Product Description

A major new launch for the paperback edition of the most original, capitvating and award-winning memoir of the year. 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 backwards. With humour, compassion (and exasperation) Masters slowly works back through post-office heists, prison riots and the exact day Stuart discovered violence, to unfold the reasons why he changed from a happy-go-lucky little boy into a polydrug-addicted-alcoholic Jekyll and Hyde personality, with a fondness for what he called 'little strips of silver' (knives to you and me). Funny, despairing, brilliantly written and full of surprises: this is the most original and moving biography of recent years.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4830 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Review
From the reviews of Stuart: 'Unique and wonderful' Daily Mail 'This is a very rare and haunting book ! A great first book' Andrew O'Hagan 'Good books like this appear about once every five years. It's been years since I've been so delighted by a book and so surprised by it ! When I'd finished I felt bereft, as if I'd lost an old friend' Zadie Smith 'I feel so strongly about this strange, funny, sad book that I hardly know where to begin ! My enthusiasm feels almost limitless. A page-turner' Observer 'Funny and original, a startling book ! By the end I was doubled up in tears, but throughout I was often doubled up with laughter. It is dazzling' Vogue 'A remarkable biography. Unforgettably moving. A gripping read' Tim Lott, Sunday Times 'With his first book, Alexander Masters ! has achieved something remarkable. He has, without patronising, given a voice to the "underclass"; at the same time, without preaching, he shows us the value of even the most damaged of human lives ! a powerful book, humane, instructive and entirely original' Sunday Telegraph

Daily Mail
'Stuart Shorter bursts off every page of this extraordinary book'

Sunday Telegraph
'A moving, sad, witty book'

Customer Reviews

A truly outstanding, original book
Tne story of Stuart Shorter is the story of a person nobody wants to know- the homeless 'nutter', the beggar, the addict, the offender. Nobody that is, except, for reasons that aren't at first clear even to him, Alexander Masters, a hostel worker who stumbles across Stuart begging in Cambridge. Their relationship is unique in literature, one is an illiterate yob and the other is an ex-boarding-school pupil and do-gooder. Somehow they immediately connect and as their touching relationship unfolds and Stuart's life is rewound, you realise that this nutter is a truly amazing human being. His biographer brings him to life so brilliantly it is impossible not to howl (mentally at least) with laughter at their adventures at the Home Office, Stuart's incisive insights, and then at the agony of the inevitable tragedies. Brilliant, buy it, be moved and then wonder how much potential is in all those homeless 'scum' asking for change from downtrodden commuters on their way to and from work.

Important insight into an unknown and misunderstood world
If you pick up this book and read the many, many comments and rave reviews, you'll see that this book is a must read this year.

This is the story of Stuart, a chronic homeless man who from an early age has sniffed glue, done heroin, abused booze, been abused, been to prison... you name it and it probably has happened to him. It is almost as much a story about the author as it is about Stuart, detailing their relationship and the troubles Alexander Masters has putting Stuarts life down on paper.

And that is what makes this book worth a read - there are no clear answers, no solutions and no holds barred, just like in life itself. Stuart himself asked Alexander to write the book backwards, from his present life back to when he was a young boy and when he 'first discovered violence'. This could have been more effective if countless to-ing and fro-ing between the present and the past had been avioded but i think the author felt it important to convey the mixed up nature of Stuart's world.

If you want to open your mind and take in the account of one man who has had had a traumatic life and understandably has had difficulty coming to terms with what has happened to him, then this is your book. We see homeless people everyday but never stop to think about who they are and why they are there. We judge them instantly and avoid contact with them because they remind us of the dark side of society.

It's easier to think of homeless people as 'dangerous others' who desearve what they have got and could change their circumstances if they tried - Stuart will change this for you and put a real story and a real face to this group of unfortunate people.

Superb !
In my opinion this book is an absolute must read. It is a beautifully written, insightful, tragic and yet often humorous account of an dysfunctional life . The Authors reverse journey through the story of Stuart Shorter is one of the most compelling tales I have ever read. Within Twenty minutes of picking this book up I was hooked. At it's conclusion I cried. Brilliant !
I cannot recommend it highly enough.