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A review by andrew61
At Last by Edward St Aubyn
4.0
Having started this series five years ago with the terrible revelation of child abuse about which I struggled to articulate my feelings I have since travelled with Patrick Melrose through drug and sexual addiction in New York whilst collecting the dreadful father David's ashes, his marriage and own fatherhood , the loss of his inheritance and his mothers aging , and finally to the events of his mother Eleanor' s funeral.
It has been a troubling story and in this final book the extent of his father's evil is more clearly revealed as well as his reflection upon his mother's failure to protect herself ( there is a brief depiction of Eleanor's rape which is hard to read) and more importantly protect Patrick. Was Eleanor responsible therefore for the man Patrick eventually becomes; a barrister who struggles with addiction, has been unfaithful to his long suffering wife Mary, and who seems incapable of being a father who avoids his own parents omissions of stability and security.
As with the other books the story is the snapshot of a life and the impact of childhood abuse but in the scenes at the funeral also has a dark humour which has been present throughout.
Definitely a book that is carefully crafted and the prose is such that words are rarely out of place , with portraits of individuals who are brilliantly drawn , therefore it is a series of books that deserves much praise but in the end I was so relieved to leave the characters behind and do not intend to revisit on the page or screen.
A really conflicting read upon which I am still struggling to properly express my thoughts
It has been a troubling story and in this final book the extent of his father's evil is more clearly revealed as well as his reflection upon his mother's failure to protect herself ( there is a brief depiction of Eleanor's rape which is hard to read) and more importantly protect Patrick. Was Eleanor responsible therefore for the man Patrick eventually becomes; a barrister who struggles with addiction, has been unfaithful to his long suffering wife Mary, and who seems incapable of being a father who avoids his own parents omissions of stability and security.
As with the other books the story is the snapshot of a life and the impact of childhood abuse but in the scenes at the funeral also has a dark humour which has been present throughout.
Definitely a book that is carefully crafted and the prose is such that words are rarely out of place , with portraits of individuals who are brilliantly drawn , therefore it is a series of books that deserves much praise but in the end I was so relieved to leave the characters behind and do not intend to revisit on the page or screen.
A really conflicting read upon which I am still struggling to properly express my thoughts