Never Mind - Book Group discussion thread - Nov 2019
9 watchers
Nov 2019
5:47pm, 19 Nov 2019
18,724 posts
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Columba
Is that because it's only the first in a series of I-don't-know-how-many-altogether, Westmoors?
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Nov 2019
6:55am, 20 Nov 2019
3,606 posts
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westmoors
Maybe, but I'll never know as I won't be reading the rest.
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Nov 2019
11:32am, 20 Nov 2019
31,059 posts
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LindsD
I finished this a couple of days ago. It was a bit abrupt, as the copy I bought has all five books in it, so I didn't know it was coming to an end (the first book). Hm. Not sure. I have continued to read on, so I must have liked it a bit. All the characters were utterly revolting, which was a bit of a struggle. The rape was upsetting and disturbing, as were a lot of the descriptions of David's behaviour. I've read about three chapters of the next book, and am enjoying it much more, so I wonder whether that book doesn't really stand alone that well and is just prelude to the next. It does seem to come bundled quite a lot. I gave it a 6. I suspect it won't have been well-liked. Reading back now. |
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Nov 2019
11:34am, 20 Nov 2019
31,060 posts
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LindsD
Not as much dislike as I had thought  Yes, well-written in parts. I knew it was semi-autobiographical before I started, and I knew that Patrick was the author, so I didn't find the author pitiless. |
Nov 2019
1:14pm, 20 Nov 2019
9,852 posts
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Little Nemo
This was made into a great series called Patrick Melrose on Sky. Think it's still available on Now TV. I watched this last year but found parts of it very hard to watch which is why I passed on the book. I'd recommend it, it has great actors in it and it's only 5 parts long so it won't take over your life!
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Nov 2019
1:21pm, 20 Nov 2019
42,487 posts
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Diogenes
The TV series was superb, I absolutely loved it.
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Nov 2019
1:43pm, 20 Nov 2019
31,065 posts
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LindsD
That's why I suggested it. I haven't seen the series but I have heard such good things about it.
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Nov 2019
2:08pm, 20 Nov 2019
42,490 posts
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Diogenes
I bought Never Mind yesterday but haven't started it.
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Nov 2019
9:57am, 24 Nov 2019
326 posts
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Peregrinator
Never Mind etc. now read. My 3p. on them.... In Philip Larkin's words "They fuck you up, your mum and dad". So this is the story of a young boy who is raped by his father and emotionally neglected by his mother, growing up through failure, drug dependency, emotional aridity, until at last he writes a successful series of books about a young boy who is..... Although St Aubyn has said that his books use his life to create something separate from autobiography. It was a bit sneaky of Linds to pick Never Mind, as it soon became apparent at least two other books were involved. Reading just NM would just introduce a group of people being unpleasant to each other and the sexual abuse of Patrick. I would suggest that's only worthwhile if you also get some understanding of the psychological influences and effects on the lives of the people involved; for which you have to read Bad News and Some Hope. The second book plumbs additional depths: I now know far more than I need to about injecting drugs. In the third, Patrick, having survived drug addiction and inherited-general-bleakness, reaches some form of salvation. Ooops - spoiler alert. Fortunately reading all three wasn’t a chore - only with Some Hope did the writing style seem not quite right to me. And am I that interested in Princess Margaret's bon mots? Even if "Royals who are up themselves" is surprisingly contemporary, and not just on Netflix. Where do we finish up? That in the end everyone, even Pol Pot, weakens and dies? Or that, because we ourselves are mortal, events in our past don't ultimately matter, and that burning out the power of the abuse to eventual detachment is a liberation? I'm not arguing with St Aubyn's experience: he's been there. But I wouldn't want to present that to someone who was abused by Jimmy Savile. Talking is a brave and valuable action, and even Patrick feels its necessity to some extent. St Aubyn eventually found his salvation in transforming his experiences in writing. What about Larkin's defence: that "they were fucked up in their turn". Should we even try to understand the motives or causes of evil? Should we forgive evil things that people do, maybe because we are less than perfect? Are people to be judged by the worst of their actions, or balancing the good and the bad. I'm not sure what Patrick thinks - maybe, maybe, maybe as he says. Maybe that is the indifference he seeks. Maybe it ends up an unresolvable opposition between the need/desirability of forgiving, and being unwilling/unable to do it. Larkin's final advice "don’t have any kids yourself" is ignored by both Patrick (in the 4th book) and St Aubyn himself. Which suggests they feel parenting skills can be improved by life. Worth reading the trilogy and I'm not ruling out reading the remaining two books. Quick review of the reviews (three pages-worth are listed - the publishers really want you to understand that this is important literature!). "The wit of Wilde, the lightness of Wodehouse, the waspishness of Waugh" - really? I would have thought the emotional iciness of Maugham and moral murkiness of Huxley were more accurate comparisons, but they don't alliterate so well. Also, for me, the feeling of nausea with the characters made it hard to see the wit and comedy. "Sharpest and best series since Powell's Dance to the Music of Time". Seems an odd comparison. I love the sweep of DttMoT through the 20th century - arguably it has too much about Men Doing Things. This trilogy seems without contemporary links: a small group of people in a bubble or a cage. |
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Nov 2019
12:15pm, 24 Nov 2019
42,633 posts
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Diogenes
Excellent review, P, I don’t think I’ll need to bother writing one after that. I agree that ADTTMOT is a strange comparison, especially as the narrator in that, Nick Jenkins, is very much a cipher for the lives of others and the changing times whereas Patrick Melrose is about Patrick Melrose.
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