Preview
  • Patrick Melrose: The Novels

  • Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope, Mother's Milk, and At Last
  • By: Edward St. Aubyn
  • Narrated by: Alex Jennings
  • Length: 27 hrs
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (604 ratings)

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Patrick Melrose: The Novels

By: Edward St. Aubyn
Narrated by: Alex Jennings
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Publisher's summary

COLLECTED INTO ONE VOLUME FOR THE FIRST TIME, ALL FIVE INSTALLMENTS OF EDWARD ST. AUBYN'S CELEBRATED PATRICK MELROSE NOVELS

Now a 5-Part Limited Event Series on Showtime, Starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Blythe Danner.

Edward St. Aubyn has penned one of the most acclaimed series of the decade with the Patrick Melrose Novels. Now you can listen to all five novels in one volume: Never Mind, Bad News, Mother's Milk, Some Hope, and At Last.

By turns harrowing and hilarious, this ambitious novel cycle dissects the English upper class. Edward St. Aubyn offers his listener the often darkly funny and self-loathing world of privilege as we follow Patrick Melrose's story of abuse, addiction, and recovery from the age of five into early middle age.

The Patrick Melrose Novels are "a memorable tour de force" (The New York Times Book Review) by one of "the most brilliant English novelists of his generation" (Alan Hollinghurst).

Praise for Patrick Melrose: The Novels:

"...at its best audio offers a complementary or overlapping experience to the actual book. For example Alex Jennings’s readings of the Patrick Melrose novels by Edward St Aubyn are sublime, a sustained performance that also allows the prose to breathe in its own right. And really funny." — The Guardian, quoting author Andy Miller

©2015 Edward St. Aubyn (P)2013 Pan Macmillan, LTD
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Critic reviews

“Stunning, sparkling fiction . . . Unforgettable.” —The Wall Street Journal

“One of the best fictional cycles in contemporary fiction.” —The Boston Globe

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What listeners say about Patrick Melrose: The Novels

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

What an Emotional Ride

I listened to these after watching Patrick Melrose adaptations by Benedict Cumberbatch. The adaptations are almost verbatim to the books. Since I had watched the shows first, it was really nice that listening to the books were the same.

These stories are heartbreaking and somewhat haunting for those that can relate to certain parts. Most of us cannot relate to being an aristocrat, but there are a lot of vulnerable parts people can relate to. These stories have stuck with me.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Harrowingly brilliant

A wrenching tale of human dysfunction and pain, exhilaratingly told. All the more tragic for its autobiographical origins...

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Just gets better & better

The life of the social people- they are struggling too in real,
unexpected ways l. This book delves deep into the private lives of the privileged- but not in a boring “better than you” way.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Darkly entertaining

This is a long book but I wish it was even longer! It is a really great collection.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Devastating but luminous

Tracks the arc of deep trauma emerging into self-awareness. These books are as real
as it gets—agonizing and hilarious (sarcasm being an effective coping strategy of course). The reader perfectly embodies the author’s inner life and struggles.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Extraordinary narration!

I am amazed - and amused - by Jennings' extraordinary skill as a narrator. He portrays the different voices (both real and imagined) so well I find myself laughing aloud. I have the print version which syncs with the Audible, but find myself preferring to listen (usually reserved only for walks) because it is so well done. I'm only on the second "novel" so I still have lots left to enjoy!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Funny, self loathing, and truly damaged characters

Excellent performance - Jennings really leaned into the irony and attitude in St. Aubyn’s prose. The book is beautifully written, with deep insights into the human condition - but it gets too dark… This depressing perspective of English privilege made me simultaneously feel schadenfreude and disgust.

You love to hate most of the characters (eg Nicholas Pratt) and get an articulation of substance abuse and sadness that I wouldn’t recommend for everyone - but overall, the beauty of the writing outweighed the self loathing, miserable characters that fill this interesting series.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Well written and performed, but such a slog!

I am not sure why I listened to the end of this 20-hour marathon about contemptible English snobs grappling with the psychological fallout of being raised by cold, cruel parents. I found it to be an ordeal. Glad it's over so I can move on to something else.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent!

Heartbreaking - all I can see and hear is the little boy that he was.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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unbearably moving

it’s difficult to describe in so few words how witty, compassionate, and insightful these books are. cannot possibly recommend highly enough

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