- Hardcover: 304 pages
- Publisher: Fourth Estate; illustrated edition edition (4 April 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0007200366
- ISBN-13: 978-0007200368
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14.4 x 3.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 157,452 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Review
'It will surely prove to be the debut of the year.' Andrew O'Hagan, Telegraph
'I feel so strongly about this strange, funny, sad book that I hardly know where to begin … My enthusiasm feels almost limitless. A page-turner…the structure of Stuart is a masterstroke, allowing buried secrets to be uncovered like hunks of beef beneath silver domes.' Observer
'One of the most unusual biographies of recent years … one of 2005's outstanding debuts.' Metro
'A bitterly funny book.' Guardian
'Funny and original, a startling book … By the end I was doubled up in tears, but throughout I was often doubled up with laughter. It is dazzling.' Vogue
'A remarkable biography. Not since John Healey's classic memoir The Grass Arena has life on the street been catalogued with such candour and to such illuminating effect … unforgettably moving. A gripping read." Tim Lott, Sunday Times
'This is a very rare and moral and haunting book, the best of its kind since Alan Bennett's The Lady in the Van. On the way to telling the story of one homeless man, Alexander Masters manages to tell a compelling story about modern Britain, and a new and sometimes funny story about the trials of authorship. A great first book: I think it should replace the Gideon Bible in every hotel room in Britain.' Andrew O'Hagan'It will surely prove to be the debut of the year.' Andrew O'Hagan, Telegraph
'I feel so strongly about this strange, funny, sad book that I hardly know where to begin … My enthusiasm feels almost limitless. A page-turner…the structure of Stuart is a masterstroke, allowing buried secrets to be uncovered like hunks of beef beneath silver domes.' Observer
'One of the most unusual biographies of recent years … one of 2005's outstanding debuts.' Metro
'A bitterly funny book.' Guardian
'Funny and original, a startling book … By the end I was doubled up in tears, but throughout I was often doubled up with laughter. It is dazzling.' Vogue
'A remarkable biography. Not since John Healey's classic memoir The Grass Arena has life on the street been catalogued with such candour and to such illuminating effect … unforgettably moving. A gripping read." Tim Lott, Sunday Times
'This is a very rare and moral and haunting book, the best of its kind since Alan Bennett's The Lady in the Van. On the way to telling the story of one homeless man, Alexander Masters manages to tell a compelling story about modern Britain, and a new and sometimes funny story about the trials of authorship. A great first book: I think it should replace the Gideon Bible in every hotel room in Britain.' Andrew O'Hagan
Sunday Times
'Not since The Grass Arena has life on the street been catalogued with such candour... unforgettably moving... a gripping read.’
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
33 of 34 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is the biography of a person you've never heard of - a strange but compelling idea. Alexander Masters takes as his subject career criminal Stuart Shorter, and traces his development from grave to cradle, so to speak. In the process he highlights some of the ways that criminality escalates and proliferates: Stuart, a sometime heroin addict and surging muddle of violence, is a chaotic and difficult person, with serious convictions to his name (five years for raiding a post office, for example), but he emerges as a victim of the inadequate criminal justice system, of childhood trauma and of a neglectful educational system. In fact, Stuart, whom Masters paints warts and all, is oddly likeable. This makes the story of his ill-directed life a tragic one, and it's a powerful and timely story too. Moreover, Masters writes in a distinctive and intelligent way; he's not afraid to say things that fly in the face of political correctness, and he's not afraid to show his occasional disgust with Stuart's excesses, but this is a poignant and compassionate book, which deserves to reach a wide audience.
30 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Alexander Masters has written a very gripping biography - one that almost reads as a novel. An extraordinary friendship develops between Masters, a Cambridge academic, and Stuart, a chaotic, knife-wedding beggar, when the two of them are involved in a campaign to release two charity workers from prison. Masters relates Stuart's life backwards in an attempt to discover how a happy-go-lucky little boy turns into a polydrug-addicted-alcoholic Jekyll and Hyde personality.
Stuart: A Life Backwards not only makes the reader acutely aware of the failings of society but also sense the despair of those who try to make a difference. Masters intelligently and humorously portrays Stuart's life in such a way that one cannot help but like the ex-homeless, ex-junkie psychopath.
Having lived in Cambridge myself during the time of Masters's and Stuart's friendship, I am ashamed to admit that I was blissfully unaware of people like Stuart who made those same streets I walked along their home. For anyone who wishes to have their eyes opened, I highly recommend Stuart: A Life Backwards.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
For me “Stuart A life Backwards” was one of the literary highlights of 2005 and was the much deserved winner of the Guardian First Book Award. It is the story of a violent, anti-social drug addict with severe mental health problems, in many ways the ultimate anti-hero. Combining humour and tragedy in equal measure the writer Alexander Masters asks us to step back from our fear and distaste of Stuart (and others like him) and to consider the reasons for his dysfunctional behaviour.
What is most impressive about this book is that it seems so effortlessly written, while it also represents such an innovative approach to the biographical structure you wonder why all biography isn’t written this way.
It is starkly honest, funny and moving but masterfully avoids becoming just another worthy examination of one of society’s less fortunate. As a result its power to challenge your judgement of others is incredibly affecting.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
What a Life!
I know what to expect from this product, having already seen a DVD based on the book. I am looking forward to reading it.
It is thought provoking and instructive.
It is thought provoking and instructive.
Published 22 months ago by Mrs. H. Gore
Moving and original
An original take on the ups and downs of an extraordinary life, using the true story of one particular unfortunate individual, in all its various improbabilities, to highlight a... Read more
Published on 30 Jan 2006 by G. L. Haggett
Radio 4's presentation
I have not yet read Stuart : A Life Backwards but have been immensely impressed by Radio 4's readings from it (mostly by Masters himself). Read more
Published on 21 Jan 2006 by maggie
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