A review by vicki_jarrett
The Patrick Melrose Novels by Edward St Aubyn

4.0

I read the four books in this collected volume back to back only partly because I wanted to find out what happens to Patrick, mostly because the writing itself is more than a little addictive – clever, insightful, funny, and very dark. I initially doubted I would enjoy this series, although it came highly recommended. The suffering of rich people has, I feel, been given more than enough coverage in literature. It is inevitable, given that the ruling, wealthy members of society tend to be those with access to education, so it follows they are the ones who have the tools, the time, the confidence and so on to write novels, which accounts for the disproportionate amount of books by and about the wealthy. Often, the self-absorption and lack of perspective displayed in such novels gets on my nerves but in this instance, the quality of the writing won me over within a few pages. The characters depicted in these novels are seriously upper-class, the old aristocracy. I guess these people still exist but I don’t think I’ve ever met one, so they were completely alien to me and lent reading the books that detached but fascinated feeling I might experience reading about some lost tribe of the Amazon. These are human beings, but not as I know them. The majority of the characters are so despicable it made me very glad they’re not part of my experience. The first book covers Patrick’s early childhood and the devastating incident which shapes much of his subsequent psychology, although I did suspect that, even without that, his parents were sufficiently awful that it would’ve been unlikely he’d have emerged without serious problems. The second book details his drug addiction. The dissection of the nature of addiction is merciless and contains breath-taking stream of consciousness pyrotechnics . I didn’t enjoy the third book as much as there is simply not enough Patrick and far too much of a cast of over-privileged psychopaths. The writing was still excellent but I found it difficult to care about most of the other characters. It was like visiting a zoo full of strange animals attacking each other and hurting themselves. The fourth book, Mother’s Milk was full of insight from each viewpoint taken. I was most impressed with how accurately and perceptively he handled the emotional landscape of motherhood from Patrick’s wife, Mary’s point of view. I will certainly pick up a copy of the final volume, At Last.