Stuart : A Life Backwards
by Alexander Masters
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Read in May, 2007
So all of the praise on the jacket seems to involve people falling over themselves. Not that there's anything wrong with that. And not that I don't get it. It's just that, well... it's not that kind of a book. Stuart is a homeless guy... except he's not, when we meet him. Who's mentally ill... except he's doing okay, when we meet him. Who's been in prison countless times. Who the system failed... except it didn't, because somebody who wasn't himself had to get him out of that parking gara...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
Everyone
This biography tells the life story of Stuart Shorter, a homeless knife wielding nutter, from the present back to his childhood, to explain how he went from being a happy go lucky little boy to a homeless drug addict. I loved this book, but read it with a sense of foreboding, knowing that it was going to go back to some horrible events in his childhood , and it does. The book jumps back and forth quite a bit, some of it is funny as Stuart tells of his various stints in prisons all over England, ...more
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Read in February, 2008
'I feel like I've lost a friend' This comment by Zadie Smith is scrawled across the back of my copy of 'Stuart: A Life Backwards'. I know exactly how she feels. Indeed upon finishing this biography I feel that I've almost lost two friends - both Stuart Shorter, the man whose life is being explored, and Alexander Masters, his biographer and our guide.
This book is both immensely funny, and intensely sad. It made me giggle out loud, and it made tears trickle down my cheeks. I both adored Stuart ...more
This book is both immensely funny, and intensely sad. It made me giggle out loud, and it made tears trickle down my cheeks. I both adored Stuart ...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommended to Bookmaniac70 by:
JPix
It was an unusual book. The phenomenon of homelessness has been always a mystery to me;I have been always asking myself how it happens,is it only poverty or something else; why people used to living in the streets,cannot return their lives to normal even if given the opportunity? The book says a lot about all these things but also,it doesn`t and can`t answer all the questions.
First of all,"Stuart" is a precious document of a human life. It is also a valuable document on how homele...more
First of all,"Stuart" is a precious document of a human life. It is also a valuable document on how homele...more
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Read in February, 2008
recommended to Jessie by:
no one.recommends it for: noo one, yet.
i just started this book at work today. i don't have a solid opinion about the narrative yet, but i'm sort of intrigued by the concept. the author wrote the story of a schizophrenic junkie he met while he was Christmas shopping and the man was begging for change. they became fast friends, and the author decided to write a story about his life.
the homeless man, stuart, was bored by the story the author came up with. he wanted something more "tom clancy"-esque, more exciting. in res...more
the homeless man, stuart, was bored by the story the author came up with. he wanted something more "tom clancy"-esque, more exciting. in res...more
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recommends it for:
literally everyone
This is a highly original and captivating memoir which has captured the hearts of readers everywhere. "Stuart, A Life Backwards", is the story of a remarkable friendship between a reclusive writer and illustrator ('a middle class scum ponce, if you want to be honest about it, Alexander') and a chaotic, knife-wielding beggar whom he gets to know during a campaign to release two charity workers from prison. Interwoven into this, is Stuart's confession: the story of his life, told backwar...more
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Read in February, 2006
Here in UK, despite good social benefit, you still could find homeless. Clearly, poverty is not the main issue here, since government provides housing benefit for the poor and charities also offers cheap hostel and temporary accommodation. Alexander Master enlightens us with Stuart Shorter biography why UK social benefit system sometimes fails to help the vulnerable and the poor. Stuart, a handicap, had already being let down by “the system” since he was a child. No wonder, he grew up mistru...more
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
everyone
I read this in two days. I loved the humorous approach to a difficult subject, but perhaps it was easier to understand in that it takes place in England, not in America.
Stuart has a larger than life presence and the biographer has normal human responses to Stuart, and doesn't gloss him up and make him appear less trying or annoying. There is a tenderness regarding his subject, but Alexander Masters maintains his humor and frustration throughout, lending a more realistic approach to the subje...more
Stuart has a larger than life presence and the biographer has normal human responses to Stuart, and doesn't gloss him up and make him appear less trying or annoying. There is a tenderness regarding his subject, but Alexander Masters maintains his humor and frustration throughout, lending a more realistic approach to the subje...more
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Very sad, but very funny in places too. How the author managed to pull together a coherent story out of this 'chaotic' homeless person's life is some achievement - though apparently it was Stuart's suggestion that he started with 'now' and went 'backwards'. It works. What's most touching about this book is the genuine but unlikely friendship they developed. You find yourself rooting for Stuart, but also screaming in frustration. Makes you think about the darker things you would rather pretend di...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in December, 2007
recommended to Molly by:
Book club selectionrecommends it for: I don't think I'd recommend it
Ugh. I don't know what to say about this book. It's tragic, but the style in which it is written (backwards, if didn't guess from the title) really did not work for me with this story. You learn too much bad from the man before you understand the reasons from childhood. It was hard to get over what he had become and feel for him. That said, I guess that is how we meet and get to know everyone in life, so it is probably a lesson for me to be more open to people who I can't seem to understand...more
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Read in November, 2007
I was really looking forward to this book and thought I'd love it off-the-charts. I did enjoy it, but I felt like the author left a few loose ends here and there. The whole telling the story backwards thing was good as an idea, but I'm not sure that he totally pulled it off - there was jumping forward and back that was a bit confusing. The loose ends bit is what really did me in at times - he'd mention something so interesting and then never come back to it and fully explain it! Other than t...more
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Read in July, 2007
This book is a backwards biography of a homeless man. It is an attempt by the author to explain how or why a person could become homeless and why a person would stay that way. Somewhat a downer and a little slow but an interesting look at a way of life you hopefully never have to see first hand. May give you a different look at people who are less fortunate than yourself.
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Read in March, 2007
I had been eyeing this book on the shelf for a long time before i finally purchased it. I knew i should have gotten it sooner the moment i read the epilogue. I'm not entirely sure if the book is actually a biography (which it claims to be), or a fictional story about someone, but all the same, it's a great book. Stuart is one of the best characters i have ever come across.
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Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
Not Too Sure
This book has a great point to it...but I find it hard to focus on. It seems to have no climax or main theme other than the life of a man who went from being abused as a child to being homeless as an adult. Most of the dialogue is the conversation between Stuart and the author Alexander Masters. Ok read, but I find it could have been done much better. A bit dull.
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Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
anyone
Great book! I loved it. Not the happiest of books, but it really captures the voice of Stuart, and shows how intelligent people can be so self abusive and end up homeless. Very moving, especially the relationship between the author and Stuart, you want to know more about both by the end. Makes you want to get involved with charity stuff too.
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this book starts with a homeless man and goes backwards to see how he got to where he is today. interspersed are bits from his life at the time of writing. pretty sad, makes you think of how all kinds of ppl end up the way they are--there are always complicated reasons, and it usually seems that society could do more for everyone.
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Read in January, 2007
The book is based on the untimely death of Stuart Shorter in 2002. The story is told from death to birth in amazing detail. It is a book based on friendship, struggle, illness, drug addiction and affection. I am not sure I would have picked it had I not heard an interview with the author on NPR a year or so ago.
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This book is truly brilliant. This book is true story and if it fails to move you, you must be made of stone. A charity worker forms a friendship with the title character, Stuart, a chaotic homeless man, and decides to help him tell the story of his life. This book was recently made into a film for the BBC.
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
nobody
It's very very rare that I will start a book and not finish it, but this is one of those books. I just couldn't get into it. The narrator's voice is kind of engaging, but I was bored to tears reading this and finally just gave up.
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"Some minutes were long, other minutes were short. Sometimes I was in the park, sometimes I wasn't. Sometimes I was in a cell, sometimes I wasn't. Sometimes, which were supposed to be weeks and months- I don't think they happened at all."
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