I paused on Tuesday at lunchtime to read John Crace’s feature on Patrick Melrose and addiction, and within a beautifully swift seven minutes I had been taken seamlessly through the universal truths of all forms of addiction (Patrick Melrose and I are the lucky ones – we finally got help, 22 May).
I hesitate in equating the read to a narcotic-fuelled high, but in recovery terms (as a recovering addict/alcoholic myself) this wonderfully precise, cogent and razor-sharp piece articulated everything that is so critically important about the serialisation of Edward St Aubyn’s books.
I have heard some people asking: “Where is the relatability in this series? His mania isn’t real – he’s too posh.” And yet, as John Crace brilliantly observes, within the jaundiced and grandiose head of the addict, the surrounding world is precisely as dramatic, self-centred and in many ways as sickeningly coloured and stylised as this series suggests.
As I finished Crace’s article I had tears in my eyes at how simply and deftly he described the lot of the addict. It reminded me of a useful quote I once heard from an actor friend when he had hit his own rock bottom: “You see, old boy, the lot of the addict is not too dissimilar to the lot of the actor – we are both, it seems, the biggest pieces of shit at the centres of our very own universes.”
I doff my cap to Benedict Cumberbatch, who brilliantly navigates this contradictory lake of self-importance coupled with self-loathing. And thank you to John Crace for explaining perfectly why it is one of the most remarkable pieces of TV in recent years.
Mark Adderley
London
• The final paragraph of this article moved me to unexpected tears. John Crace, you are a fine and unique journalist reporting regularly, as you do, from the frontline of mental illness and without a trace of self-pity. My respect and gratitude for your plodding on will be echoed by many other readers. I hope a little of that love and appreciation may get through to you.
Maggie Winkworth
London
• John Crace, known to make me laugh out loud, has just quietly presented us with a literary masterpiece. Stunning.
John Airs
Liverpool
The government-run website talktofrank.com (0300 123 6600) offers free, confidential advice about drugs.
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