Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4740 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-01
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

The Observer, Paperback of the Week
'...this strange, sad and terribly funny book, in all its explanation-defying chaos, can't help but appeal...compulsory reading.'

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

Sunday Telegraph
'A moving, sad, witty book'

Customer Reviews

A Life Backwards
I purchased this book after watching its dramatisation on the television. Despite the subject matter, the programme had made me laugh out loud throughout and I became curious about the book.

Reading reviews of this shortly after the programme aired, I found a number that appeared as if the reviewers had not actually read the book, only watched the programme, of which they were very critical. How strange I thought. In my experience adaptations of books are often lacking, due to time restrictions and scheduling, so to judge a book solely on this, seemed, in my opinion, a little unfair.

The book sat on my bedside table for a good few months, because of other commitments. Picking it up, I tried to remind myself why I had wanted to read it. Stuart was, to be quite frank, the type of person I would cross the street to avoid; homeless, alcoholic, drug addict, violent, self harmer, a thief, psychopathic. He can reel off the names of all the prisons he has been in on request, tell you the best way to get into prison and the best way to get out of prison, the best way to steal a car, oh and once he dangled his baby son out of a window.

Stuart and the author Alexander Masters became friends during a campaign to release two charity workers Ruth Wyner and John Brock, from prison. Together they would talk to groups about the campaign, what had happened and what needed to be done to fee the pair. Then Stuart would talk about his life.

Alexander agrees to write Stuarts biography and after two years work, Stuart is shown a draft which he immediately pronounces to be 'bollocks boring'. He's after a bestseller `like what Tom Clancy writes.'

Stuart suggests that the book be written backwards.

In this way, both author and reader discover what has led Stuart's life to turn out the way it has. It is a disturbing tale. Is Stuart's behaviour excusable because of what has happened to him, I am not sure. Is Stuart's behaviour understandable because of what happened to him - absolutely.

Touching, engaging, thought provoking and very very funny - I loved this book.

Not as b*llocks boring as Stuart first thought!
Stuart himself wanted this book to be '...something what people will read..." something with more humour and not "...b*llocks boring."
This is where I think a few reviewers have misunderstood the humour in Stuart's life. Alexander, despite his and Stu's many differences, was very close to Stuart and therefore saw the humour in some of his situations - "Stuart liked his TV. He has thrown it at the wall twice and it still works."
The dry humour amuses you and then the realisation of how unfortunate a given situation is hits you, which in my opinion gets the message across much better than a doom and gloom written book.
Again, sleeping rough, Deaf Rob steals Deaf Jackie's hearing aid to stop her leaving him and whilst the visual that Masters describes is amusing...you can't get away from the underlying message of insecurities and neediness that the characters have - just the same as the rest of us!

Of course serious issues like abuse, drugs, violence and homelessness aren't funny in themselves but people who live with everyday 'problems' such as a family member who has a disability or a mental illness often can find humour in some of their loved ones behaviour. Humour is a very human trait to get us through difficult patches otherwise we'd all be in a constant depression.

I think there was actually a good mix of humour and poignancy, the latter often at the end of a chapter to make you think.

As we travel further back in Stuart's life it's bound to be more unpleasant as it involves him being a child and we don't like reading about nasty or unjust things happening to children...but it's really well written and I thought the minimalistic use of photographs also had the effect I think the author was hoping for. Especially the one before the epilogue, of Stuart and Gavvy when they were very young - so normal looking and happy, lovely little children with their lives ahead of them.

For all the praise I've given it I did find it hard going some of the time...mainly the first half of the book...not harrowing or anything just a bit tedious. I found myself re-reading pages and if asked to review it half way through would probably have given it a 2-3 star rating simply for the idea. However it got better as we read more and more about Stuart and his past and I found him witty, honest and actually full of common sense.

It's so easy for people to walk by on the other side when it comes to the misfits in our society but reading this would surely make the hardest among us think again.

Simply outstanding.
Stuart the man was clearly intelligent and witty, and all his potential was torn away by the appalling circumstances of his life.

Stuart the book is funny and touching, a humane account of a man no one wants to understand. Those giving poor reviews must have been reading a different book.