#8 Mother's Milk, by Edward St Aubyn

 



Booker Prize: 2006 Shortlisted

Plot Time and Place: London, years 2000 to 2003

Opening sentence:  "Why had they pretended to kill him when he was born?"

Plot summary:  Once again, the Melrose family is in peril. Patrick, the husband, who has been sexually abandoned by his wife in favour of motherhood, and who has a problematic relationship with his self-centered mother; Mary, who is consumed both by her children and by an overwhelming desire not to repeat the mistakes of her own mother.

(from thebookerprizes.com)

Review: This novel is a sequel to the author's trilogy, "Some Hope", and I think it is better understood and appreciated if you read the whole thing. It's funny, realistic, cynical, sad and smart. Not a happy read, but it is very realistic.

Rating: 3/5



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