The One with At Last

249. Title & Author: At Last by Edward St. Aubyn (266 pages)

Genre: Fiction—Novel 

Completed: 25 February 2013 

Summary & Review: 

On the day of his mother’s funeral, Patrick Melrose encounters family members, family friends, and others who force him to confront his trouble past and his complicated relationship with his now deceased mother. Throughout the course of the day, Patrick finally comes to terms with the new freedom his mother’s death offers him and experiences a sense of peace that has so long evaded him. 

I probably did myself a disservice by reading this book, the fifth of five novels in the Patrick Melrose series, first. It seemed as though this novel served to tie up and resolve stories and issues that had built up in the four previous books. Oh, well. The family at the center of this book reminded me of the Bluth family in the television series Arrested Development, but less funny. It is a formerly wealthy family that is now only rich with dysfunction and drama. Patrick Melrose was an interesting character with a lot of depth, but also offered a humorous release at times. 

All the events in this book, aside from flashbacks, take place over the course of just a single day. Obviously, plot development was not the point of this novel. Rather, the strength of this book came from St. Aubyn’s beautiful prose. He wrote almost poetically with wit and insight. However, the lack of real development in the story left me a little unfulfilled.

Rating: 6.0