Edward St Aubyn: The Patrick Melrose novels; 3. Some Hope

And the saga continues. The elegant style continues to be as seductive as ever, only partially concealing the horrors and nastiness of the lives and personalities of the characters. Patrick is still central but unlike the last volume where he was virtually the sole character, here we meet again a number of people from other volumes as they all converge on a dinner party that very few actually want to attend. There is a marvellous central chapter which features Princess Margaret as the guest of honour which MUSt have been largely drawn form life/true experiences. She is well suited to the world of Patrick Melrose though - and I think that says it all!
Patrick is beginning to be a tad more sympathetic as there are signs of self-awareness.His first stumbling attempts to communicate (to a friend) what happened between him and his father are really moving and his pain is marvellously and delicately conveyed. As a character he is beginning to have some self-awareness - well, tbh, that's not wholly accurate; he always had a fairly considerable degree of self-awareness which was a significant element in his pain and consciousness of the nature of his life - if I have conveyed that as I intended; I am not at all sure I have. I may need to revsit this...
In addition he is starting to have a degree of understanding of his father - and of course these two elements of dawning awareness go hand in hand as they are intimately connected.
So, on to the next!