Reviews

Never Mind by Edward St Aubyn

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heartofoak1's review against another edition

1.0

the writing is beautiful but the characters and their stories are evil and ugly. when a father rapes his 5 year old son and then laughs about it it's not a book for me.

ccallan's review against another edition

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3.0

Horrible, horrible people written about in beautiful, flowing prose. I kept asking myself "why am reading about these awful people," then I'd turn the page to see what they'd do next, or what new lies they'd tell themselves, or what new triumph of obliviousness they'd rise to. Definitely like driving slowly past a car accident. If you've ever had a moment of admiration for the British aristocracy this book will cure you.

mubeenirfan's review against another edition

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3.0

Benedict Cumberbatch has been cast as Patrick Melrose in TV adaptation of this series. This fact was enough to find out the fuss about it. Since it is a five part series therefore without investing myself through paperbacks I downloaded an epub version.

I liked the first book. It is not the wit of Oscar Wilde (my favorite classic writer) as some of reviewers have made it out to be but it has traces of genius condescension & sarcasm which any Oscar Wilde fanatic would appreciate. At the same time the setting of first novel felt mundane; a dinner gathering of uber rich in a villa somewhere south of France. The first part is not exactly about Patrick because he appears only a few times in this short installment (I understand that he would assume the role of lead character in next installments) but more about his mum & dad and their attitude towards rearing him, their only child.

Patrick is 5 years old in this novel, which has been set across a day only, where he goes through a severely traumatic experience. This experience is beyond disgusting & horrible but the writer moves on without delving more into it and its emotional consequences which I hope is because he will use it in later books to describe the personality Patrick assumes due to it. It must be mentioned here that these novels are considered highly auto-biographical and thus give a new light to the reading experience.

I have not immediately become a fan of the series but there is enough intrigue in me to pick it up for a 2nd time sometime later. Needless to say I will drop the series if it does not live up-to what is my expectation out of it.

themorsecode's review against another edition

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3.0

Well written but I found the characters (poor young Patrick aside) so overwhelmingly unpleasant it becomes something of a slog by the end.

shashwat's review against another edition

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dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

1outside's review against another edition

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5.0

Joining the throngs of people who likely only started reading this series after the TV adaptation started airing.
Don't think I was quite prepared for how good the writing would be, or how infuriating the effect of reading the various characters' thoughts would be.
Especially David's, after he

Spoiler

raped/molested his son

. No disgust w/ himself whatsoever, no inner conflict. Just sickening.

I plan on reading all of the books this summer. I definitely appreciate how brief they are (- ideally suited to a TV adap), and just the right portion one can just about digest, considering the (effective) manner of the writing. I think if I were made to read them all in one go as one book...I might end up w/ a drinking habit as well.