What an interesting way to write a biography. Begin at the end and end where it all began. I don't normally read books of this nature but I was drawn in by the reverse concept. It was well constructed, it made me interested in Stuart from the beginning wanting to read to the end to understand what made his life turn out the way it had, made all the more poignant when I read about an incident I had remembered being in the news. Discovering the human story behind a headline made an enlightening read. ( )

One of those books which opens your eyes and mind to what it must be like to live outside "the system" - I'd recommend it to anyone who ever wondered how someone could end-up homeless and especially to people who are blinkered into thinking everyone has the same views and opportunities in the world. ( )

I rushed out and bought this as soon as I saw the drama on TV (I only wish it had been the other way round). Fantastic book, really funny and really sad at the same time. The way it's written is very clever and perfect for the story. I like the way that the book is as much about Stuart's character as it is about his life. I enjoyed the references to Cambridge too as it's a city I'm very familiar with, and everytime I go there I wonder if I'm walking amoungst his friends. ( )

Stuart, the focus of Alexander Masters' book, is as enigmatic and polarizing as real people tend to get. There is a reason that Masters introduces us to Stuart now, rather than beginning at the childhood that spawned this creature.

Stuart is akin to a horrific train wreck that you can not tear your eyes away from; he is scary and depressing, repulsive and untantalizing, yet somehow silumtaneously mesmerizing and endearing. You wouldn't want to share an elevator or a dark alley with this character, but you might somehow find yourself compelled to do so anyway. Not only to hear the outlandish tales of the chaos that Stuart has both wrought and endured, but for the occasionally glimpses of the wise and witty soul buried beneath layers of abuse, neglect, and self-loathing.

Masters takes the reader backwards through Stuart's life, exposing events as the occurred, then revealing events that laid the groundwork prior to them. Like an archeologist peeling back layer after layer of cultural sediment and fossilized civilizations, Masters removes the grimy layers of Stuart one anecdote at a time. By the time you reach the core of such a being, the young child faced with emotionally crippling systematic abuse, you can feel pity for the man's origins, but you still might not be able to bring yourself to forgive him for what that child has begun. That's probably how Stuart would like it.

Forwards or backwards, Stuart's life is an engrossing story worth reading. But reading it backwards, believe it or not, tends to make more sense. ( )

Now this is a book that changed my life. Anybody that is remotely interested in funny, tragic biographies that have true literary qualities can read this. It's about a homeless man, Stuart, in Oxford, England. He tells his story to the author and they become great friends. Stuart, to say the least, is a very, very special person. ( )