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| Stuart: A Life Backwards (Stranger Than...) | 
 enlarge | Author: Alexander Masters
Publisher: HarperPerennial
Category: Book
List Price: £5.99
Buy Used: £1.45
You Save: £4.54 (76%)
New (3) from £2.40
Avg. Customer Rating:  41 reviews
Sales Rank: 163604
Media: Paperback
Edition: (Reissue)
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 0.9
ISBN: 0007241771
EAN: 9780007241774
ASIN: 0007241771
Publication Date: February 5, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 36 more reviews...
 If time could go backwards for Stuart... September 2, 2008
... and if it were possible against the very impossibility of such an occurrence, I would have loved to change the epilogue of this book. Not just the epilogue, but so much else in between. And not because it's a badly written book, just the opposite. I believe that the author was able to capture the very essence of his friend Stuart Shorter and at the same time convey a strong message about the vulnerability of the innocent. It is a book about a man who suffered greatly throughout his life and as a result ended up on the streets.
What Alexander Masters extrapolates from Stuart is a remarkable, incredible tale of a life lived on the edge at all times. Sometimes a river of words flow out of him. Sometimes they elude him (especially when recounting the worst parts of his life). But the author manages to get to the bottom of most of it and the reading is harrowing. And yet, despite all his terrible sufferings, drug abuse and physical problems, during some passages Stuart's humour got to me. Brief insights about life. One for all (on the mysteries of washing-machines): "I mean, you put ten socks in the machine and only seven come out, where DO they go?...And I'll tell you another thing, if you take the machine apart they ain't inside it neither." (how true!). To see that despite everything he is still able to smile conveys such... sweetness. Unfortunately, it is soon obliterated by other terrible details of his life. Still, I hope that opening up with the author after the initial reservations was somewhat therapeutic for Stuart.
The book structure is original, dotted by drawings, writings and some pictures. Stuart's voice comes out strong. The author often closes a chapter with a new, revealing detail and a compelling need to find out more. This quickly leads the reader to the next chapter.
Frustration and outrage over some details and circumstances made me swallow twice but I am glad I have read this book and made the acquaintance of Stuart Shorter. Books like these are eye-openers and rattle consciences.
"Alexander, sort it out - you're the writer. I just done the living.". A quote from page zero, which really touched me.
 Should be in every school August 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When I was at school in the 90s homelessness was a rather trendy topic and the drama club were forever putting on wincingly awful plays about living in 'Cardboard City'. (Yes, it was as horrific as it sounds.)
That experience put me off thinking about the homeless in any great detail since, so I can only thank Alexander Masters for doing such a wonderful, wonderful job of making me care. Because we should, shouldn't we?
Just one other thing - someone mentioned that Stuart's dialogue was not 'street' enough and a bit too Guardian reader. As a former linguist and professional writer, I thought it was fantastic (and could prove why if this was that kind of forum). As were the drawings!
Don't listen to them, Alex - you've written a genuine classic.
A Life Backwards July 24, 2008
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! June 24, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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. May 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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.
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