I'm not sure characters can get any more cliche than the characters in The Last of the Savages. How many times have we heard this story? Poor but smart kid goes to prep school and then ivy league college and tries to forget his humble upbringing and fit in. Rich but nonconformist kid befriends him while rejecting his own upbringing. The two grow apart and yet remain friends. Oh, and it is set against the turbulent back drop of the 1960s/1970s. ( )

Patrick Keane and Will Savage come together by pure chance as they find themselves roommates at a New England boarding school in 1967. Different in many respects, Patrick from a somewhat ordinary background, a local scholarship boy; Will from a wealthy, privileged and notable Southern States family, yet with an affinity with black soul music and blacks.

The story, related by Patrick, spans thirty years of their unusual friendship. They have no doubt they are best friends, and keep in touch throughout Will's successes and near failures, and his turbulent life as a notable music producer while Patrick steadily climbs to great success as a lawyer. While the story is predominantly about Will, we gradually learn about Patrick too, and the secret he carries and has revealed to few.

While the story progresses more or less chronologically, it also regularly jumps back and forth, but it never confuses. Covering the period from the sixties to the nineties, it is as much a record of social change, of Southern attitudes and prejudices. The story is peppered with the names of the famous musicians of the period, giving it a sense of reality and an identity easy to related to. It is a story of family, of interracial love, but above all the story of a remarkable friend.

The Last of the Savages is beautifully written, there is drama, there is humour, but above all there is the overriding love and affection of a great and enduring friendship. ( )

This was kind of like a star-crossed frienemy book. Two kids meet in college and they are from different worlds. Problems ensue. Not bad, but nothing to shout about. ( )

Je ne m'en souviens absolument pas! Un livre sur le dernier d'une lignée, oui. Et après? J'ai oublié. Mais ça ne fait rien, Jay et moi, on est un vieux couple.

Very much enjoyed this book. It held my interest through to the end. ( )