A review by sdbecque
The Patrick Melrose Novels by Edward St. Aubyn

4.0

I remember spotting this book on a rainy day while killing some time in a Northampton bookstore with a friend of mine post our five year college reunion. I loved the look of the book (go go book cover design gadget) I loved the pink and the people and the names of the novel's, intoxicating when read all together in one breath - Bad News, Never Mind, Some Hope and Mother's Milk. I took a picture so I could remember to hunt for it at the library. Then I read a recommendation for the book from Ann Patchett on the Parnassus Blog:

"I wound up reading all five books in five days (each one is short.) The last time I had such an all-encompassing one-author book binge was when I read John Updike’s Rabbit Angstrom novels straight through. Every second sentence in the Patrick Melrose cycle was one that I wanted to write down or read aloud to my husband. These books made me reconsider issues of family, responsibility, entitlement, depression, addiction, and life in general. They also made me think about what makes great writing. They’re brilliant books, especially when read straight through. I would not have been happy to wait years between the publication of each volume. As much as I loved them, I have to warn you: they’re very strong. They’re not going to be for everyone, but they were certainly for me."

And then Ann Patchett's review in the Gaurdian - http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/may/08/my-hero-edward-st-aubyn

So basically a casual interest in the look of a book turned into a real desire to track down a copy. It took a while to finagle one from Inter-Library Loan, but I'm glad it finally came through. In four novels about one person and ostensibly about the same thing, Patrick and his relationship to his parents, they return to the subject and drill at it from different times and angles. My least favorite was the second novel "Never Mind" which details Patrick's drug use in detail, all those needles makes me nauseous. Aside from that, I really enjoyed the last two novels. Now I want to track down the fifth novel, "At Last."