A review by frasersimons
Mother's Milk by Edward St Aubyn
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
One of the few books where I don’t mind having a focus in children as characters. Though, usually it’s a gripe when the perspective is solely from a child, but still I’ve not read a book where kids were as interesting as in here (and the first book).
In this mark forward, Patrick is married, though not wholly unhappily, but progressively tumultuously. He and Mary have two kids and their eldest more-or-less embodies the cyclical pattern from the first, where a young, impressionable person internalizes things from their parents. Patrick may not be as horrible as his father in some departments, but he is severely lacking as a father figure and husband, which are certainly inherited and supported by learned behaviours and vices. Which, because of his mother being in terminal care, only become exasperated, as he is unwilling to confront the source of any of his mental ailments, just as his mother confronts the decision to seek end-of-life options.
The prose are still fantastic and the character work improved over the others. No characters are “good”; all of them are interesting.
In this mark forward, Patrick is married, though not wholly unhappily, but progressively tumultuously. He and Mary have two kids and their eldest more-or-less embodies the cyclical pattern from the first, where a young, impressionable person internalizes things from their parents. Patrick may not be as horrible as his father in some departments, but he is severely lacking as a father figure and husband, which are certainly inherited and supported by learned behaviours and vices. Which, because of his mother being in terminal care, only become exasperated, as he is unwilling to confront the source of any of his mental ailments, just as his mother confronts the decision to seek end-of-life options.
The prose are still fantastic and the character work improved over the others. No characters are “good”; all of them are interesting.