A life backwards is a biography by alexander masters of his friend stuart. The main characters of this non fiction, biography story are. It was a british tv movie based on a popular but not widely known book. The story is written in reverse by doing so alexander gains an insight into how stuart s life became so chaotic and out of control.
I catch myself, and the eyes of one or two others, searching for a section of the pavement with which we might want to become familiar. A life backwards is that it leaves you feeling thoroughly ashamed of your own cynicism and thoroughly infuriated buttingly so. Mar 04, 2006 stuarts story is not the worst i have come across nor can it alone represent all the individual narratives of rough sleepers on our streets. If it wasnt for stuarts full disclosure and willingness to share his life story, there would be no stuart, a life backwards. Telling the story backwards was s tuart shorter spent his late teens and adult life alternating between the streets and prison with occasional, mostly short lived, forays into accommodation. A life backwards, is a masterpiece and probably influences my rating here but i think this adaptation for the bbc captures all the elements of the story extremely well. A life backwards, by alexander masters, a portrait of a.
Stuart, a life backwards is both touching and funny. I feel so strongly about this strange, funny, sad book that i hardly. However, formatting rules can vary widely between applications and fields of interest or study. Stuart a life backwards download ebook pdf, epub, tuebl. A backwards life revealed in stuart alexander masters spent five years working in hostels for the homeless. A writer takes a backwards look at the life of his unlikely friend stuart, a homeless alcoholic who experienced a traumatic event in his childhood. This brilliant biography, winner of the guardian first book award, presents a humbling portrait of homeless life, and is as extraordinary and unexpected as the man. A life backwards from the worlds largest community of readers. Thanks to stuart shorter we get a glimpse into his life experiences, struggles, and thoughts as a mentally unstable, homeless. Utc notethe book apparently won the the whitbread book oftheyear award in 2005 for biography.
Gerard odonovan describes how a memoir about a homeless alcoholic, stuart. A life backwards by alexander masters harpercollins. A life backwards in this extraordinary book, alexander masters has created a moving portrait of a troubled man, an unlikely friendship, and a desperate world few ever see. A life backwards with benedict cumberbatch, tom hardy, nicola duffett, clairelouise cordwell. A life backwards, it may prevent the health service from contributing to further marginalisation of the already marginalised. A life backwards is a remarkable account of a free fall into the state that british social workers label chaotic homelessness. In this extraordinary book, alexander masters has created a.
A life backwards by alexander masters librarything. 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, knifewielding beggar whom he gets to know during a campaign to release two charity workers from prison. Whether youve loved the book or not, if you give your honest and detailed thoughts then people will find new books that are right for them. Alexander masters masters has created a moving portrait of a troubled man, an unlikely friendship, and a desperate world few ever see.
With a keen writers eye, a gift for narrative and a friendship that lasted only four years, masters recounts the life of stuart clive shorter whose untimely death in 2002 inspired this work. Other readers will always be interested in your opinion of the books youve read. In this remarkable book, a masterful act of biographical restoration, alexander masters retraces stuart s troubled journey. This makes the book more difficult to follow than it could have been but does serve to reinforce the way stuart feels about his life.
A life backwards, was adapted for television and asks if screen versions of our favourite books can ever live up to our. Through the pale tesco stripes of his supermarket bag i can see the. Alongside this alexander looks backwards over stuart s adult life and childhood to try and discover what went wrong with his life. A life backwards, by alexander masters the new york. In a life backwards, stuart gradually takes the author alexander masters and the reader back in time and shows how his life experiences as a child and young adult shaped him into becoming the person that alexander sees which is. A life backwards is a biography by alexander masters of his friend stuart clive shorter, formerly, at various times, a prisoner and a career criminal. Jan 02, 2006 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, knifewielding beggar whom he gets to know during a campaign to release two charity workers from prison. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading stuart. Wed love you to buy this book, and hope you find this page convenient in locating a place of purchase. A life back wards is, roughly, the life of stuart shorter from the time he was thirtyfour going backwards through his homeless stretches, his prison terms, adolescence, to boyhood. I feel so strongly about this strange, funny, sad book that i hardly know where to begin. A life backwards is, roughly, the life of stuart shorter from the time he was thirtyfour going backwards through his homeless stretches, his. My only regret or concern is that at the end of the book i was surprised to see that alexander masters did not thank stuart shorter for providing the material for this book. It also is a life backwards in the sense of a life that never should have been that way.
A life backwards, by alexander masters, a portrait of a homeless man. We are looking among the concrete slabs for the outline of a home. In a life backwards, stuart gradually takes the author alexander masters and the reader back in time and shows how his life experiences as a child and young adult shaped him into becoming the person that alexander sees which is an unstable adult who eventually looses his life. The first edition of the novel was published in 2005, and was written by alexander masters. However, if every medical professional read stuart. A deliciously evocation story of a childhood in 1960s suburban england from one of the uks bestloved and bestselling food writers, nigel slater.
He led, as he said, a very controversial, unpleasant life. A life backwards is a film about human diversity and the things we all share. Stuart was homeless, with many of the problems this subsection of english society display. The book was published in multiple languages including english, consists of 300 pages and is available in hardcover format. A life backwards tells one of the hundreds of thousands of untold stories of the discarded, disregarded, and forgotten of our society. Welcome,you are looking at books for reading, the stuart a life backwards, you will able to read or download in pdf or epub books and notice some of author may have lock the live reading for some of country. He exemplifies the so called chaotic homeless people, who are on the streets because, curiously, it is the only place where they can manage. A whodunit journey back in time, it begins with masters meeting a drunken stuart. And a lot has gone wrong with stuart s life, from gluesniffing, to drug addiction and alcoholism, from minor crime to car theft, robbery, violence and possible charges of attempted murder. A life backwards by alexander masters in djvu, epub, fb2 download e book. In this extraordinary book, alexander masters has created a moving portrait. A life backwards kindle edition by alexander masters.
In this extraordinary book, alexander masters has created a moving portrait of a troubled man, an unlikely friendship, and a. A life backwards, by alexander masters, a portrait of a homeless man stuart clive shorter, the subject of this remarkable biography, was a homeless man whom alexander masters, a former. A life backwards was a 2007 bbc film based on the award winning biography, penned by alexander masters, of stuart clive shorter a homeless man living on the streets of cambridge in the year 2000. The concept of writing the life story backwards is a great idea actually coming from stuart but it does result in the timeline of his life becoming very chaotic as time jumps forwards and backwards. He was studying for an msc degree in mathematics with the open university, and working as an assistant at a hostel for the homeless in cambridge, when he wrote his first book. All content included on our site, such as text, images, digital downloads and other, is the property of its content suppliers and protected by us and international laws.
Click download or read online button to get stuart a life backw ards book now. A life backwards is a remarkable account of a free fall into the. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. A life backwards is a rare, droll, moving film that grows to understand the maddening complexity of life and subsequent near hopelessness in trying to find the factors behind someones life. In this extraordinary book, alexander masters has created a moving portrait of a troubled man, an unlikely friendship. Toast is nigel slaters truly extraordinary story of william atkinss journey took him across the threshold between town and city. A life backwards by alexander masters and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. However, the story has more than enough heart to overcome any production limitations on this film.
Click download or read online button to get stuart a life backwards book now. A life backwards was universally loved by the reading groups stuart does not like the manuscript. A life backwards is the story of an extraordinary friendship between a reclusive writer and illustrator and a chaotic, knifewielding beggar whom he gets to know during a campaign to release two charity workers from prison. Well, i guess i should start at the beginning which, of course, is actually the end of stuart s story. This site is like a library, use search box in the widget to get ebook that you want. In this remarkable book, a masterful act of biographical restoration, alexander masters retraces stuarts troubled journey. A life backwards by alexander masters is an honest and gripping look at the often untold life of a homeless alcoholic excon. In this extraordinary book, alexander masters presents a moving portrait of a troubled man, an unlikely friendship, and the.
A life backwards, the new book by alexander masters, deserves every accolade that can be awarded. Yet the stuart depicted in this book was also a man with a fierce sense of justice and honor a. A life backwards is that it leaves you feeling thoroughly ashamed of your own cynicism and thoroughly infuriated buttingly so by that of other. It explores how a young boy, somewhat disabled from birth, became mentally unstable, criminal and violent, living homeless on the streets of cambridge. Stuart s story is not the worst i have come across nor can it alone represent all the individual narratives of rough sleepers on our streets. This stage adaptation of the awardwinning book about one homeless mans chaotic life and what it taught the author is faithful to the originals. A life backwards 1st harper perennial edition by alexander masters isbn. A life backwards isbn 0007200374, the biography of stuart shorter. A life backwards does not have much going for it to make it popular. Therefore it need a free signup process to obtain the book. Stuart shorters brief life was one of turmoil and chaos. As the title of both book and film suggests, the book took the unusual approach of detailing stuart s life from his adult life down through to his childhood.
A life backwards, by alexander masters, a portrait. Yet the stuart depicted in this book was also a man with a fierce sense of justice and. Stuart, the focus of alexander masters book, is as enigmatic and polarizing as real people tend to get. Digital rights management drm the publisher has supplied this book in encrypted form, which means that you need to install free software in order to unlock and read it. But, at the same time, according to stuart s weird sense of etiquette on such subjects, only one son in a family is allowed to kill himself, else it puts too much strain on the parents, and his brother, gavvy, like jacob in the old testament, has stolen stuart s birthright. The acting in this film is lead almost exclusively by tom hardy and benedict cumberbatch. With benedict cumberbatch, tom hardy, nicola duffett, clairelouise cordwell. Stuart shorter spent his late teens and adult life alternating between the streets and prison with occasional, mostly short lived, forays into accommodation. May 29, 2007 shocking, inspiring, and hilarious by turns, stuart. Some of the very best of tom hardy in his role as stuart shorter in the 2007 true life drama based on the best selling book by alexander masters, stuart. Masters is able to show us the real person behind the homeless and chaotic life and he does so in a way that the story reads somewhat like a thriller with clues being thrown out gradually until the whole picture becomes clear. As alexander gets to know stuart more he asks him if he can write his life story, it is stuart who suggests the story be written backwards. Stuart a life backwards download ebook pdf, epub, tuebl, mobi. Shocking, inspiring, and hilarious by turns, stuart.
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