Edward St Aubyn's Heart of Darkenss

Very long plane ride yesterday gave me time to read uninterrupted for far longer than usual and fortunately I had w/ me The Patrick Melrose Novels, by Edward St Aubyn - a Picador collection of the first four volumes: I read all of volume one (Never Mind) and about half of volume 2 (Bad News - each of the 5 volumes has a similar 2-word title; none is memorable, but I admire the consistency). Volume one, Never Mind, is just a knock-out, though certainly not a novel for all tastes: It would be hard to think of a darker of more cynical novel than this one, an absolutely skewering portrait of the totally self-absorbed, narcissistic, malevolent British upper caste circa 1965. This novel or series of novels has often been called Proustian, but that's only because it's  set of novels that seems to capture lost time - I have no idea the extent of their autobiographical veracity but they have the feeling of a novelist telling of his extremely troubled youth and maturation - yet they're not Proustian at all in mood or structure: they're in an omniscient third person, with the POV shifting quite often among the six or so main characters; they have not at all the sense of the elusive nature of time and memory, rather they are like a series of photos of the past with high contrast and sharp edges; and there is none of the feeling of love and nostalgia for family members w/ all their foibles - though Proust at times can epater les aristocrats as well as any writer, St Aubyn gives him a run at that - and then some - without the romantic, nostalgic, aesthetic counter-tones. The most evil character is Patrick Melrose's father, David - a horrible man who has wasted his talents and lives off his (American) wife's $ and is a complete snob about every pointless aspect of upper-crust British life. He is also extremely sharp and dangerously funny: pink his her best color, he notes of his wife, it matches her eyes. St Aubyn is extremely funny as well: the Melrose family thought of using their $ to open a home for alcoholics: And in a sense, he writes, they succeeded. I won't go into details but the father horribly abuses the 5-year-old Patrick, and is completely cool and unconcerned about that - and no one can protect the poor child. Entire novel takes place in one day and involves only 8 characters, much like a classic drama. The 2nd volume, Bad News, begins 17 years later as Patrick receives news of his father's death - and embarks to NYC to deal w/ the details of funeral or cremation (we don't yet know why his father, now divorced, has left Britain). Patrick is now a very serious abuser of drugs and alcohol, and he absolutely despises his father, understandably. Is it any wonder that he carries in his jacket pocket a copy of Heart of Darkness? This volume is quite change in tone from the first, as it's more tightly focused on Patrick's POV and is largely a chronicle of his debauchery, at least through the first half. Still bitterly funny at times and despairing - but the fact that there are (at least) three sequels reassures us that Patrick will pull at least some parts of his life together. Not for all tasts, but quite an accomplishment, so far.