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angiepantsdance's review against another edition
4.0
A wacky and unconventional novel, I found it to be totally up my alley. Witty and obscure. The metaphors used were so dark and demonic, I loved it. Main issue for me is that it ended quite abruptly.
jeffrossbooks's review against another edition
These people are all kinds of horrible.
soozereads's review against another edition
"It was never quite clear to Eleanor why the English thought it was so distinguished to have done nothing for a long time in the same place, but David left her in no doubt that they did'
I think I'm going to like this one!
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In the end this is really hard to rate! I think it was a good book, but it's filled with such awful, vile people that I'm not sure I 'liked' it. Then again, I've moved onto the next book, so it's definitely grabbed me.
I think I'm going to like this one!
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In the end this is really hard to rate! I think it was a good book, but it's filled with such awful, vile people that I'm not sure I 'liked' it. Then again, I've moved onto the next book, so it's definitely grabbed me.
bahoulie's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoyed the turns of phrase, but not really the actual story. I'll read the second in the series, though, since I have it and St. Aubyn's work came so highly recommended.
nerdatronic's review against another edition
The blurb on the back stated this book is "hilarious" and it definitely is if you consider painstaking sadism motivated by ennui funny. It's a wry and scathing take down of manners, decorum, and the social mores of the decadently rich, plus everyone is despicable and toxic and utterly repugnant. Reading this book is like immersing yourself in an immensity of writerly talent and having to come up, gasping for air and feeling like you've been submerged in black oil. Great prose; content is like chewing gravel.
eamwilliams504's review against another edition
4.0
Very witty dialogue. None of the characters except little Patrick are likable at all, but I still really liked this novella and will read the rest of the Patrick Melrose books this year
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
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
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.
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
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.