Pretty used going. Oddly got better towards the end.

Clever. Funny. Humane. Philosophical. Erudite.

Meh. I really liked the writing in the Patrick Melrose novels, but nothing I’ve read of St Aubyn’s since has been as trenchant or as resonant.

Wiiiiildly pretentious. Sentences waxing philosophic that lead to paragraphs of just a couple sentences. I rarely struggle with comprehension but like???? Girl. At points I think it was intentional, when in the voice of someone with schizophrenia experiencing delusions or a CEO who had just done coke, but those moments didn’t stand out because the whole book sounds like that. It’s hardly a novel, just collections of unedited thought. “While proper scientists defended true methodology by pouring boiling oil and dropping rocks on the besieging horses of pseudo scientists, with their diets and their herbs, their acupuncture needles and their Ayurvedic spices, their meditation practices and yoga positions, it turned out that some parts of the citadel they were defending were rotten by their own ‘double blind’ standards.”

Also the thee-part division felt entirely random, just that the author didn’t want to write those sections of time.
Also why does Lucy end up with Hunter?? Like she has no interest in him but suddenly he likes her so she just happens to like him back?? Felt soooo icky. Very much written by a man. Same with Hope coming on to Francis.

Redeeming factor is that the character connections (Olivia-Sebastian) were unexpected.

I only finished this because it was the only physical book I had with me and not because I enjoyed it. The moment I finished it I walked into a charity shop and shoved it into a shelf.

3.9 stars. I enjoyed the story, the prose was light and interesting. This would have been more than 4 stars if it weren't for the very abrupt ending, which left me feeling like the story was ultimately incomplete. I felt like there was no closure on any of the characters, there was a build to a climax but the climax didn't actually happen. Listened to it on audiobook, which was enjoyable.

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