Some Hope: A Triology by Edward St. Aubyn

It's hard to say why I loved this book so much. I recommend it highly. It takes the reader right to hell, but I could never turn away. I didn't want to turn away. There's not a false note in it and there are monsters galore. This is where I most appreciated Prose's comments about the pressure that young writers are under (I refer not to St. Aubyn) to write characters who one can identify with from editors. That is the way to sell in writing Hollywood and, as publishing becomes more like Hollywood, the same pressure is put on novelists. What you can't help admitting about the vast majority of these books is that they are filled misfits, syncophants and sociopaths. I am interested in them. As Prose said, that's the only thing that's necessary.