Take a photo of a barcode or cover
139 reviews for:
The Patrick Melrose Novels: Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope, Mother's Milk, and at Last
Edward St Aubyn
4.0 AVERAGE
139 reviews for:
The Patrick Melrose Novels: Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope, Mother's Milk, and at Last
Edward St Aubyn
4.0 AVERAGE
my overall rating is the (approximate) average of all 5. here’s what i rated each book individually:
- never mind- 3.5 ⭐️
- bad news- 4 ⭐️
- some hope- 4.5 ⭐️
- mother’s milk- 3 ⭐️
- at last- 3.5 ⭐️
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
so reflective and beautiful and scary and torturous and just what i needed. its perfect. i love it so dearly. so so many layers and things to smile abiut and things to avert from and life to contemplate. so good
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Racism
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Of the 5 novels , I think one was overdone and added little to the others , that’s why I decided on 4 stars . All 5 are beatifully written . A joy to read .
This book was so good in so many ways. It's definitely one of the best i've ever read. It builds better than anything else i've read. It's smart without being pretentious and hilarious and so completely honest and exposing about human nature and relationships/society/class (without being pointed or laced with an agenda) that you rarely see in writing. It's in my top 10 definitely.
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
This is the most thorough character development I've ever read. Aubyn is a master at describing the nuance of experience.
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I find that it is hard for me to articulate how deeply I am obsessed with this series.
Edward St. Aubyn's prose is hypnotic; it is beautiful and it is nauseating; it is exploitative and it is secretive at once.
Patrick Melrose being St. Aubyn's autobiographical caricature is a creative liberty that is executed flawlessly and the supplemental reading that I had done about St. Aubyn and his real life, about the reception of the five novels, and about filming the Showtime series only made me appreciate it all the more. I feel it would be impossible to come out of reading Patrick Melrose without a sense of awe for the sheer gravity the series possessed as a critique on class and family dynamics; as well as an exploration of abuse, addiction, and mental illness, especially amongst those who are so traditionally English.
There's an impressive cast of characters balanced across the series. Notably, some of my favorite chapters are from the perspective of Patrick's eldest son, Robert, as they so effortlessly capture the mystique of childhood (not to mention the chapters where Patrick himself is a child at Saint-Nazaire). There's even an entire chapter where an adult Patrick is having a crisis that is staged like a play — a brilliant format for St. Aubyn to choose for the occasion that I understood intimately.
As a consequence, this may remain one of the most influential works of my life. I only wish I could do right by it in a review.
Edward St. Aubyn's prose is hypnotic; it is beautiful and it is nauseating; it is exploitative and it is secretive at once.
Patrick Melrose being St. Aubyn's autobiographical caricature is a creative liberty that is executed flawlessly and the supplemental reading that I had done about St. Aubyn and his real life, about the reception of the five novels, and about filming the Showtime series only made me appreciate it all the more. I feel it would be impossible to come out of reading Patrick Melrose without a sense of awe for the sheer gravity the series possessed as a critique on class and family dynamics; as well as an exploration of abuse, addiction, and mental illness, especially amongst those who are so traditionally English.
There's an impressive cast of characters balanced across the series. Notably, some of my favorite chapters are from the perspective of Patrick's eldest son, Robert, as they so effortlessly capture the mystique of childhood (not to mention the chapters where Patrick himself is a child at Saint-Nazaire). There's even an entire chapter where an adult Patrick is having a crisis that is staged like a play — a brilliant format for St. Aubyn to choose for the occasion that I understood intimately.
As a consequence, this may remain one of the most influential works of my life. I only wish I could do right by it in a review.
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
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.
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.