I think I'm more keen to watch the film, than talk in detail about Alexander Masters book called Stuart: A Life Backwards. I had never heard of the film, but it has both Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hardy in it, very good actors who can really make these characters work.
That's the problem I had with the book this week. It didn't really work well. Somehow Masters' way of telling the story is cold and distant, even though he was good friends with homeless guy Stuart Shorter. The book is a biographical tale of his life and childhood, only then told backwards from the moment of publication, so when Stuart is around 33 to when he was 0. Both Masters and Stuart have the feeling that it will explain his situation better, but it never actually gets that detailed. I feel this biography could have gone a lot deeper into Stuart's life.
The main problem is with how the book is built up. It goes from the present back to the past, but it would state in the chapter title "Meekness: Aged 20-24" (Masters 120). What you would expect of this chapter is that it describes these years, however on most occasions it would only be about when he was 20 and that for only a few pages. Then the next chapter would be about the present again. It's too short a book to really get into detail and to understand a 'chaotic' character like Stuart completely. Masters writes he has spend about three years with Stuart, unfortunately that doesn't show from the book and that's a pity.
Apart from that it's an entertaining read about the people we see everyday in life, but never take an opportunity to get to know.
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