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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
Mid '60's France as some of the most horrid examples of British aristocracy spend a day and an evening. There is no one in this novel you will like. People wake up, chat, pick each other up at the airport, go to a "Wild Oest" theme park, make nasty remarks about others, have dinner, drink way too much, and rape their 5 year old son. St Aubyn is greatly admired by other writers. About 135 pp on my ereader. Despite how loathsome all of these characters are, I am planning to push on to the next novel in the series. Very British, and you'll find yourself Googling different references in order to understand them.
"... the most brilliant English author of his generation" bannered across the book cover certainly raised my expectations, but this book is awful. It's a slice of life of a handful of abusive, abused , self-impressed people laid out with no plot. St. Aubyn has the craft of writing down, just not storytelling.
Reviews of his books suggest that Edward St. Aubyn is a sort of modern-era Jane Austen, bringing a critical eye and sharp wit to the life of the British upper class. I therefore had high hopes when I picked up the Patrick Melrose novels, which begin with "Never Mind." What I found was an insular world populated by cruel, callous snobs dedicated only to putting each other down, demonstrating their own superiority and consuming vast quantities of alcohol and drugs. I won't go into detail about the rape of a 5-year-old and the twisted marriage of his parents, but suffice it to say this is no comedy of manners, no romance. There is, in fact, no protagonist, not a single character the reader might possibly identify or sympathize with. The best thing I can say about "Never Mind" is that it's really a novella and, therefore, I didn't spend too much time with these awful people.
Immensely clever, thoroughly lurid, and utterly heartbreaking. If the Compson clan were British aristocracy, this would be it.
St. Aubyn is a brilliant writer, but this book is not for all. His ability to slingshot the reader from laugh out loud to brink of tears is disorienting yet compelling. Trigger warnings abound and if this were not part of a greater narrative arc, I don't think I would recommend it. But the story of Patrick Melrose as a whole is one worth reading--especially if you see the greatest impact of literature being the development of empathy.
St. Aubyn is a brilliant writer, but this book is not for all. His ability to slingshot the reader from laugh out loud to brink of tears is disorienting yet compelling. Trigger warnings abound and if this were not part of a greater narrative arc, I don't think I would recommend it. But the story of Patrick Melrose as a whole is one worth reading--especially if you see the greatest impact of literature being the development of empathy.
One of the more succinct descriptions of the phenomenology of privilege I have encountered: “Eleanor still found it inexplicable that the best English manners contained such a high proportion of outright rudeness and gladiatorial combat. She knew that David abused this license but she also knew how ‘boring’ it was to interfere with the exercise of unkindness. When David reminded someone of their weaknesses and failures she was torn between a desire to save the victim, whose feelings she adopted as her own, and an equally strong desire not to be accused of spoiling a game. The more she thought about this conflict, the more tightly it trapped her. She would never know what to say because whatever she said would be wrong.”
dark
emotional
tense
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
How I just now discovered Edward St. Aubyn blows my mind, but not nearly as much as his brilliant, twisted writing does. Truly some of the best dialogue I've ever read. The dinner party dialogue between the adults begs to be put on stage (although casting a child in the role of Patrick would shut any theater down).
Not for the faint of heart, but rewarding on so many levels if you can tolerate extremely very bad things happening to children. I highly recommend reading a review or two (with "spoilers") before you delve in.
Not for the faint of heart, but rewarding on so many levels if you can tolerate extremely very bad things happening to children. I highly recommend reading a review or two (with "spoilers") before you delve in.
Reading this book is a mixture of enjoyment and self torture. So good!
I need to remember who recommended this to me. It started out like something from Masterpiece Theatre, but became creepy and sad.
Acerbic, biting, brilliant, and somehow luminous despite its subject matter (the coldest characters and the darkest acts). I love these sentences. Had other plans for Monday but am going to gobble the next book in this series instead.