Hailed in Britain as "devastating," "inspirational" ("Saturday Telegraph"), "heartbreaking" ("Saturday Telegraph Magazine") and "hilarious" ("The Spectator"), Masters presents the tragic yet honest story of a boy whose life left the rails early and just kept going.

Reviews

This biography reads like a mystery novel, which is just what its subject, Stuart Shorter, wanted. When homeless advocate Masters discovered ex-con Shorter drunk on the Cambridge streets, he rose to the challenge Shorter threw him: "What murdered the boy I was?" As Masters travels back through Stuart's past, he provides clues for the reader; as in a good mystery novel, these clues are not obvious but neatly masked by all the false leads and dead ends of Stuart's life: the overdoses, prison stays, and crimes of rage that over time exasperate even his dedicated biographer. The book's subplot, which deals with whether two charity workers will be freed from jail for committing the "crime" of running a homeless shelter where drug transactions took place, also spurs the reader to turn pages. Best of all is the language-contemporary, eclectic, creative, and so humorous that it helps soften the shock of learning what it's like to lead the kind of life Stuart has led. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries.-Maria Kochis, California State Univ. Lib., Sacramento Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

The British antihero of this moving biography started with teenage glue-sniffing, petty thievery and gang brawls, then graduated to heroin and major thievery. He endured prison stints and led a "medieval existence" on the streets, finally emerging into triumphant semistability as an "ex-homeless, ex-junkie psychopath" with only occasional episodes of violence and suicidal impulses. In Cambridge, England, Masters, an advocate for the homeless, befriended Stuart-someone for whom "cause and effect are not connected in the usual way"-and found him at times obnoxious and repellent, but also funny and honest. Masters notes bad genes and childhood sexual molestation, and critiques "the System" of British welfare and criminal justice institutions that help with one hand and brutalize with the other, but he doesn't reduce Stuart's intractable problems to simple dysfunction or societal neglect. By eschewing easy answers (the easy answers-don't drink, don't use, don't steal, don't play with knives-are precisely the hardest for Stuart), he accords full humanity to Stuart's stumbling efforts to grapple with his demons. Hilarious and clear-eyed, the author's superbly drawn portrait of Stuart is an unforgettable literary evocation and a small masterpiece of moral empathy and imagination. Photos. (June 6) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

"Remarkable.... a harrowing and humane portrait of an extraordinary individual ...without a shred of sentimentality or cant."--Michiko Kakutani," The New York Times"
"A quirky, affecting book."--"People
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"Compelling .... Stuart is hilarious. He's a witty and dramatic raconteur with a profane Cockney voice, a charismatic gleam and a gift for relating the most horrifying events -- things done both to him and by him -- without excuse or self-pity.... Stuart's determination to live a life grounded in some principle deserves our attention. Listen to this man. Look him in the eye."--"Los Angeles Times Book Review"
"This is my pick so far as best memoir of the year.... [Masters'] sketch of Stuart is informative and heartbreaking, funny and at times brutally honest.... describing a genuine friendship."--Margo Hammond, "St. Petersburg Times
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"Compelling .... Stuart is hilarious. He's a witty and dramatic raconteur with a profane Cockney voice, a charismatic gleam and a gift for relating the most horrifying events--things done both to him and by him-- without excuse or self-pity.... Stuart's determination to live a life grounded in some principle deserves our attention. Listen to this man. Look him in the eye."--"Los Angeles Times Book Review"
"Achieves a perfect balance of empathy and comedy. The real attraction, however, is Stuart's own voice.... His life resists easy explanation, which makes Masters's patient attention to its concrete details all the more affecting."--"The New Yorker
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"The year's most surprising and charming biography."--"Entertainment Weekly," EW Pick
"Poignantly entertaining."--"Elle Magazine"
"Hilarious and clear-eyed, theauthor's superbly drawn portrait of Stuart is an unforgettable literary evocation and a small masterpiece of moral empathy and imagination."--"Publishers Weekly," starred review
"Possibly the best biography I have ever read. Just about perfect." --Mark Haddon, author of "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"
"Raw, disturbing, and unsettling but also revelatory and life-affirming ... A must-read book that is warmly funny, deeply moving, and utterly extraordinary. "--"Booklist," starred review

"From the Hardcover edition."