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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
Brilliant - of the deeply upsetting kind! I read this right after a study on the concept of snobbery and it was a great, if accidental, pairing.
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I listened to this on audio book and got quite a way into it before deciding this was just too triggering and traumatic for me. Sometimes I wonder if I should persevere with books that I find deeply troubling. I imagine that if I did there would potentially be some kind of transformation & inner work that could take place, but I don’t always have the emotional capacity to go there. Sometimes choosing not to finish a book that sends me spinning and spiralling is a matter of necessity.
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Only in the English language… can one be “a bore” – in other languages a person is simply boring, a temporary state of affairs. The question is, I suppose, whether this points to a greater intolerance towards boring people, or an especially intense quality of boredom among the English.
St Aubyn is brilliant with his words, masterfully crafting an acerbic takedown of the upper class, but it’s not enough to save this book. Even at the dinner party at the end where things sort of come to a head and characters reflect afterwards there just is no redeeming quality about any of it. It seems like he’s delighting in their misery and hatefulness, which just seems excessive.
It’s an interesting insight into what makes people like them tick but ultimately does nothing. Nothing happens but cruelty & the joy that comes with it. It also seemed to be jam packed full of witty writing with absolutely no room to breathe. You’re swept up in the almost too brilliant writing that seduces you and left wondering ‘that’s it?’ when it comes to where exactly are things going and when will you get time to reflect on it all.
He’s a good writer, but a great writer knows when to get out of their own way and allow the story to shine rather than their words.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Incest, Rape
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
medium-paced
Project: Catch Up On Review Backlog, review #10 out of 16
Pretty much ever since I abandoned grad school before I completed my doctorate (English lit!), I have been allergic to lit-fic. There is just something about modern literary fiction that hits me the wrong way. Most of it feels to me like the author is trying to impress me, to say something PROFOUND, and a heck of a lot of it is just middle aged white guys having mid-life crises in exactly the same way. I find it pretentious and samesy. There are, of course, exceptions.
I do respond well to literary fiction that feels genuine to me. Like the writer just needed to write the story, and tell it to tell it, and not so people can think they are smart and important and A Writer of Our Own Time. I recognize that this is a bias, but I firmly believe that literary fiction is a genre (whose proponents frequently diss other genres as lesser), and a genre whose conventions I don't always respond well to. For whatever reason.
The point is, this book is most definitely out of my wheelhouse. Middle aged white guy working through his demons.
But.
First of all, someone on Cannonball Read read these books within the last couple years or so and I loved their reviews, but I CANNOT FIND WHOSE IT WAS. They just made the books sound so appealing. This series of five novels, of which Never Mind is the first, is semi-autobiographical, as St. Aubyn works through his traumatic childhood, his resulting hang-ups and addictions, and they are a story of personal growth, and an indictment of the inhumanity of the upper classes. Each book covers a day or two over the course of main character Patrick's life. (And yes, it was Benedict Cumberbatch's TV show that finally prompted me to give them a try, but first credit goes to that unknown reviewer!)
This one takes place when Patrick is five, on a day in the south of France. Patrick is the son of a wealthy American daughter of a British duchess, and a failed British aristocrat with all the wrong priorities, who is cruel and all kinds of fucked up. The Melroses are set to host a dinner party, and guests are coming from England and just across the field. It's very much a portrait of the day, with Patrick running around the edges, until the climactic incident, which sets the tone for the rest of the books, when his father and then goes on with his day. We get POVs from all the characters, though, which is effective because you see all the different mindsets and ideals that motivate them, all culminating in a dinner party that is simultaneously disastrous and incredibly banal.
You come away from the book thinking, these are the kinds of people who live in this kind of world, and the things they care about and the systems that support and/or oppress them, and this is how the cycle perpetuates itself, with the figure of five year old Patrick being the last image of the book.
As a note, I'm not sure how differently I would have responded to this book if I hadn't watched the show first. The show makes the smart decision to start with book two, when Patrick is already an adult, and backtrack to this one as episode two. But I think it does work better in the books to have this one first. It sets the stage very well, whereas in the show we're coming in mid-story, and a lot of tension and character moments are mined from finding out why.
The book is pretty short, only 132 pages, and I'm glad for that. Any longer, and it wouldn't have been bearable. It's economic in its storytelling, and I found myself impressed with the writing itself, which doesn't normally matter to me as much as the emotion or the characters or the story, which can come across just fine in plain language.
Starting book two as I type this. Oh, I'm in for some shit.
Pretty much ever since I abandoned grad school before I completed my doctorate (English lit!), I have been allergic to lit-fic. There is just something about modern literary fiction that hits me the wrong way. Most of it feels to me like the author is trying to impress me, to say something PROFOUND, and a heck of a lot of it is just middle aged white guys having mid-life crises in exactly the same way. I find it pretentious and samesy. There are, of course, exceptions.
I do respond well to literary fiction that feels genuine to me. Like the writer just needed to write the story, and tell it to tell it, and not so people can think they are smart and important and A Writer of Our Own Time. I recognize that this is a bias, but I firmly believe that literary fiction is a genre (whose proponents frequently diss other genres as lesser), and a genre whose conventions I don't always respond well to. For whatever reason.
The point is, this book is most definitely out of my wheelhouse. Middle aged white guy working through his demons.
But.
First of all, someone on Cannonball Read read these books within the last couple years or so and I loved their reviews, but I CANNOT FIND WHOSE IT WAS. They just made the books sound so appealing. This series of five novels, of which Never Mind is the first, is semi-autobiographical, as St. Aubyn works through his traumatic childhood, his resulting hang-ups and addictions, and they are a story of personal growth, and an indictment of the inhumanity of the upper classes. Each book covers a day or two over the course of main character Patrick's life. (And yes, it was Benedict Cumberbatch's TV show that finally prompted me to give them a try, but first credit goes to that unknown reviewer!)
This one takes place when Patrick is five, on a day in the south of France. Patrick is the son of a wealthy American daughter of a British duchess, and a failed British aristocrat with all the wrong priorities, who is cruel and all kinds of fucked up. The Melroses are set to host a dinner party, and guests are coming from England and just across the field. It's very much a portrait of the day, with Patrick running around the edges, until the climactic incident, which sets the tone for the rest of the books, when his father
Spoiler
rapes himYou come away from the book thinking, these are the kinds of people who live in this kind of world, and the things they care about and the systems that support and/or oppress them, and this is how the cycle perpetuates itself, with the figure of five year old Patrick being the last image of the book.
As a note, I'm not sure how differently I would have responded to this book if I hadn't watched the show first. The show makes the smart decision to start with book two, when Patrick is already an adult, and backtrack to this one as episode two. But I think it does work better in the books to have this one first. It sets the stage very well, whereas in the show we're coming in mid-story, and a lot of tension and character moments are mined from finding out why.
The book is pretty short, only 132 pages, and I'm glad for that. Any longer, and it wouldn't have been bearable. It's economic in its storytelling, and I found myself impressed with the writing itself, which doesn't normally matter to me as much as the emotion or the characters or the story, which can come across just fine in plain language.
Starting book two as I type this. Oh, I'm in for some shit.
dark
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
oh my god the only redeeming couple of this book is victor and anne
Just read Dunbar and loved it and was keen to enjoy more, and now I’m discouraged. Might try a title outside the Patrick Melrose set. None of the characters appealed so why would I stay with them? The writing is ok but without a likeable character there was no reason to stay.