Stuart is homeless. Does that mean we can understand who and what he's been through because we've read Oliver Twist? Alexander wants to encapsulate him making their friendship a struggle, and as fascinating to read as it is informative. Stuart can teach the welfare and legal system a thing or two. Absolutely brilliant!

This is a wonderful biography, as much about the writer as the eponymous Stuart. Touching, moving, sad, funny, thought provoking. You'll end up feeling a bit angry for one reason or another but still inspired by this account of a life lived by someone seemingly at the bottom of society but with the ability to teach us all valuable lessons.

There is not a lot I can say about this book that has not already been said by other people except to say that it is the only book that I have ever finished with tears streaming down my face! At the beginning of the book i really disliked Stuart but as I got further through the book I was drawn to his character and what had happened in his life to make him the way he was. I would recommend this book to anyone who has ever looked down on a homeless person - you don't known what caused them to be in that situation.

I purchased this book after watching its dramatisation on the television. Despite the subject matter, the programme had made me laugh out loud throughout and I became curious about the book.Reading reviews of this shortly after the programme aired, I found a number that appeared as if the reviewers had not actually read the book, only watched the programme, of which they were very critical. How strange I thought. In my experience adaptations of books are often lacking, due to time restrictions and scheduling, so to judge a book solely on this, seemed, in my opinion, a little unfair.The book sat on my bedside table for a good few months, because of other commitments. Picking it up, I tried to remind myself why I had wanted to read it. Stuart was, to be frank, the type of person I would cross the street to avoid; homeless, alcoholic, drug addict, violent, self harmer, a thief, psychopathic. He can reel off the names of all the prisons he has been in on request, tell you the best way to get into prison and the best way to get out of prison, the best way to steal a car, oh and once he dangled his baby son out of a window.Stuart and the author Alexander Masters became friends during a campaign to release two charity workers Ruth Wyner and John Brock, from prison. Together they would talk to groups about the campaign, what had happened and what needed to be done to fee the pair. Then Stuart would talk about his life.Alexander agrees to write Stuarts biography and after two years work, Stuart is shown a draft which he immediately pronounces to be 'bollocks boring'. He's after a bestseller 'like what Tom Clancy writes.'Stuart suggests that the book be written backwards.In this way, both author and reader discover what has led Stuart's life to turn out the way it has. It is a disturbing tale. Is Stuart's behaviour excusable because of what has happened to him, I am not sure. Is Stuart's behaviour understandable because of what happened to him - absolutely.Touching, engaging, thought provoking and very very funny - I loved this book.

Stuart Shorter , the subject of this deeply moving and humane biography has live a very troubled and disturbed life. The lives of people such as Stuart rarely enter our consciesness unless as lurid headlines in the papers but scratch the surface and you find real people with real feelings and emotions. This is essential reading for anyone who has ever walked by a homelss person on the streets.