I feel a little bad for not liking this more. Its complete chaos a real 'shaggy dog' story as they say and it seems like something you should read at a quick pace but i've been in a bit of a rut lately so it went very slowly.

It is quite funny but there's also some really messed up stuff going on which can be a bit jarring. Also the main character is an author so he's constantly fictionalizing whats happening around him, usually coming up with some idea of whats going on that turns out to be completely wrong, add to that several characters who lie persistently.

After a while it felt like a british Thomas Pynchon novel or at least something like the Big Lebowski . Its quite filmic, which is normally a compliment but in this case it feels like it might actually work better on film than in book form. Although i can't imagine anyone willing to make something with a schoolgirl like in this :P . She was quite a problem for me but don't worry i don't think... it gets.. too creepy, your mileage may vary ;) . She's as uncertain as everything in this book, aged somewhere between 12 and 28.

Given the style of writing, which is almost meta, probably one of those books enjoyed more by other authors than casual readers. ( )

From THE MOST VALUABLE PRESENT I HAVE EVER BEEN GIVEN Guardian 05.03.11

'...... the book I give away most frequently is probably One Last Mad Embrace, by Jack Trevor Story (Reinkarnation), once the Guardian's favourite and funniest columnist. Although The Trouble with Harry and Live Now, Pay Later are better known (and almost as funny), I believe Embrace to be his masterpiece, skilfully blending the real life of an impoverished movie writer with a hilariously fast-paced plot. It's impossible to tell where autobiography ends and invention begins, but it's safe to say that the more absurd and incredible the anecdote the more likely it is to derive from Story's own life. For some reason, books about lower middle-class or working-class life rarely stay in print, but Story's books have enough enthusiasts to be regularly reprinted and are pictures of an almost forgotten world of the 1950s and 60s.' reviewed by Michael Moorcock