I just raced through this collection of four short British novels. The first recounts the main character’s abuse as a child, at the hands of his father. The second features him at the age of 22, going on a heroin bender (a herabend?) while picking up his father’s ashes. (If there’s one thing you should know about me, other than my love of oral histories, it is my delight in addiction and rehab stories.) The third takes place at a swanky party, with our main character newly clean and sober. The fourth -- partly from the POV of his own small children -- involves him trying to fulfill his dementia-addled mom’s request for assisted suicide. What I haven’t mentioned yet is that all four of these books are hilarious. An absolutely extraordinary achievement. These largely autobiographical novels deal with grim topics like incest, rape, drug abuse, the horrors of aging, marital strife, infidelity, and the perils of parenting among members of the decadent British upper class, yet paradoxically they are wildly entertaining and amusing--and profoundly observed. St. Aubyn writes with laser-like precision and acute psychological sensitivity, and every character is beautifully defined and differentiated. One could see this as a very twisted coming-of-age story. Patrick Melrose (St. Aubyn's stand-in) is emotionally and sexually abused as a young boy, becomes a heroin and cocaine addict, comes clean, finds a career as a barrister, marries and fathers two children, and suffers the loss of his family fortune and his mother's mind to dementia. Every step in the journey is charted by St. Aubyn in acidulous prose that lays bare the pretensions, delusions and misery not only of Patrick but also of his relatives and friends. I can't wait to read the final installment in the Patrick Melrose series, "At Last."
Do You like book The Patrick Melrose Novels (2012)?
And thought your family had problems. St. Aubyn is like a better version of Martin Amis.
—wanshun
Strong 4; maybe the best I have read all year. Will read the last Patrick Melrose book.
—cartsd
If you haven't read these yet, drop what you're doing and get on it.
—trombka
