I had the pleasure of meeting Selby after I discovered this book and after he moved to L.A. I wouldn't suggest readers look for redemption in the vignettes, but accept that this level of Dickensian misery is always with us. It's timeless and mesmerizing.
I read that book in high school and it really rocked my world! The film is also very well done. Hard to watch, almost like you can't breathe through the whole film! Reading Selby's books taught me a lot about writing, and that there are no rules. Irvine Welsh and Cormac McCarthy also have that same type of writing style and I enjoy it.
Casandra Bullock Learning that there are no rules is critical - though knowing what people expect you to do and how to play with those expectations is also essential, at least to the way I write.
I read the book way back in 1971. Having grown up in Brooklyn, I can attest to the fact that the characters, dialog, setting, and outcomes are very realistic. To me, none of it was fiction at all. It was all a collection of unhappy but truthful life vignettes. So brutally true that this is why most libraries won't have it in their book shelves.
One of the greatest values of literature, I think - the ability to create compassion through putting us inside the minds of people utterly unlike ourselves. Thanks for the comment.
Yeah Last Exit to Brooklyn is definitely one of my favorites, just so honest and heartfelt and direct and beautiful. I feel safe reading it because the author doesn't seem like he's trying to put anything over on anybody, just coming as close to the truth as he can the way he sees it. Reminded me a lot of Death on the Installment Plan by Celine.
Excellent! Bravo! Thanks for the video. I'm a septuagenarian who read this book in college in the early 60's and having been raised in a peaceful small Midwestern town was astonished that some of the world was so brutal. I remember the book very well and must tell you the professor of the College was fired for making it required reading in his class! Uhmm? Well, that was Kansas at that time. The book was an awakening for me and somewhat prepared me for my time in Vietnam as the book is all about reality and being aware of your "real" surroundings. Since Selby's book I've been much better at seeing the world through the eyes of someone else, no matter how different. I'm really glad that someone as young as you is so well rounded and accepting of the flaws of the past. You are a breath of fresh air to those of us who tend to think the "young" do not appreciate what we went through. Best of luck!
Joseph Stokes Thanks so much for this. That’s an amazing set of memories to go with this books. It was recommended to me by a friend who’s a recovering addict. It really spoke to him as well.
Just finished reading it! It was so hard to get to grips with the unfamiliar style of writing at first but afterwards it got a little easier, I think it touches a lot of subjects like attitudes in relationships, violence, (sexual, physical, and verbal as you mentioned) although I actually credit Selby for portraying it in the way he did because otherwise I feel as readers, we would've lost touch to the raw, gritty nature of the book, but overall such an interesting and eye opening read!
love the book. first time I read it I was disgusted. But it drew me back so many times. The characters, the style of writing. If I could choose 1 book to rescue from burning house it would be last exit to brooklyn.
I finished this on Friday (and my edition looks exactly like yours, perhaps slightly more beaten-up, though!). I’ll admit to struggling with the first four stories, in which it felt like the author was struggling to locate a style. Then, with The Strike, it all seemed to gel and I enjoyed the rest of the book immensely. I came to it after reading his second novel The Room (1971) which I liked (I won’t say ‘enjoyed’) more and I would certainly recommend it. I think it takes a rare talent to write about repulsive subjects while keeping the reader engaged (and not in a prurient way). His construction of sentences is extraordinary. I’m now keen to explore the rest of his oeuvre.
Agreed. I was forcing My way through the 1st 3rd of the book but then it opened up and got better. It looked like he was just using word play to open up his creativity.
As a non-reader, your review was both colourful and informative for me, so thank you! I skim-watched the movie here on youtube which is a string of downers throughout with an especially disturbing last quarter. I wonder how you've survived the book. Kudos to you Kate!
Once I got over Selby's idiosyncratic style I very much enjoyed the stories, especially "Strike" and "Tralala". I really felt for the poor wife who is despised by a husband who is a closet gay, and for Tralala, who, in my mind, doesn't deserve such a horrible treatment.
Just finished it and it was definitely an interesting read. I’m actually from Brooklyn Bay ridge the area that Selby was from. The stories are supposed to take place in sunset park the neighborhood next to me. It’s very historical I felt. Bay ridge is no longer really like that but my uncles tell me it used to kind of be like that, with the drug infestation in the 70s. Selby’s portrayal of gay men I felt showed a lot about the attitude about male homosexuality back then. Thanks for the video
It’s not the author’s best work but it’s worth read , there are 6 stories in this novel which I find 2 or 3 of them were good and 1 or 2 stories couldn’t get the significance of them such as the 3rd one (baby makes it 3) i think in which actually nothing important or relevant happens .
I'm afraid to read it! I read Requiem for a Dream, which is another gritty novel by Selby, Jr. no happy endings here either. I watched the movie 20 years ago, and only remembered one heart-wrenching scene. I don't want to give it away, but it left its mark. I can't watch it again. Because I'm a fan, I may do so, but tread lightly, i.e. Read during the day. Thanks for the review
Thank you for the review of "last exit '. Writing crudely or using violence in a story is a very easy way to get a reaction from the reader. But. .. It takes subtilty and craftsmanship to get an emotion through great writing and compelling characters. I have only watched the movie " last exit " and found the film "dirty ". Ah well
I agree with you. But I do think this book does something interesting, and something that at the time was really new. Do you know the Virginia Woolf quote about Ulysses - that reading it was like watching an undergraduate squeezing his spots. And yet Ulysses is a great book. So violence and crude writing are not always a cop out - it depends on how it's done.
great job, Kate....you are indeed very sweet. The movie was brilliant with a stunning score from Mark Knopfler (all of which I am sure you are acutely aware..)….not a big fan of movies in general..but that one was an exception.
Hi Alexander - I've been away a while - but am planning to come back fairly soon. My book should be available second-hand for the moment and will be in print again soon. Thanks for your message.
Thank you for the illunating review. I'd like to suggest to your friend another masterpiece from around the same period, A FAN'S NOTES, by EDMUND EXLEY.
So this book has it all to cement its "cult" status: bible quotes in combination with taboo subjects such as violence, sexuality and addiction, glorifying reviews, plus an actual court trial to prove its literary merit. The Author has been compared to the likes of Dickens for authentically portraying the blue collar every day lives. Yet I disagree. None the characters have a single redeeming quality to them and are only interested in satisfying their primitive desires for money, sex and alcohol/drugs. They beat their spouses, treat their children as inconveniences, relish in violence and crime. Yes, the characters come from socially and economically difficult backgrounds. However, I refuse to believe that it equals to utter inability for any sort of genuine love or connection (even for own children), complete lack of motivation to do or be better and an absolute absence of empathy. In my opinion, instead of capturing the "realness" the author went to an extreme of only showing the worse. In this book I did not find a comprehensive study of blue collar lives with its good and ugly, but just a cardboard version of it.
Perhaps the men of the time did not MEAN that no woman WOULD read the book. Perhaps what they meant was that they wanted to PROTECT women from it. After all, we see how nasty women are these days in modern society (just pull up any clip from the 'women's march' 2016 or 2017). We see that actually having women chose their own fate we have made a tragic (possibly civilization ending) mistake.
