Some Hope: A Trilogy

Rating:
Summary: Difficult Read
Review: Difficult read, in the best sense of the phrase. Characters drip with egotism. Prose is spare, unforgiving, and surprisingly unjaded at times. Written by a professional. Why write such a thing? Is this what teaches us to live? It teaches us what it us to live. Like looking at the question of evil from a religious perspective, only this seems purely secular. Does it have lasting value? At least a few hours, so far. I think that's enough to recommend very highly.

Rating:
Summary: Cold glimpse into British upper crust
Review: First third is not very good. Second third is riviting: a portait of an addicted young man on the prowl for drugs in Manhattan; final third is very good: deft, sketches of British aristos, at a country house party, with a very high wire act impersonation of a named Royal, Princess Margaret. I was surprised at how rivited I was by the book's middle passage. The author really makes you feel the dislocation and psychological suffering of his very damaged central character.

Rating:
Summary: Literary Artwork
Review: Some Hope by Edward St. Aubyn is a trilogy of novellas about the cruel and sadistic British aristocrat David Melrose. In some ways, the book is really about son Patrick Melrose who suffers at the hands of both his perverse father and his drug-addicted mother.

The first novella is literally saturated with examples of the evility of David Melrose and the sufferings of his family at his hands. In the second novella, son Patrick trudges through the harrowing New York City scene mingling with all those lowly commoners called Americans. The third novella concerns Patrick's experimenting with various and sundry illegal drugs.

This trilogy of novellas shows how being raised by twisted parents
leads to the children becoming equally twisted adults themselves. This is a most unusual and excellent work of literary art.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Writing Marred By Loathsome Characters
Review: The trilogy the title refers to, revolves around Patrick Melrose at three points in his life. The first is at five when he's raped by his sadistic father. The second is in his late twenties as a a drug addict who has come to claim his father's ashes. The final section is a glimpse at Patrick as a recovered addict, navigating life while trying to put the demon of his father to rest. The technical writing is great. Beautiful witty prose, descriptive and vivid characters and smart witty dialogue. Yet I found it increasingly difficult to hang in there when I detested nearly everyone in the pages of this book. Sneering snobs, and drug addicts. Not my idea of an enjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: Aristocrats Behaving Badly
Review: This fascinating but harrowing volume comprises three novellas about Patrick Melrose - as a young boy at his parents' French villa, as a drug-addled young man on the loose in Manhattan, and as sober guest at a British country-house party in honor of Princess Margaret. In economical and blackly humorous prose, St. Aubyn fleshes out a memorable cast of characters. The stand-out is Patrick's monstrous father, who practices snobbism, sarcasm, sadism, and worse crimes. These books are so brief that some characters remain ciphers (particularly Patrick's girlfriends). And the author's decision to abandon the protagonist's mother after the first book is a serious flaw. But the dialogue St. Aubyn puts in Princess Margaret's mouth is worth the price of admission. The situation the author sets up at the end involving the princess, the French ambassador, and a splash of venison sauce crystallizes the book's themes with great humor. On the whole, deeply rewarding if you have a strong stomach.