Patrick Melrose: The Novels

Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope, Mother's Milk, and At Last

De: Edward St. Aubyn

Narrado por: Alex Jennings

COLLECTED INTO ONE VOLUME FOR THE FIRST TIME, ALL FIVE INSTALLMENTS OF EDWARD ST. AUBYN'S CELEBRATED PATRICK MELROSE NOVELS

Now a 5-Part Limited Event Series on Showtime, Starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Blythe Danner.

Edward St. Aubyn has penned one of the most acclaimed series of the decade with the Patrick Melrose Novels. Now you can listen to all five novels in one volume: Never Mind, Bad News, Mother's Milk, Some Hope, and At Last.

By turns harrowing and hilarious, this ambitious novel cycle dissects the English upper class. Edward St. Aubyn offers his listener the often darkly funny and self-loathing world of privilege as we follow Patrick Melrose's story of abuse, addiction, and recovery from the age of five into early middle age.

The Patrick Melrose Novels are "a memorable tour de force" (The New York Times Book Review) by one of "the most brilliant English novelists of his generation" (Alan Hollinghurst).

Praise for Patrick Melrose: The Novels:

"...at its best audio offers a complementary or overlapping experience to the actual book. For example Alex Jennings’s readings of the Patrick Melrose novels by Edward St Aubyn are sublime, a sustained performance that also allows the prose to breathe in its own right. And really funny." — The Guardian, quoting author Andy Miller

©2015 Edward St. Aubyn (P)2013 Pan Macmillan, LTD

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Stunning, sparkling fiction . . . Unforgettable.” —The Wall Street Journal

“One of the best fictional cycles in contemporary fiction.” —The Boston Globe

What an Emotional Ride

I listened to these after watching Patrick Melrose adaptations by Benedict Cumberbatch. The adaptations are almost verbatim to the books. Since I had watched the shows first, it was really nice that listening to the books were the same.

These stories are heartbreaking and somewhat haunting for those that can relate to certain parts. Most of us cannot relate to being an aristocrat, but there are a lot of vulnerable parts people can relate to. These stories have stuck with me.

Harrowingly brilliant

A wrenching tale of human dysfunction and pain, exhilaratingly told. All the more tragic for its autobiographical origins...

Just gets better & better

The life of the social people- they are struggling too in real,
unexpected ways l. This book delves deep into the private lives of the privileged- but not in a boring “better than you” way.

Darkly entertaining

This is a long book but I wish it was even longer! It is a really great collection.

Devastating but luminous

Tracks the arc of deep trauma emerging into self-awareness. These books are as real
as it gets—agonizing and hilarious (sarcasm being an effective coping strategy of course). The reader perfectly embodies the author’s inner life and struggles.

Extraordinary narration!

I am amazed - and amused - by Jennings' extraordinary skill as a narrator. He portrays the different voices (both real and imagined) so well I find myself laughing aloud. I have the print version which syncs with the Audible, but find myself preferring to listen (usually reserved only for walks) because it is so well done. I'm only on the second "novel" so I still have lots left to enjoy!

Funny, self loathing, and truly damaged characters

Excellent performance - Jennings really leaned into the irony and attitude in St. Aubyn’s prose. The book is beautifully written, with deep insights into the human condition - but it gets too dark… This depressing perspective of English privilege made me simultaneously feel schadenfreude and disgust.

You love to hate most of the characters (eg Nicholas Pratt) and get an articulation of substance abuse and sadness that I wouldn’t recommend for everyone - but overall, the beauty of the writing outweighed the self loathing, miserable characters that fill this interesting series.

A Moat Surrounding Both British Nobility and Abuse

I wasn't intrigued enough until I saw this series of novels had been collected in one volume. I'm glad I read this semi-autobiographical pentalogy, published between 1992 and 2011, which delighted me in its subtle shaming of modern-day British aristocracy (in a way only a defiant member can) as much as it troubled in its expert examination of the enduring destruction of child abuse (both physical and mental).

Just to provide a short synopsis of each of the 5 novels herein (in order of publication):

NEVER MIND: Set in a mountain village in southeast France at the summer home of the protagonist Patrick when he was 5 years old. His dreadfully cruel father and meek alcoholic mother host several guests at a dinner party. Includes an incident of the lewd abuse of Patrick.

BAD NEWS: Patrick is now a 25-year-old heroin abuser in New York City to retrieve the ashes of his father over a 24-hour period. Includes probably the most accurate depiction of the mindset of a active drug addict I've ever read.

SOME HOPE: Set back in England a few years later, prior to and at a society party, also takes place over a single day. Patrick is trying to stay clean and shares his secret with his best friend. A mordant observation of the haughty, shallow and cruel nature of the British upper crust. Queen Elizabeth's sister, Prince Margaret, plays a large and largely unflattering role.

MOTHER'S MILK: This novel, unlike the first 3 and the last, all of which are set on a single day, occurs over several years. It's almost as long as the first 3 combined. Patrick's 2 sons are born. For most of it, he's a self-centered cad, drunk and on pain pills. His mother has given away most of Patrick's legacy to a spiritual guide (like Tolle').

AT LAST: Patrick's mom's funeral. St. Aubyn really takes a sardonic whip to aristocracy concentrated in the form of a snot named Nicholas Pratt and his mother's sister. Example: Patrick's uncle comments on the charitable and warm nature of Patrick's mother, "Eleanor was always concerned about other people." "That can be a good thing," Nicholas admitted, "depending on who those other people are."


I'm not sure that I'd give any of the 5 novels 5 stars, but as a collection they are definitely worth the price.

do nothing for a long time in the same place

? did you grow up around people with vast sums of inherited money
? have you rubbed elbows with medicated and bored plutocrats
? does it intrigue you to peel the veneer off the lives of the idle rich

edward st. aubyn has written a great series of books to guide you
he knows this life quite well from long, sad first hand experience
several of the best sections have the feel of a well-written autobiography

wealth, it turns out, is not as useful and reliable as we've been lead to believe
beyond a certain basic level, money seems to generate hollow, feeble souls
st. aubyn reveals all this with wit and humor and a delicious knowing insight

I tried, I really tried!

Although this book is very well-written -- and I could listen to Alex Jennings read the phone book -- I could not get past the first part (Never Mind and Bad News) of this recording. There is not one sympathetic character that I cared to know more about. After listening to Patrick's drug-induced tirade while he was at Pierre's apartment in New York City, I just had to give up. I had pre-ordered the DVD starring Benedict Cumberbatch, but I have since canceled that--there is no way I want to spend any more time with these people--not even if Patrick is portrayed by one of my favorite actors. I know these books are "classics" but they just were not for me.