- Paperback
- Publisher: Picador; Export ed edition (6 May 2011)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0330533851
- ISBN-13: 978-0330533850
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.2 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 330,179 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
At Last
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Product Description
Review
'At last! At Last by Edward St Aubyn is finally here from Picador - the long-awaited conclusion to the shocking and elegant Melrose series by the Man Booker-shortlisted expert on drugs and the aristocracy. Heady prose and poetic heart' --Sunday Telegraph's preview of best books for 2011
'Edward St Aubyn's At Last sees the conclusion of his acclaimed Patrick Melrose series that included Booker nominated Mother's Milk - I'm a huge fan of his dark imagination and satirical humour' --Mariella Frostrup, Stylist magazine
'Both blackly funny and unbearably painful to read in places, it's an extraordinary novel.' --Bookseller
'Mother's Milk was shortlisted for the 2006 Man Booker Prize and, although it did not win as it plainly should have done, it did garner St Aubyn a mass readership. This week, he publishes a fifth and apparently final book in the sequence, which is now clearly one of the major achievements of contemporary British fiction... the books succeed in making their very particular material - child abuse in a stratospherically upper-class milieu - into a form of truth-telling for everybody... stingingly well written and exhilaratingly funny.' --David Sexton, Evening Standard
'Funeral rites dominate At Last, the concluding work in Edward St Aubyn's semi-autobiographical sequence of ferociously funny, painfully acute and exhilaratingly written novels about his fictional alter ego, Patrick Melrose... As in all the novels, exploration of Patrick's inner turmoil coexists with stylishly choreographed scenes of mordantly enjoyable social comedy -- here as jet black as the outfits worn by some of the curiously assorted mourners at the crematorium... The funeral is alive with satiric potential. And St Aubyn unleashes it to zestfully hilarious effect. Irony courses through these pages like adrenaline... Patrick's intelligence processes his predicaments into elegant, lucid, dispassionate, near-aphoristic formulations... Brimming with witty flair, sardonic perceptiveness and literary finesse, At Last brings a remarkable fictional enterprise -- a brilliantly controlled story of a life sent out of control -- to a winning culmination.' --Peter Kemp, Sunday Times
'A writer who admits to having suffered extreme parental cruelty has three choices: write a misery memoir, write an autobiographical novel, or shy away from exploring the pain and get a job in a bank. Thankfully for the growing number of readers who consider Edward St Aubyn to be one of the finest writers of his generation, the author of Mother's Milk went for option B. His prose has an easy charm that masks a ferocious, searching intellect. As a sketcher of character, his wit -- whether turned against pointless members of the aristocracy or hopeless crack dealers -- is ticklingly wicked. As an analyser of broken minds and tired hearts he is as energetic, careful and creative as the perfect shrink. And when it comes to spinning a good yarn, whether over the grand scale of three volumes or within a single page of anecdote, he has a natural talent for keeping you on the edge of your seat... Only at the end do you sense that the ground has shifted as our hero -- finally freed from the father who abused him and the mother who, also abused, abandoned him -- has changed his mind and decided to live for the family that he has made instead of the one that made him. At last. A happy ending? If this is indeed the final Melrose book, then happy indeed. If, as St Aubyn's fans will be hoping, Patrick comes out of retirement for one last job, well then -- anything could happen.' --Melissa Katsoulis, The Times
'At Last! At last! Let the bells ring out, for here is the long-awaited and brilliant culmination of the Melrose family saga... Brutally funny... This can be read as a standalone novel and those unfamiliar with St Aubyn's --Psychologies magazine
'I've been saving Edward St Aubyn s At Last for a time when I can properly savour it: his books don t come along often enough for my liking, but they do combine prose of enormous grace, precision and beauty with the kind of anarchic comic sense that makes one snort and giggle in public' Tim Martin
'I've been saving up At Last by the brilliant Edward St Aubyn. His previous Melrose novel, Mother's Milk, is one of the most stunning meditations on familial relationships I've ever read' Julie Myerson
'I am eager to get stuck into the climax of Edward St Aubyn's hilarious series of novels chronicling the life and times of Patrick Melrose' Michael Gove --Daily Telegraph Summer Reading --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
'Edward St Aubyn's At Last sees the conclusion of his acclaimed Patrick Melrose series that included Booker nominated Mother's Milk - I'm a huge fan of his dark imagination and satirical humour' --Mariella Frostrup, Stylist magazine
'Both blackly funny and unbearably painful to read in places, it's an extraordinary novel.' --Bookseller
'Mother's Milk was shortlisted for the 2006 Man Booker Prize and, although it did not win as it plainly should have done, it did garner St Aubyn a mass readership. This week, he publishes a fifth and apparently final book in the sequence, which is now clearly one of the major achievements of contemporary British fiction... the books succeed in making their very particular material - child abuse in a stratospherically upper-class milieu - into a form of truth-telling for everybody... stingingly well written and exhilaratingly funny.' --David Sexton, Evening Standard
'Funeral rites dominate At Last, the concluding work in Edward St Aubyn's semi-autobiographical sequence of ferociously funny, painfully acute and exhilaratingly written novels about his fictional alter ego, Patrick Melrose... As in all the novels, exploration of Patrick's inner turmoil coexists with stylishly choreographed scenes of mordantly enjoyable social comedy -- here as jet black as the outfits worn by some of the curiously assorted mourners at the crematorium... The funeral is alive with satiric potential. And St Aubyn unleashes it to zestfully hilarious effect. Irony courses through these pages like adrenaline... Patrick's intelligence processes his predicaments into elegant, lucid, dispassionate, near-aphoristic formulations... Brimming with witty flair, sardonic perceptiveness and literary finesse, At Last brings a remarkable fictional enterprise -- a brilliantly controlled story of a life sent out of control -- to a winning culmination.' --Peter Kemp, Sunday Times
'A writer who admits to having suffered extreme parental cruelty has three choices: write a misery memoir, write an autobiographical novel, or shy away from exploring the pain and get a job in a bank. Thankfully for the growing number of readers who consider Edward St Aubyn to be one of the finest writers of his generation, the author of Mother's Milk went for option B. His prose has an easy charm that masks a ferocious, searching intellect. As a sketcher of character, his wit -- whether turned against pointless members of the aristocracy or hopeless crack dealers -- is ticklingly wicked. As an analyser of broken minds and tired hearts he is as energetic, careful and creative as the perfect shrink. And when it comes to spinning a good yarn, whether over the grand scale of three volumes or within a single page of anecdote, he has a natural talent for keeping you on the edge of your seat... Only at the end do you sense that the ground has shifted as our hero -- finally freed from the father who abused him and the mother who, also abused, abandoned him -- has changed his mind and decided to live for the family that he has made instead of the one that made him. At last. A happy ending? If this is indeed the final Melrose book, then happy indeed. If, as St Aubyn's fans will be hoping, Patrick comes out of retirement for one last job, well then -- anything could happen.' --Melissa Katsoulis, The Times
'At Last! At last! Let the bells ring out, for here is the long-awaited and brilliant culmination of the Melrose family saga... Brutally funny... This can be read as a standalone novel and those unfamiliar with St Aubyn's --Psychologies magazine
'I've been saving Edward St Aubyn s At Last for a time when I can properly savour it: his books don t come along often enough for my liking, but they do combine prose of enormous grace, precision and beauty with the kind of anarchic comic sense that makes one snort and giggle in public' Tim Martin
'I've been saving up At Last by the brilliant Edward St Aubyn. His previous Melrose novel, Mother's Milk, is one of the most stunning meditations on familial relationships I've ever read' Julie Myerson
'I am eager to get stuck into the climax of Edward St Aubyn's hilarious series of novels chronicling the life and times of Patrick Melrose' Michael Gove --Daily Telegraph Summer Reading --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Product Description
This is the eagerly anticipated new novel from the Man Booker-shortlisted author of "Mother's Milk". For Patrick Melrose, 'family' is more than a double-edged sword. As friends, relations and foes trickle in to pay final respects to his mother, Eleanor - an heiress who forsook the grandeur of her upbringing for 'good works', freely bestowed upon everyone but her own child - Patrick finds that his transition to orphanhood isn't necessarily the liberation he had so long imagined. Yet as the service ends and the family gather for a final party, as conversations are overheard, danced around and concertedly avoided, amidst the social niceties and the social horrors, the calms and the rapids, Patrick begins to sense a new current. And at the end of the day, alone in his rooftop bedsit, it seems to promise some form of safety, at last. One of the most powerful reflections on pain and acceptance, and the treacheries of family, ever written, "At Last" is the brilliant culmination of the Melrose books. It is a masterpiece of glittering dark comedy and profound emotional truth.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In "At Last", Edward St Aubyn returns to the Melrose family, the subject of both "Some Hope" and of his Booker-shortlisted "Mother's Milk". I confess that I have still not got around to reading the first of the trilogy, but loved "Mother's Milk" and found that I wasn't greatly disadvantaged by not having read the previous book. "At Last" could also be read as a stand-alone book, but I wouldn't advise this approach. You will miss out on so much that if you are planning on reading it, you really should read at least "Mother's Milk" first. This isn't much of an inconvenience as it's a terrific book.
I'd also add that if you are thinking of taking this route, you might want to stop reading this review at this point. While it's possible to give a taste of "At Last" without spoilers, the story follows on from "Mother's Milk", so the very set up means that if you don't want to know what happens, you might want to look away now.
St Aubyn's subjects are very much the upper class elite - and their self-centred behaviour as they squander their inheritances. That might not be to everyone's taste as a subject matter and certainly it isn't the life that most of us lead. But he sends them up beautifully and you will soon be laughing and shaking your head at their attitudes. St Aubyn's style is waspishly funny - for me, he is like a slightly more literary, English version of Brett Easton Ellis. There's a similar level of shock and bad behaviour, but he's a more humane writer than Easton Ellis.
OK, so I'm hoping that all those who plan on reading "Mother's Milk" have now left the room so I can reveal that the setting for "At Last" is the funeral of Eleanor - the mother who so infuriated her son Patrick in "Mother's Milk". As various characters, some of whom will be familiar from the earlier books. gather to see her off, most of them are wrapped up in their own thoughts and obsessions. There's the new age advocate Annette, the curmudgeonly family friend Nicholas Pratt and the supremely selfish Aunt Nancy to name but a few. At least Patrick seems to have recovered from some of his former vices, but will Eleanor's passing allow him to finally make peace with the past? St Aubyn is adept at creating a clear picture of these eccentrics with a few deft descriptions.
It's certainly true that most readers won't identify much with St Aubyn's eccentric and wealthy characters and if that means that you will struggle to build an emotional bond to them, then this book may not be for you.
St Aubyn's wickedly funny observations drip off almost every page. He delivers one line observations that would do any stand up comic proud, all wrapped in an intelligent and thoughtful prose style. There are a number of laugh out loud moments as well as some thoughtful investigation of the psychological damage that people inherit from their parents. The whole book is set on one day at the crematorium and the subsequent wake - and St Aubyn is certainly not the first writer to recognise the comic potential of these events which gather disparate people together. All knew Eleanor in different ways, and perhaps Patrick's experience of her is not the whole story.
It's a very satisfying conclusion to "Mother's Milk", but I'm less convinced that it stands as well as a novel in it's own right. It's more the conclusion of a story arc started elsewhere than a satisfying read in itself.
I'd also add that if you are thinking of taking this route, you might want to stop reading this review at this point. While it's possible to give a taste of "At Last" without spoilers, the story follows on from "Mother's Milk", so the very set up means that if you don't want to know what happens, you might want to look away now.
St Aubyn's subjects are very much the upper class elite - and their self-centred behaviour as they squander their inheritances. That might not be to everyone's taste as a subject matter and certainly it isn't the life that most of us lead. But he sends them up beautifully and you will soon be laughing and shaking your head at their attitudes. St Aubyn's style is waspishly funny - for me, he is like a slightly more literary, English version of Brett Easton Ellis. There's a similar level of shock and bad behaviour, but he's a more humane writer than Easton Ellis.
OK, so I'm hoping that all those who plan on reading "Mother's Milk" have now left the room so I can reveal that the setting for "At Last" is the funeral of Eleanor - the mother who so infuriated her son Patrick in "Mother's Milk". As various characters, some of whom will be familiar from the earlier books. gather to see her off, most of them are wrapped up in their own thoughts and obsessions. There's the new age advocate Annette, the curmudgeonly family friend Nicholas Pratt and the supremely selfish Aunt Nancy to name but a few. At least Patrick seems to have recovered from some of his former vices, but will Eleanor's passing allow him to finally make peace with the past? St Aubyn is adept at creating a clear picture of these eccentrics with a few deft descriptions.
It's certainly true that most readers won't identify much with St Aubyn's eccentric and wealthy characters and if that means that you will struggle to build an emotional bond to them, then this book may not be for you.
St Aubyn's wickedly funny observations drip off almost every page. He delivers one line observations that would do any stand up comic proud, all wrapped in an intelligent and thoughtful prose style. There are a number of laugh out loud moments as well as some thoughtful investigation of the psychological damage that people inherit from their parents. The whole book is set on one day at the crematorium and the subsequent wake - and St Aubyn is certainly not the first writer to recognise the comic potential of these events which gather disparate people together. All knew Eleanor in different ways, and perhaps Patrick's experience of her is not the whole story.
It's a very satisfying conclusion to "Mother's Milk", but I'm less convinced that it stands as well as a novel in it's own right. It's more the conclusion of a story arc started elsewhere than a satisfying read in itself.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Having loved the Patrick Melrose Trilogy ("Never Mind", "Bad News" and "Some Hope") and the wonderful "Mother's Milk", I had to know what lay in wait for Patrick. Although the books can be read alone, it makes more sense if you read them in order, especially as a lot of the books look back to Patrick's childhood and his relationship with his parents. In the first three books, the emphasis is on the relationship Patrick had with his father and the last two books concentrate on his mother.
Patrick comes from a long line of embittered and twisted people. His father an abusive and vicious man, his mother a former alcoholic who seemed to want to help everyone, except her son. Much of the depression Patrick feels during the course of the novels relates to the loss of his childhood home; which his mother, Eleanor, had given to a new age healing group - or charlatans, as Patrick feels with some realistic resentment. His feelings of anger against his parents has led to various self destructive behaviours - including drug addiction (brilliantly portrayed in "Bad News") and alcholism. His family were once wealthy, some members still are, but Patrick's mother and her sister Nancy, felt cheated out of their inheritance and Patrick feels this has continued with his disinheritance and that of his sons.
Most of the books in this brilliant series take place over a small time frame - a dinner party, a visit to America to collect his fathers ashes, a party. This volume takes place during Eleanor's funeral. Eleanor has been ill a long while and her funeral forces Patrick to look back at his complicated feelings for his mother. Eleanor is seen as saintly by some, childlike by others and gullable by others. There are many characters that readers will recognise from previous books - Nicholas Pratt, the lovely Mary, Kettle and others. Although many of the people are self absorbed, cynical, snobbish and unkind, it is like visiting a family - albeit a very damaged and dysfunctional one! Having followed Patrick's life this far, you wish him well. Despite all his flaws, Patrick is a likeable and damaged man and you want life to be kind to him.
As always, Edward St Aubyn writing is stunning. His prose is beautiful, his dialogue witty, his observations sharp. He is a joy to read. All of the books are excellent and this certainly is no exception. I highly recommend them all and anything by this author. He is truly brilliant and I love his work.
Patrick comes from a long line of embittered and twisted people. His father an abusive and vicious man, his mother a former alcoholic who seemed to want to help everyone, except her son. Much of the depression Patrick feels during the course of the novels relates to the loss of his childhood home; which his mother, Eleanor, had given to a new age healing group - or charlatans, as Patrick feels with some realistic resentment. His feelings of anger against his parents has led to various self destructive behaviours - including drug addiction (brilliantly portrayed in "Bad News") and alcholism. His family were once wealthy, some members still are, but Patrick's mother and her sister Nancy, felt cheated out of their inheritance and Patrick feels this has continued with his disinheritance and that of his sons.
Most of the books in this brilliant series take place over a small time frame - a dinner party, a visit to America to collect his fathers ashes, a party. This volume takes place during Eleanor's funeral. Eleanor has been ill a long while and her funeral forces Patrick to look back at his complicated feelings for his mother. Eleanor is seen as saintly by some, childlike by others and gullable by others. There are many characters that readers will recognise from previous books - Nicholas Pratt, the lovely Mary, Kettle and others. Although many of the people are self absorbed, cynical, snobbish and unkind, it is like visiting a family - albeit a very damaged and dysfunctional one! Having followed Patrick's life this far, you wish him well. Despite all his flaws, Patrick is a likeable and damaged man and you want life to be kind to him.
As always, Edward St Aubyn writing is stunning. His prose is beautiful, his dialogue witty, his observations sharp. He is a joy to read. All of the books are excellent and this certainly is no exception. I highly recommend them all and anything by this author. He is truly brilliant and I love his work.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Buy this book and enjoy the witty, sometimes acidic treatment of the patrician class. St Aubyn is on top form as he dissects the mores of the English ruling types with their obsessions, betrayals and arrogance. The funeral of Patrick Melrose's mother, Eleanor, is the central preoccupation of the novel and leads to a brilliant anatomization of the fall out from her decision to disinherit those waiting for her to die. Patrick is forthright about the physical and sexual abuse suffered at the feet of his father, David, and the tensions of inter-generational relationships. St Aubyn is a superb stylist and entertains with discourse on consciousness, memory and love. It is a bravura performance and reminds me of Updike's ability to be frank, witty and perceptive about love and sex. My first encounter with St. Aubyn. I want to read all his books.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A revelation!
I had been considering reading the Patrick Melrose series of 5 novels (of which this is the last) for some time, but was put off by the disturbing subject matter. Read more
Published 15 hours ago by Simon
A Finale of Flashbacks
If you have not read the previous novels in the Patrick Melrose series, in particular "Mother's Milk", embarking on this novel may feel like walking into a room full of mainly... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Antenna
Beautifully written, poignant and very, very funny.
Edward St Aubyn's writing is simply some of the best around. His Patrick Melrose series forms some of the best writing I think I have ever read. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Drambuster
At Last
A really lovely book, so well written and seemed hard to find, but thanks to Amazon I got it "At Last"! I have a queue of friends wanting to borrow it and can highly recommend it.
Published 7 months ago by nightreader
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The Patrick Melrose series is certainly addictive, but probably isn't very good for you. By this one he has buried both his parents with a stake through their hearts, and looks set... Read more
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Edward StAubyn has been one of my favourite authors since Never Mind, his first book which won the Betty Trask Award - the prize for under-35 years olds. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Ruby Soames
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As the title and cover suggest this is the final instalment in the Melrose saga, (begun in the trilogy Some Hope and continued in the brilliant Booker-nominated Mother's Milk)... Read more
Published 12 months ago by William Rycroft
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