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A review by moosegurl
The Patrick Melrose Novels by Edward St Aubyn
4.0
"A submission, even an absurd one, was a real temptation to Eleanor. She would be sacrificing things she did not want to believe in -- table manners, dignity, pride -- for something she did want to believe in: the spirit of sacrifice. The emptiness of the gesture, the fact that it did not help anybody, made it seem more pure at the time." [NEVER MIND]
" 'Only in the English language,' said Victor, 'can one be "a bore", like being a lawyer or a pastry cook, making boredom into a profession -- 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.' " [NEVER MIND]
"Of course it was wrong to want to change people, but what else could you possibly want to do with them?" [BAD NEWS]
" 'I want to die, I want to die, I want to die,' he found himself muttering in the middle of the most ordinary task, swept away by a landslide of regret as the kettle boiled or the toast popped up." [SOME HOPE]
"He had seen his mother carrying Thomas to the edge of the pool and pointing to the fish, saying, 'Fish.' It was no use trying that sort of thing with Robert. What he couldn't help wondering was how his brother was supposed to know wether she meant the pond, the water, the weeds, the clouds reflected on the water, or the fish, if he could see them. How did he even know that 'Fish' was a thing rather than a colour or something that you do? Sometimes, come to think of it, it was something to do." [MOTHER'S MILK]
"Eleanor regretted what she had just said, but also felt a twinge of adolescent pride at giving precedence to honesty over tact." [MOTHER'S MILK]
" 'Only in the English language,' said Victor, 'can one be "a bore", like being a lawyer or a pastry cook, making boredom into a profession -- 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.' " [NEVER MIND]
"Of course it was wrong to want to change people, but what else could you possibly want to do with them?" [BAD NEWS]
" 'I want to die, I want to die, I want to die,' he found himself muttering in the middle of the most ordinary task, swept away by a landslide of regret as the kettle boiled or the toast popped up." [SOME HOPE]
"He had seen his mother carrying Thomas to the edge of the pool and pointing to the fish, saying, 'Fish.' It was no use trying that sort of thing with Robert. What he couldn't help wondering was how his brother was supposed to know wether she meant the pond, the water, the weeds, the clouds reflected on the water, or the fish, if he could see them. How did he even know that 'Fish' was a thing rather than a colour or something that you do? Sometimes, come to think of it, it was something to do." [MOTHER'S MILK]
"Eleanor regretted what she had just said, but also felt a twinge of adolescent pride at giving precedence to honesty over tact." [MOTHER'S MILK]