DDC/MDS
| 813.54 |
Publication
New York : Grove press, 1965.
Original publication date
1964
Description
Fiction. Literature. HTML:"An extraordinary achievement . . . a vision of hell so stern it cannot be chuckled or raged aside."�The New York Times Book Review A classic of postwar American literature, Last Exit to Brooklyn created shock waves upon its release in 1964 with its raw, vibrant language and startling revelations of New York City's underbelly. The prostitutes, drunks, addicts, and johns of Selby's Brooklyn are fierce and lonely creatures, desperately searching for a moment of transcendence amidst the decay and brutality of the waterfront�though none have any real hope of escape. Last Exit to Brooklyn offers a disturbing yet hauntingly sensitive portrayal of American life, and nearly fifty years after publication, it stands as a crucial and masterful work of modern fiction. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Hubert Selby Jr. including rare photos from the author's estate.… (more)
Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Media reviews
The problem with the subsequent notoriety of the book, and its status as a cause célèbre of British anti-censorship, is that this has overshadowed Last Exit itself – the visceral power of its prose and the profundity of Selby’s moral universe.
Selby’s narrative style, a form of typography
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that ‘would work as musical notation’ – a direct development of his love for classical music – dispensed with the conventional formalities of dialogue. Selby had a profound dislike of the simplistic and unrealistic ‘he said, she said’ device. Selby’s characters speak with an idiosyncratic flow. Each can be identified by their own rhythms of speech. The form and structure of dialogue is specific to the feel and flow of emotion that shapes each character’s inner life. Show Less
Newsweek
Scorching, unrelenting, pulsing.
Los Angeles Times
As dramatic and immediate as the click of a switchblade knife.
Saturday Review
Selby has an unerring instinct for honing our collapse into novels as glittering and as cutting as pure, black, jagged glass.
The Nation
Drops like a sledgehammer. Emotionally beaten, one leaves it a different person—slightly changed, educated by pain, as Goethe said.
User reviews
LibraryThing member LovingLit
This book is shocking. It describes the lives of a collection of Brooklyn residents in the 1960s and will leave you wondering how on earth anyone survived there at all with any semblance of sanity left. These are rough characters. On the one had I could talk about their actions as survival
This book was hard to read, but I kept going because of the post script by the author. I was about to abandon ship, the constant sadness and hardship and faithless violence was too much for me, so I read the post script as a farewell. And in it Selby talked about leaving his mark, contributing something to this world when he thought he had not much time left on this earth to do so. He wanted to leave his legacy, yes, but he also wanted the voices of the people in his neighbourhood to be heard. This is where the power of the book lies. Goodness only knows how many people live like the people in this book- scraping together money from anywhere for alcohol or drugs, fervently seeking validation from peers by being the toughest or the cruelest, desperately craving that buzz from impressing someone with your latest conquest/hairstyle/round of drinks, living in fear of having violated some rule of the neighbourhood and having the local thugs raining their fists and boots on you, the children locked in apartments while their parents yell and scream and worse at each other. It is not pretty, these lives are out there being lived, and my take is that Selby wanted to have their experiences documented. In their own way, all the people in the book are seeking happiness (companionship/acceptance/love). Their ability to find it is seriously hampered by the ways they go about it, and their complete lack of empathy for others.
The bigger chapter in the middle section of the book on the union leader unfolded spectacularly, and although I read it with foreboding, and the ending was not such a huge surprise, it took me to a place I couldn't have reached on my own. This guy was seriously damaged and had no concept of how he was seen by others, or how he was being used, or how he was using or abusing others. That lack of insight can (I suppose) explain the actions of a lot of the characters. As a sociological account it is incredible, as a reading experience it is difficult and upsetting.
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techniques in the 'eat or be eaten' atmosphere, or I could talk about their callous gleeful anger and infliction of violence upon each other. I think I'll talk about something different instead.This book was hard to read, but I kept going because of the post script by the author. I was about to abandon ship, the constant sadness and hardship and faithless violence was too much for me, so I read the post script as a farewell. And in it Selby talked about leaving his mark, contributing something to this world when he thought he had not much time left on this earth to do so. He wanted to leave his legacy, yes, but he also wanted the voices of the people in his neighbourhood to be heard. This is where the power of the book lies. Goodness only knows how many people live like the people in this book- scraping together money from anywhere for alcohol or drugs, fervently seeking validation from peers by being the toughest or the cruelest, desperately craving that buzz from impressing someone with your latest conquest/hairstyle/round of drinks, living in fear of having violated some rule of the neighbourhood and having the local thugs raining their fists and boots on you, the children locked in apartments while their parents yell and scream and worse at each other. It is not pretty, these lives are out there being lived, and my take is that Selby wanted to have their experiences documented. In their own way, all the people in the book are seeking happiness (companionship/acceptance/love). Their ability to find it is seriously hampered by the ways they go about it, and their complete lack of empathy for others.
The bigger chapter in the middle section of the book on the union leader unfolded spectacularly, and although I read it with foreboding, and the ending was not such a huge surprise, it took me to a place I couldn't have reached on my own. This guy was seriously damaged and had no concept of how he was seen by others, or how he was being used, or how he was using or abusing others. That lack of insight can (I suppose) explain the actions of a lot of the characters. As a sociological account it is incredible, as a reading experience it is difficult and upsetting.
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LibraryThing member Opinionated
Somehow I had never read Last Exit and it seemed time to do so. And Im glad I did but its hard to judge it so far removed from its original context. You can see why it shocked at the time it was written - but that power to shock has of course diminished with time and I'm left with mixed feelings as
The transvestite Georgette - and indeed all of the various transvestites that appear in the book - are very truthfully realised and the authenticity of some of these rarely heard, at the time, voices is one of the most powerful aspects of the book. The other is the disaffected union leader Harry, drawn like a moth to the flame of the transvestite Regina, to his eventual ruin - although the manner of his ultimate demise seemingly comes out of nowhere and seems out of character for him
The section featuring the teenage hooker Tralala is perhaps the most famous in the book, but for me its probably the least convincing. In his introduction Irvine Welsh describes Tralala as rejecting the love of a good man because she doesn't feel worthy of it. This is a good narrative - and I seem to remember the film starring Jennifer Jason Leigh took a similar angle - but I couldn't find anything in the book to support it. Tralala is disappointed that 4 days with her sailor ends with him offering a love letter rather than cash, and goes downhill from that point with the speed of a runaway locomotive. But why she does so is unclear. Why she lets her guard and her standards slip to such a point that the famous gang rape scene is simply a logical conclusion of her downward spiral, was to me anyway, unclear. I accept that she misses her chance of salvation - but rather than rejecting that salvation it seemed to me that she simply didn't notice it go by.
Another unsuccessful part of the book was, for me, the "coda" describing a day in the life of various characters in the projects. Here Selby shows that he is much more at home with white working class Irish American or Italian American voices. His African American character, Abe, is a cartoon stereotype that suggests not much interaction with real African Americans. In fact for a whole range of reasons the "coda" is an unsatisfactory way for the book to finish - much better to leave Harry broken on the sidewalk with his shattered dreams
In all a book well worth reading but more for historical context than enlightenment about today
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to whether or not the book is actually any good. One thing is certain - that the voices Selby speaks with are genuine - at least mostly so - but some of the characters are more successful than others. The transvestite Georgette - and indeed all of the various transvestites that appear in the book - are very truthfully realised and the authenticity of some of these rarely heard, at the time, voices is one of the most powerful aspects of the book. The other is the disaffected union leader Harry, drawn like a moth to the flame of the transvestite Regina, to his eventual ruin - although the manner of his ultimate demise seemingly comes out of nowhere and seems out of character for him
The section featuring the teenage hooker Tralala is perhaps the most famous in the book, but for me its probably the least convincing. In his introduction Irvine Welsh describes Tralala as rejecting the love of a good man because she doesn't feel worthy of it. This is a good narrative - and I seem to remember the film starring Jennifer Jason Leigh took a similar angle - but I couldn't find anything in the book to support it. Tralala is disappointed that 4 days with her sailor ends with him offering a love letter rather than cash, and goes downhill from that point with the speed of a runaway locomotive. But why she does so is unclear. Why she lets her guard and her standards slip to such a point that the famous gang rape scene is simply a logical conclusion of her downward spiral, was to me anyway, unclear. I accept that she misses her chance of salvation - but rather than rejecting that salvation it seemed to me that she simply didn't notice it go by.
Another unsuccessful part of the book was, for me, the "coda" describing a day in the life of various characters in the projects. Here Selby shows that he is much more at home with white working class Irish American or Italian American voices. His African American character, Abe, is a cartoon stereotype that suggests not much interaction with real African Americans. In fact for a whole range of reasons the "coda" is an unsatisfactory way for the book to finish - much better to leave Harry broken on the sidewalk with his shattered dreams
In all a book well worth reading but more for historical context than enlightenment about today
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LibraryThing member belljargurl
Not for the faint of heart. Hard to imagine this work was published over 40 years ago. Reading Last Exit left me feeling emotionally drained. The book depicts a group of vile low-life criminals, hookers, drag queens, dealers and addicts. It's a relentless journey into America's underbelly post
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WWII. The prose is raw, crude, hellish and dark. I'm not sure why I even kept reading. I did though. The second and third read years later allowed me to appreciate the fact that this was Selby's debut novel. Within Selby's nightmare is something beautiful and raw. If you haven't read any of his other works, read this one later. Show Less
LibraryThing member SqueakyChu
This is a raw and brutal set of stories about a group of people who lived lives centering on violence, sex, alcoholism, and drugs in 1960s Brooklyn, New York. The stories are self-contained although they have some characters who appear in more than one story. I would guess these were probably based
I started the book once quickly out of curiosity to see how long I’d last, but I soon restarted it to concentrate more deeply on each story as I found this book provocative and well-written. It had been praised by other authors such as Allen Ginsberg and Anthony Burgess. It packs a powerful punch, but it is not for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It is dark, misogynistic, depressing, and savage. The writing moves along at warp speed with each paragraph starting strangely at a random place and each paragraph containing multiple conversations lacking most punctuation. It is quite off-beat, colloquial and unusual in its grammatical form.
I was pretty amazed at this book. It was a slice of life in the seediest, most downtrodden parts of Brooklyn. Surprisingly, though, I found it easy to read.
The story I liked the best was called “Strike” and was about Harry Black, a leading union man, although a good-for-nothing otherwise, and the company who refused to cater to union demands unless Harry Black could be removed. This story seemed as if it went on forever, perhaps much like the length of time the workers were on strike.
In reading afterward about this novel, I learned that it was part of a genre called transgressive literature, along with such works as Vladimir Nabokov’s [Lolita], Chuck Palahniuk’s [Fight Club], Ryū Murakami’s [Almost Tranparent Blues] and Irvine Welch’s [Trainspotting]. As in those novels, [Last Exit From Brooklyn] might have had just a thin line separating its literarary value from obscenity...or was there a line at all?
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on people the author knew in his youth.I started the book once quickly out of curiosity to see how long I’d last, but I soon restarted it to concentrate more deeply on each story as I found this book provocative and well-written. It had been praised by other authors such as Allen Ginsberg and Anthony Burgess. It packs a powerful punch, but it is not for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It is dark, misogynistic, depressing, and savage. The writing moves along at warp speed with each paragraph starting strangely at a random place and each paragraph containing multiple conversations lacking most punctuation. It is quite off-beat, colloquial and unusual in its grammatical form.
I was pretty amazed at this book. It was a slice of life in the seediest, most downtrodden parts of Brooklyn. Surprisingly, though, I found it easy to read.
The story I liked the best was called “Strike” and was about Harry Black, a leading union man, although a good-for-nothing otherwise, and the company who refused to cater to union demands unless Harry Black could be removed. This story seemed as if it went on forever, perhaps much like the length of time the workers were on strike.
In reading afterward about this novel, I learned that it was part of a genre called transgressive literature, along with such works as Vladimir Nabokov’s [Lolita], Chuck Palahniuk’s [Fight Club], Ryū Murakami’s [Almost Tranparent Blues] and Irvine Welch’s [Trainspotting]. As in those novels, [Last Exit From Brooklyn] might have had just a thin line separating its literarary value from obscenity...or was there a line at all?
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LibraryThing member PERROT
Now that it is no longer controversial the only aspect to be considered is the quality of the writing. What quality? This is a badly written, interminable book with few saving graces-make that none.
LibraryThing member scottcholstad
This is without doubt one of my favorite novels of the so-called Accepted literary canon. I also think it's Selby's best work. Loved it a bunch, but I've always gone that way, whether it was Sandburg and his grim Chicago streets or John Fante in downtown LA or Bukowski on skid row and most of
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William Burroughs' early work, like Junky and Queer. Of course, there's the so-called "shock" factor. I guess academics (and I was one for many years) are a bunch of wussies then, because if they think this one is rough, there's much rougher out there and just for shock value alone, I invite anyone to read de Sade's Juliette. I read it in college and it blew my mind. The cool thing about that one is besides the sickness and perversion, de Sade goes into a great deal of philosophical thought/dialogue that should make many of the Enlightenment crowd pretty impressed. So twice the bang for your buck! Seriously, if anyone thinks this is too shocking (and they do), they've been sticking too closely with Jane Austen (whom I like), and ought to get their intellectual feet wet beyond the kiddie pool. Strongly recommended! Show Less
LibraryThing member wellreadcatlady
I enjoyed Last Exit to Brooklyn. It wasn't what I had expected, but I don't mind. I like how Hubert Selby writes, it took sometime getting use to, (again, it's been awhile since I've read him) but I caught on really fast. The stories are very intriguing and they don't really relate to each other
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but some of the characters are used in several and will mention something in a different plot in a different chapter. The stories focus on the struggles and dreams of people in Brooklyn. They are not you're everyday characters, many you would expect to dislike, but you feel their pain, understand them and want to see revenge to people who wrong them. It's an exciting book because the characters are so different. 3.5/5 Show Less
LibraryThing member stacey2112
I can't rate this. I can't read this. I acknowledge that the world holds brutality- the likes of which many of us have never known- and to pretend that it it doesn't does no favors to art or literature. However, to present ONLY the most brutal- or at the least heartless- of the actions of a given
Is it well written? The chapter with Georgette is well-done, clever - her sad persistent obsession with Vinnie believable & heart-breaking- the introduction of "The Raven" very effective. The 1st section, and the one about the baby seem pointless, contrived, and disposable. Got part way through Tralala & can't continue.
If you have ever actually suffered physical or emotional abuse, rape, sexual coercion or degradation to an extent that damaged you (wow, that sounds like a lot of us)...good luck reading this and not undoing years of therapy.
I'm giving this a right-down-the-middle 2.5, in an attempt to be fair & not judge soly on content.
Just because you CAN write something like this, does it mean you SHOULD? That's the ringing question I take away.
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population seems an omission of it's own. I like to believe that some men aren't douchebags, and some women have a modicum of self-respect...even among the downtrodden and desperate...I'm sure I'm missing the point, but this book made me physically ill.Is it well written? The chapter with Georgette is well-done, clever - her sad persistent obsession with Vinnie believable & heart-breaking- the introduction of "The Raven" very effective. The 1st section, and the one about the baby seem pointless, contrived, and disposable. Got part way through Tralala & can't continue.
If you have ever actually suffered physical or emotional abuse, rape, sexual coercion or degradation to an extent that damaged you (wow, that sounds like a lot of us)...good luck reading this and not undoing years of therapy.
I'm giving this a right-down-the-middle 2.5, in an attempt to be fair & not judge soly on content.
Just because you CAN write something like this, does it mean you SHOULD? That's the ringing question I take away.
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LibraryThing member defrog
Selby was a one-off, and I loved in particular his idiosyncratic use of punctuation (writing “don’t�Â? as âÂÂdon/tâÂ?, zum Beispiel). This was the first book I read by him and it was just amazing how much power his words packed.
LibraryThing member PamelaReads
Whoa, I still can't get over the honesty in these pages. A sordid side of American culture in the 50's, comprised of poverty, prostitution, alcoholism, drugs, sexual perversion - a far cry from Leave it to Beaver. This book must have had a lot of people up in arms with its publication. Not for the
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faint of heart, to be sure. Show Less
LibraryThing member astroantiquity
I liked this movie, although, I would have preferred Tra-lala's and Georgie's portions to be longer. I think Tra-la-la's rape scene is one of the most gruelling read I have had.
LibraryThing member hippietrail
Fresh, unputdownable, disturbing - even up to Selby/s use of the slash in place of the apostrophe and other orthographical oddities. I look forward to reading anything else by this author.
LibraryThing member Carlie
It seems like whenever I hear about the 1950s people tend to talk about how wholesome and pleasant it was. One would think that nothing untoward or degrading ever happened. We all know that isn't true, and if you don't believe me read Last Exit to Brooklyn. It is more than just a story about a
I've read some pretty rough, crude, scary stuff, but this one takes the cake. It has everything: neighborhood ruffians/criminals; cross-dressing, drug-addicted prostitutes; sluts; rapists; closet homosexuals that sink so low as to molest children; wife beaters; child neglectors. I mean, this book is really sick.
I wasn't sure I liked the book until the final part, the coda. When I began reading this, I finally understood the method to Selby's madness. This part is a day in the life of the projects. Moving from individual to individual and family to family, the reader meets, parts from, and re-meets people and sees their situations and circumstances. None of them are good. This book takes those wholesome images and shoves them right up the reader's ass, twists, and then leaves them there. Truly, you don't leave this book quite the same person.
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neighborhood in New York; hell, I wouldn't even call it a novel. It is more like a synopsis to impoverished, urban American culture in general. It is a string of interconnected characters moving tangentially yet chaotically out of control.I've read some pretty rough, crude, scary stuff, but this one takes the cake. It has everything: neighborhood ruffians/criminals; cross-dressing, drug-addicted prostitutes; sluts; rapists; closet homosexuals that sink so low as to molest children; wife beaters; child neglectors. I mean, this book is really sick.
I wasn't sure I liked the book until the final part, the coda. When I began reading this, I finally understood the method to Selby's madness. This part is a day in the life of the projects. Moving from individual to individual and family to family, the reader meets, parts from, and re-meets people and sees their situations and circumstances. None of them are good. This book takes those wholesome images and shoves them right up the reader's ass, twists, and then leaves them there. Truly, you don't leave this book quite the same person.
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LibraryThing member jimsnopes
Excellent Introduction by Anthony Burgess on the whole censorship / obscenity debate.
LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
Searing Short Stories of the cruelties of Urban life in the big city. All of them can be read with profit today.
LibraryThing member kirstiecat
Ok so...this book makes Raymond Carver look like a stand up comedian next to Hubert Selby Jr. It is grueling. The characters are all a little depraved and desperately flawed. Most of the time, they seem to possess no idea of just how frighteningly misguided they are. The men are all misogynistic
This book was banned for a time and tried for obscenity in British courts when it was initially sought to be published there (Selby is a NYer). It was the inspiration for Trainspotting (a novel I found far more complex politically and therefore more worthwhile) and the baseness of the characters definitely makes the two novels touch upon similar issues and levels. Much as Irvine Welsh does (and there is a forward from him in my copy of this book), Hubert Selby Jr. writes in the vernacular of the working-poor class characters so you can vividly sense their stream of consciousness and dialogue. You can actually hear them pretty easily as one does with Welsh's Trainspotting characters.
However, where Welsh succeeds, Selby seems to fail. Welsh presents a dose of realism but he also ties this in with politics in a way that looks at religion and history of Scotland vs. Ireland vs. England. This makes Trainspotting far more complex and successful on other levels. Selby shows a glimpse into a cruel world, which also becomes a document for a time when Brooklyn wasn't regentrified as well as when racism and homophobia was much more rampant. It wasn't a time in American history one can feel particularly proud of and I can't help but feel relieved I wasn't born during this time into a Brooklyn project because I doubt I'd really survive that (especially with any of these male characters as fathers).
But the problem I have with this novel is that I don't really get a deeper message from it. There aren't any solutions offered here and I just ended up feeling really depressed and angry. I'm not really one of those people that just wants to read happy books all the time. I like an intellectual challenge but I already know there are psychopaths in the world. I know there are men who beat their wives and children and even molest children. I am well aware that evil exists and that it's not exactly a new phenomenon, which leads me to wonder why I should rate this book any higher. I will say I thought the author's story was interesting-that he decided to become a writer after being diagnosed with a lung disease and given a poor prognosis (he outlived anyone's expectations). I also found it interesting that he studied or was mentored by Gil Sorrentino but I have to say that I found his afterward a little irritating...his assumption that he'd contributed and left the world something makes an assumption I'm not sure I'd agree with myself. But I'm sure if aliens were to find this novel as the only item left to explain the human race, they wouldn't regret destroying our planet for a second.
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sadists whose wives should run before they are raped and murdered with their unattended babies falling off of ledges. The men that do work are despicably lazy. These are the criminals and underworld druggies, wifebeaters, and transvestites that existed long before Brooklyn became the trendy indie rock scene it is today. This is the life in the projects and it seems quite real and graphic. The rage these characters feel is like glimpsing into the mind of a sociopath. This book was banned for a time and tried for obscenity in British courts when it was initially sought to be published there (Selby is a NYer). It was the inspiration for Trainspotting (a novel I found far more complex politically and therefore more worthwhile) and the baseness of the characters definitely makes the two novels touch upon similar issues and levels. Much as Irvine Welsh does (and there is a forward from him in my copy of this book), Hubert Selby Jr. writes in the vernacular of the working-poor class characters so you can vividly sense their stream of consciousness and dialogue. You can actually hear them pretty easily as one does with Welsh's Trainspotting characters.
However, where Welsh succeeds, Selby seems to fail. Welsh presents a dose of realism but he also ties this in with politics in a way that looks at religion and history of Scotland vs. Ireland vs. England. This makes Trainspotting far more complex and successful on other levels. Selby shows a glimpse into a cruel world, which also becomes a document for a time when Brooklyn wasn't regentrified as well as when racism and homophobia was much more rampant. It wasn't a time in American history one can feel particularly proud of and I can't help but feel relieved I wasn't born during this time into a Brooklyn project because I doubt I'd really survive that (especially with any of these male characters as fathers).
But the problem I have with this novel is that I don't really get a deeper message from it. There aren't any solutions offered here and I just ended up feeling really depressed and angry. I'm not really one of those people that just wants to read happy books all the time. I like an intellectual challenge but I already know there are psychopaths in the world. I know there are men who beat their wives and children and even molest children. I am well aware that evil exists and that it's not exactly a new phenomenon, which leads me to wonder why I should rate this book any higher. I will say I thought the author's story was interesting-that he decided to become a writer after being diagnosed with a lung disease and given a poor prognosis (he outlived anyone's expectations). I also found it interesting that he studied or was mentored by Gil Sorrentino but I have to say that I found his afterward a little irritating...his assumption that he'd contributed and left the world something makes an assumption I'm not sure I'd agree with myself. But I'm sure if aliens were to find this novel as the only item left to explain the human race, they wouldn't regret destroying our planet for a second.
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LibraryThing member rimbo90
A complete powerhouse which knocked me over and just would not let me get back up. Such a beautiful, memorable and harrowing book.
LibraryThing member wrichard
A while since I read this book which was tried for obscenity in the UK. But good all the same- a real slice of life.
LibraryThing member Acia
Unlike anything I had read before.
LibraryThing member ennuiprayer
I learned about this book after reading Requiem for a Dream. I loved that book so I checked this one, buying it actually.
Let's see, what I learned...what I learned....
Transgenders can be gold diggers as well? And prostitutes can be loved?
Let's see, what I learned...what I learned....
Transgenders can be gold diggers as well? And prostitutes can be loved?
LibraryThing member Sean191
This book is brutal. None of the characters are redeemable and it's so heavy handed with their development that I am only able to believe that Selby was being masochistic rather than artistic in his representation.
In comparison, Graham Greene's book, Brighton Beach, has some horrible characters,
In comparison, Graham Greene's book, Brighton Beach, has some horrible characters,
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but it's done more artfully. Show Less
LibraryThing member JWarren42
The book is fascinating. The main reason I only give three stars, though, is because it isn't properly a novel. It is, instead, a collection if short stories. The problem there is that I am not a fan of the short story form, especially if I came in wanting a novel.
That said, Georgette's story is
That said, Georgette's story is
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really moving and powerful to me. Certainly foundational lit for the LGBTQ movement as we now know it in literature, but not very shocking anymore. Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Physical description
311 p.; 18 cm
Local notes
"First edition" stated; dust jacket back has correct address (New York 3, NY.")