Reviews

Double Blind by Edward St Aubyn

literarycrushes's review

4.0

Double Blind by Edward St. Aubyn is an ambitious, current issue-driven novel. The novel is relatively slim considering the wide range of topics it managed to cover, from climate change to physical and mental illnesses, to parenthood and the confines of monogamy. The novel is set, as is typical of St. Aubyn’s books, within the delicious world of the British intellectual upper class. In my opinion, St. Aubyn parodies this specific yet widely covered class of people just as well as any of the greatest classical authors. His subtle digs and metaphors are brilliant, and I found myself rereading sentences over and over to capture their full meaning. (One of my favorites: Seeing them was like watching someone you love climb aboard the wrong train and then having to run down the platform trying to warn them of their mistake as the train draws of our the station.)
I could easily see this novel following in the footsteps of his Patrick Melrose series as I felt the book ended rather abruptly and left a lot of loose ends not quite tied up. This book was ambitious as could have easily turned out as a dizzying, fumbled collage of hot button issues in the hands of a less talented writer, while this book left me only wanting more.
**side note, I read the Patrick Melrose novels (4 novels spanning from 1992 - 2006 now collected into one volume, plus a ‘final’ one published separately in 2011) before I had a bookstagram, but it’s easily in my top 10 novels of all time and I highly recommend reading it prior to Double Blind!

gurofl's review against another edition

Mista interessa. Brydde meg ikkje om karakterane. 

websterworks's review against another edition

challenging medium-paced

2.5

kathrynnnnnn's review

2.0

Very flat ending. No plot resolution. Complicated prose that didn't really add anything. There was potential for an interesting commentary on wilding and friendship and neurology but it didn't happen...

akatdare's review

4.0

3.9 stars. I enjoyed the story, the prose was light and interesting. This would have been more than 4 stars if it weren't for the very abrupt ending, which left me feeling like the story was ultimately incomplete. I felt like there was no closure on any of the characters, there was a build to a climax but the climax didn't actually happen. Listened to it on audiobook, which was enjoyable.

eve_kaarina's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

graceesford's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

greybeard49's review against another edition

4.0

A challenging book intellectually but really worth sticking with it. Characters are complex, engaging and for the most part not that appealing. I read the ‘Melrose’ novels some time ago and had forgotten how dark and off piste St Aubyn’s writing could be. This book quickly reminded me. A feeling of accomplishment when finishing!

claire_s's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.25

sands_tone's review

1.0

This felt like a really messy stream of consciousness for 90% of the time. The other 10% was enough to keep me interested in the story and I see where the author was going with how smart the characters were, but it failed to capture a novel style story to follow along with. I ended up skipping pages at a time because the characters thoughts would go on forever without any real movement.