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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
Edward St Aubyn lives in my head like the Bad Fairy. My favourite bit of the Melrose chronicles remains the scene in a New York restaurant when Patrick’s knocking back the champagne and a waiter hovers: “Will anyone be joining sir?” “God, I hope not!“
In Some Hope, Princess Margaret at a house party causes even some of the aristos to contemplate atheism and a republic, banking is described as operating on religious faith, the Great Barrier Reef is proclaimed vulgar - “full of frightful loud colours, peacock blues and impossible oranges all higgledy-piggledy while one’s mask floods” - and people laugh “the innocent laughter of two snobs taking a holiday from that need to appear tolerant and open-minded.” And Zadie Smith thinks it’s hilarious. People like us like us.
In Some Hope, Princess Margaret at a house party causes even some of the aristos to contemplate atheism and a republic, banking is described as operating on religious faith, the Great Barrier Reef is proclaimed vulgar - “full of frightful loud colours, peacock blues and impossible oranges all higgledy-piggledy while one’s mask floods” - and people laugh “the innocent laughter of two snobs taking a holiday from that need to appear tolerant and open-minded.” And Zadie Smith thinks it’s hilarious. People like us like us.
challenging
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Some years after his father’s death, Patrick is clear of his all consuming drug habit, but is yet to replace it. On the cusp of something unknown, Patrick attends a party at a country house. As funny and clever as the first two books, Some Hope isn’t as dark, and it had a Dickens reference that made me clap. A deeply insightful, and even tender, look at class, purpose, the compelling absurdity of the rich, and the nature of forgiveness.
After the disappointment of Bad News, I really enjoyed this one, though I wished it was a little longer.
The third book in the Patrick Melrose series captures Patrick still trying to deal with his feelings about his abusive father but now potentially heading towards some kind of equilibrium. If is told against the backdrop of a party in a country house attended by the elite of English society, including Princess Margaret, featuring a cast of toxic, two-faced snobs through fragmentary scenes that are both funny and horrific.
dark
reflective
slow-paced
This didn't work for me in a number of ways. I loved the first two novels in the Patrick Melrose series and I will continue reading them, but this one was a duffer. A lot of posh (and mostly rich) people go to a party in the English countryside with Princess Margaret. It's told from many different points of view as the guests prepare to leave for the party, attend a dinner before the party, and talk at the party, and I completely lost track of who was who. Maybe that was deliberate, in that all these posh rich people are indistinguishable but it meant that the scandals which they were all gossiping about were mostly lost on me. The sections from Patrick's point of view were often funny, especially when he was talking with his friend Johnny, but Johnny and Patrick are also almost indistinguishable from each other, and it felt like it was a single voice bantering wittily with itself (and being so witty, the repartee was often unbelievable). They whole felt like it was a vehicle for Patrick to try to come to terms with the abuse he suffered from his father, and these sections were so different from all the posh, rich chatter, that they felt like they came from a different book. Ah well. On to Mother's Milk, which I hope will be a return to form.
There is a scene with a waiter that is the funniest thing ever. The 3rd book benefits from a wider worldview with more characters offering perspectives even if the class they belong to is a claustrophobic hall of mirrors. As the title suggests this is so far the most upbeat of the Patrick Melrose novels so far and as ever the writing is to absorb and hold in the mouth a while.
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes