Mother's Milk. Edward St. Aubyn

This is a very unique & explicit exploration of familial relationships which although dark & poisonous at times rings very true & hilariously funny thanks to the authentic voices of its characters. The author is incredibly attuned to feelings & is able to convey the inner workings of each characters mind with such astuteness that you feel they are sharing their deepest darkest secrets with you as their only confidente. It does end a little abruptly but given that it is such an original & entertaining read I did not hold it against the author ;o)

In his impressive novel SOME HOPE, St. Aubyn's shows a young Patrick Melrose trying to cope with the actions and legacy of his repellent and snobbish father. In MOTHER'S MILK, the sequel, St. Aubyn shows Patrick, now in his forties, trying to cope with two mothers--Eleanor, his own mother, who is lingering pathetically in a nursing home, and Mary, his wife and the mother of his two young sons. St. Aubyn has crafted these very different mothers so that they have equivalent effects on Patrick. Here, the young and middlle-aged Eleanor filled her life with altruistic pursuits, ignoring her son. In contrast, Mary's altruistic and all-consuming activity is motherhood, which once again leads to the abandonment of Patrick. In examining Patrick and these two mothers, St. Aubyn shows considerable skills as a stylist and novelist. The skills show to their best when a character is in contemplative mode--say, the frustrated and lonely Patrick drinking at the beach or Mary with a few precious moments to herself as her demanding younger son naps. This is what I mean: "She sometimes felt she was about to forget her own existence completely. She had to cry to reclaim herself. People who didn't understand thought that her tears were the product of a long suppressed and mundane catastrophe, her terminal exhaustion, her huge overdraft or her unfaithful husband, but they were in fact a crash course in the necessary egotism of someone who needed to get a self back in order to sacrifice it once again." At the same time, the ability to make such observations causes occasional lapses. These are most apparent in numerous conversations, unreal in their articulateness, or in the renderings of children and their profound awareness. In both cases, these read as if St. Aubyn just couldn't pass up making a brilliant or exquisite remark. These are lapses in discipline, not control, and turn St. Aubyn's articulateness against the quality of his work. Regardless, there is much pleasure to be found in this extremely well written novel.

One feels St. Aubyn could dive into a sewer, rummage around in the muck and emerge in a freshly pressed dinner suit with a boutonniere in bloom, smelling of cedar and roses and smiling like a shark. He creates believable characters from a once-priviliged family-in-decline and depicts the world-weary grittiness of the protagonist in crisp, elegant language with a style that is direct and light as a feather. Superbly crafted in the manner of the stories in his earlier book, "Some Hope."

Edward St. Aubyn's thin novel (235 pages) makes up in acidity for what it lacks in length. It's all about Patrick Melrose, an attorney in his early forties; his wife Mary; and their two precocious sons Robert and Thomas. The clever title has to do literally with Mary's actually breast-feeding both her sons but it also refers to Patrick's often strained relationship with his unraveling aged mother who gives away the family home in the South of France to a New Age guru Seamus Dourke. The author throws in some adultery, thoughts of assisted suicide, the plight of the institutionalized old people and dysfunctional families in general. The action takes place in four Augusts from 2000 to 2003. What is so exciting about this little novel is its very dry wit, seen most often in the character of Patrick. He calls his wife Mary and himself trainee parents. He opines that newborn babies "can't sweat, can't walk, can't talk, can't read, can't drive, can't sign a check." They are unlike horses who can stand a few hours after they are born. "'If horses went in for banking, they'd have a credit line by the end of the week.'" And sometimes a woman is just a woman "before you light her up." The author reserves his most biting satire, however, for these United States. Having lost the ancestral home in the South of France, the Melrose family travels to America. While their plane is still on the ground at Heathrow, they spot a woman "sagging at the knees under her own weight." Like many Americans, they are so fat that they have "decided to become their own air-bag systems in a dangerous world." Patrick says he will call himself an "'international tourist on the grounds that that was how President Bush pronounced 'international terrorist.'" Finally there is much ado about the awfulness of American cuisine. The Melroses discover that french fries are not called "freedom fries" on a menu. Patrick decides that is is probably easier to write "God Bless Our Troops" than to reprint the menus. At the Better Latte Than Never coffee shop the waiter tells Patrick to "have a great one!" He sees that as as "hyperinflation" of "have a nice day." Patrick then goes on a tear, suggesting "Have a blissful one." "'You all make sure you have an all-body orgasm,' he whispered in a Southern accent, 'and make it last.' Because you deserve it. . . In the end, there was only so much you could expect from a cup of coffee and an uneatable muffin." Goodness knows that American road food is an easy target for satire. We all can tell horror stories of inedible U. S. restaurant offerings. One has to wonder, however, if this writer has ever tasted victuals in his own country. The only decent food I ever ate in England was in an Indian restaurant.

This novel shows how pathetic and decadent a person can get. A doctor tries to avoid seeing patients by marrying a rich american woman. It shows a person who tortures his wife and child. He also treats his maid in pettiness. When not engaging in any such activity, he spends his time with addiction or with similar minded friends. Due to lack of good parenthood, his son grows up to be an addict with little happiness. The misery continues. After marrying, the son does not work. However, he is afraid of passing on the bad habits to his kid. His wife decides not to be similar to her mother and gives up on her husband to be a maid. The twist comes now. Trying to be too concerned with their kid, they make other mistakes. The father forgets to let the child play. The mother forgets to have something to do for herself. This excessive concern creates problems for the child. To top it, the father spends time in trying to regain his fortune. This and the kind of company he keeps actually reduces him substantially. This shows how bad neurosis can get in a family. The amazing thing is the wit and degree of attention shown on such people. This is a sparkling novel with great prose and morality. It is surprising how well the author has treated such characters.