jammed into a round hole. It won't work, and they'll just look foolish trying. They're not cool or refined and those around them who are more comfortable in their skins and are self-assured smell this shortcoming and often treat it accordingly. That's Patrick Oxtoby. He's twenty-three, a loner but not particularly shy. He's had a year of college but dropped out in favor of becoming a mechanic, and a skilled one at that thanks to a love of and aptitude for fixing things that he discovered as a youth. His family might be disappointed in him, but it's a choice he's not unhappy to have made. Until recently he even had a fiancé, but she's dumped him, so he decides to move to a small seaside community to start fresh.
He moves into a boarding house that is slightly outside his means, but he's already landed a a job in a local garage, so he's optimistic about his future. Bridget, the landlady, is younger and prettier than Patrick expected and almost immediately he feels an attraction towards her. Two other boarders are men of about Patrick's age, both posher and more outgoing with an established friendship, which means Patrick forms a shaky third wheel. What makes for sometimes uncomfortable reading, is that the reader is always inside Patrick's head. Everything he sees, everyone he meets and everything he chooses to do is filtered through Patrick's perception. He seems almost self-confident, or at least willing to try to reach out to others, but he's never on equal footing with the other men, Welkin and Flindall. There's a mockery to their interactions, but it's hard to tell sometimes whether it's really true or whether Patrick is just not seeing their conversations for what they really are.
He's a talented and conscientious mechanic but it's soon apparent that his boss, while trying to be fair to Patrick has also offered a job to a family member, so sends him home early from work or tells him to take a day off when he'd rather earn his pay but in the end incurs hard feelings. Patrick often spends his free time in a neighborhood tea shop where a waitress befriends him, and much like his landlady he feels romantic stirrings for her as well. With each new relationship, however, Patrick almost always starts off on the wrong foot. He's compulsive and paranoid seeing things either for more than they are or assuming the worst, but in any case usually getting it all wrong. And in a moment of anger and misunderstanding he lashes out at one of the other boarders, accidentally killing him.
When explaining why she is breaking up with him, Patrick's fiancé accuses him of being unable to express his emotions and he thinks to himself that he simply doesn't have that many. And it almost seems as though he doesn't. They're simplistic and one sided, which is not to say that the portrait Hyland paints of Patrick isn't a complex one. Being inside his head for the duration of the story was at times almost unendurable, because as a reader I felt the obvious pain and confusion and the uncertainties he was experiencing during his ordeal. He never denies he hit Welkin but he persists in arguing that he never meant to kill him, but an unsympathetic jury sends him to prison. The latter part of the story, which makes up the bulk of the novel, follows Patrick through his trial and incarceration.
I don't want to give too much of the plot away, but unsurprisingly being in prison is transformative for Patrick--in both good and bad ways. There were times I wanted to look away as I was reading, but I couldn't. This is How is a totally gripping read, and despite it's pared down first person narrative style it's also a complex story with much depth. I wouldn't mind rereading it to see what I missed in those moments I was closing my eyes (or one eye at least), but I think I'll first go back and read her two earlier novels, Carry Me Down and How the Light Gets In.
June 20, 2020
This is an interesting book, initially set in a desolate 1950s or 60s out of season seaside town, and picks up the story of a slightly dysfunctional young man trying to make a new start in life. Not an uplifting book but strangely compelling - glad I read it
February 20, 2019
I don’t know how this book could have been better.
October 26, 2012
"This is How" quickly and craftily establishes an insidious grip on the reader. Once begun, it's hard to stop reading. One senses that something is going to happen, but it's hard to know what, or when. It is set in a drab, seaside town. There's a bed and breakfast, a cafe, a couple of pubs...all ordinary and very familiar, but described in a subtle style and language that skews and infects, leaving the reader unsettled: everything is as it should be, but something is very different and very wrong. The same is true for the characters that inhabit the novel. The boarders at the b and b, the landlady, the waitress, the concerned mother...you wouldn't look at them twice in the street, but here, in this world, every phrase and action is given a sinister alternative, while at the same time remaining perfectly normal. And at the centre of the story is a unique and everyday everyman, a nothing and very much a something.
I finished the novel in two or three sittings. Before I did finish it, however, I bought Hyland's other two novels.
I finished the novel in two or three sittings. Before I did finish it, however, I bought Hyland's other two novels.
April 25, 2012
This book was also recommended by Evelyn Chapman. This is a dark and sad novel about how one mistake, one turn of events can change the course of your life - alter it forever. This story is centred around Patrick a young, sensitive and intelligent man in his early 20's who following the break up with a girl loses his way, though there are warning signs that he has been struggling through life for a long time. He moves to a new town for a 'fresh start' but finds he is burdened by the same demons. Late one night he makes a terrible, life changing mistake. The book will have you questioning your own morality, and what constitues a criminal? How we judge others and how we treat people in our society. Its thought provoking but depressing. A good book, well written though not one to read if you are already melancholy!
November 29, 2015
Dark and depressing. Had thoughts on just abandoning the book so many times, but I wanted to know how it ends. Hopeful that there's something good would come. But it didn't.
What I like about the book is the protagonist, Patrick Oxtenby. How Hyland successfully got her readers to feel like they were actually there in Patrick's head. It was so intimate. And heart breaking too to see how a good manered but socially akward young man could get so deep into trouble just by doing a stupid thing. What ever he did later on could not undo that damage he had done and his mind punished him over and over again.
A song kept repeating in my head when I got to its last chapter: last flowers by radiohead. So depressing, but beautiful
What I like about the book is the protagonist, Patrick Oxtenby. How Hyland successfully got her readers to feel like they were actually there in Patrick's head. It was so intimate. And heart breaking too to see how a good manered but socially akward young man could get so deep into trouble just by doing a stupid thing. What ever he did later on could not undo that damage he had done and his mind punished him over and over again.
A song kept repeating in my head when I got to its last chapter: last flowers by radiohead. So depressing, but beautiful
January 1, 2010
Utterly gorgeous. The narrowing of Patrick's charmed, middle class life is so subtle and natural (even though there's a murder and complete loss of everything once held dear) that it seems undeniable, inevitable. I was engrossed from the first page and surprised at every turn. Hyland's prose is stripped and careful, never bossy. I'm looking forward to finding her other books.
January 4, 2023
Not sure how to review this one. The protagonist is an emotionally immature misogynist who lurches from personal crisis to personal crisis while finding other men either snobs or beneath him and all females potential conquests.
After a fatal 'mishap' in a boarding house, he finds himself in the justice system without ever seeming to understand why.
His interactions with Corrections officers and other prisoners provide a ring of truth and reality but in all, he is unable to relate to the world around him and every interaction is a struggle. Relationships he forms are difficult to accept, but I did enjoy this book - I just can't explain why.
After a fatal 'mishap' in a boarding house, he finds himself in the justice system without ever seeming to understand why.
His interactions with Corrections officers and other prisoners provide a ring of truth and reality but in all, he is unable to relate to the world around him and every interaction is a struggle. Relationships he forms are difficult to accept, but I did enjoy this book - I just can't explain why.
May 2, 2024
year 12 is killing me i have not finished a book in eons but this was surprisingly good! not at all what i’d usually read but the author did such a good job at writing patrick i genuinely thought the author was a man for the first 100 pages. very deep insight into what prison is like it was so interesting and his trial and everything i was on the edge of my seat. was rooting for him and bridget icl but he was also a man and he had some thoughts that made me sigh out loud or roll my eyes. overall tho i enjoyed this book i loved seeing the psychology behind patrick he was a very interesting main character.
April 4, 2017
The middle was overlong but it kept my attention after that. A sad book really
August 31, 2011
This review was originally published on my blog, Blood and Barricades.
This is How is a simple yet emotive literary portrait of any ordinary man who’s life is turned upside down by the drop of a hand.
I think I should preface this review by saying I am prone to gushing over writers I meet and become fascinated by as people or characters of their own, and so I’d probably read my thoughts with that in mind and the idea that I may praise it beyond what others might see in it.
At first glance, the prose is sporadic and simple. It’s often dialogue dominant or reduced to telling, but yet it is clearly a literary novel, not just for the kind of novel it is, but I find it amazing how much feeling can be put into it and is passed onto the reader even amongst prose that is not thick with description, or kind of begging you to see clearly via clever metaphors.
This is How tells the story of Patrick Oxtobory, a young man who moves to a seaside boarding house to try and start afresh after this fiancé breaks up with him. Patrick, like the prose, is simple. I was struck by how he doesn’t do a whole lot yet is compelling and then when it all changes, with that almost too simple action, you want him to go back to that life, like he does.
You feel for Patrick. This is despite him not doing the most defensible things, and at times his character should be unlikable, but yet you still feel for him. I kind of like these kinds of characters and what they make you feel, like the bastards of characters in The Slap though there is no empathy at all for a lot of Tsiolkas’ characters. Novels don’t necessarily have to reflect everything about the writer, nor should the protagonists only have qualities that they can advocate for.
For me, prone to starting and stopping novels, this being read non-stop in like two weeks is a good recommendation from me. Simple really is the word that comes to mind. Perhaps, it is a simple and powerful novel that reflects the kind of story it tells. And I am keen to pick up another of Hyland’s novels.
This is How is a simple yet emotive literary portrait of any ordinary man who’s life is turned upside down by the drop of a hand.
I think I should preface this review by saying I am prone to gushing over writers I meet and become fascinated by as people or characters of their own, and so I’d probably read my thoughts with that in mind and the idea that I may praise it beyond what others might see in it.
At first glance, the prose is sporadic and simple. It’s often dialogue dominant or reduced to telling, but yet it is clearly a literary novel, not just for the kind of novel it is, but I find it amazing how much feeling can be put into it and is passed onto the reader even amongst prose that is not thick with description, or kind of begging you to see clearly via clever metaphors.
This is How tells the story of Patrick Oxtobory, a young man who moves to a seaside boarding house to try and start afresh after this fiancé breaks up with him. Patrick, like the prose, is simple. I was struck by how he doesn’t do a whole lot yet is compelling and then when it all changes, with that almost too simple action, you want him to go back to that life, like he does.
You feel for Patrick. This is despite him not doing the most defensible things, and at times his character should be unlikable, but yet you still feel for him. I kind of like these kinds of characters and what they make you feel, like the bastards of characters in The Slap though there is no empathy at all for a lot of Tsiolkas’ characters. Novels don’t necessarily have to reflect everything about the writer, nor should the protagonists only have qualities that they can advocate for.
For me, prone to starting and stopping novels, this being read non-stop in like two weeks is a good recommendation from me. Simple really is the word that comes to mind. Perhaps, it is a simple and powerful novel that reflects the kind of story it tells. And I am keen to pick up another of Hyland’s novels.
April 1, 2011
You know how they say there are two kinds of J.D. Salinger fans? Ones who live for "Catcher in the Rye" and ones who shun the prior in favor of "Nine Stories"? I'm not making this up. Anyway, I'm definitely a "Nine Stories" girl who cannot give up hope on "Catcher". Every time I reread it I keep hoping everything I want to be there will suddenly appear. As my younger brother has told me, "Yeah, it'd be a great book if Holden's angst actually bloody meant something or he wasn't a total dipwad." Yes, there's that.
Why do I tell you all this? Because if Holden's angst actually meant something, and he stopped being an utter dipwad, it may start to resemble "This is How". Last year I read "Carry Me Down" of Hyland's. She has the same kind of awkward, angsty, inappropriate male character leading the book, but one is 13 and the other is 23. This didn't bore me. In both examples, Hyland really delves into human motivation and issues of circumstance without telling you she's doing it or why. This is refreshing and keeps intrigue.
The books is not perfect, but I don't believe I'd suggest any changes. It never went where I thought it would--this is a high compliment. The ending initially struck me as insufficient, but before I had even closed the book I realized how overwhelmingly powerful it was.
I certainly suggest this, especially if you have a few hours to get lost in it. Hyland reads fast but is worth the read. I'm interested in seeing the rest of her work.
Why do I tell you all this? Because if Holden's angst actually meant something, and he stopped being an utter dipwad, it may start to resemble "This is How". Last year I read "Carry Me Down" of Hyland's. She has the same kind of awkward, angsty, inappropriate male character leading the book, but one is 13 and the other is 23. This didn't bore me. In both examples, Hyland really delves into human motivation and issues of circumstance without telling you she's doing it or why. This is refreshing and keeps intrigue.
The books is not perfect, but I don't believe I'd suggest any changes. It never went where I thought it would--this is a high compliment. The ending initially struck me as insufficient, but before I had even closed the book I realized how overwhelmingly powerful it was.
I certainly suggest this, especially if you have a few hours to get lost in it. Hyland reads fast but is worth the read. I'm interested in seeing the rest of her work.
October 9, 2013
In the first instance let me be clear- I agree with virtually everything the reviewers are quoted as saying about this book (the exception being Helen Garner’s comment about your heart breaking for the character, and I didn’t find it thrilling). Yes it is a masterful study in claustrophobia and loneliness, yes it got under my skin, and it was merciless stunning psychological portrayal. The book is in two parts, the first leading up to and including the crime, the second in gaol. It is written in first person so you are in Patrick’s head. It is not, I have to say, a comfortable place to be.
Long before the crime I was feeling an ominous sense of dread and felt myself being sucked into a dark hole. I then came back to it determined to keep more distance, which I did and this helped. It reminded me of how Crime and Punishment made me feel in the summer holidays before I started my last year of school; but then I was thrilled to be uncovering literature I never knew existed. Thirty years later I was less excited about revisiting the same spot.
I think this is an important book, because it helps us conceive the unconceivable, to visualise from the perpetrator’s point of view, and with that can come prevention and perhaps compassion. But did I enjoy it? No. Would I read her again? Not if this was the tenor.
Long before the crime I was feeling an ominous sense of dread and felt myself being sucked into a dark hole. I then came back to it determined to keep more distance, which I did and this helped. It reminded me of how Crime and Punishment made me feel in the summer holidays before I started my last year of school; but then I was thrilled to be uncovering literature I never knew existed. Thirty years later I was less excited about revisiting the same spot.
I think this is an important book, because it helps us conceive the unconceivable, to visualise from the perpetrator’s point of view, and with that can come prevention and perhaps compassion. But did I enjoy it? No. Would I read her again? Not if this was the tenor.
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