Customer Reviews
Overblown, overhyped, clique ridden dross. - By: Fiona Jameson, 07 Jun 2008 
Sorry but this is definitely a literary case of the 'Emperors new clothes' It is clear from early on that the author knows nothing of the world he tries to speak of,in addition there is a very clear right wing manifesto. A trade unionist who is stupid, corrupt & a drunk, cheats on his wife with a transvestite & ends up molesting a child! Becausein the authors world 'all queers molest children'. The characters are 2d cut outs, the violence against women is neither thought provoking nor necessary. A thoroughly pathetic & simplistic attempt to portray people & lifestyles that the author has no clue about. If this is classic literature American style, it explains an awful lot.
Save your money, there are many better books on Amazon to spend your money on.
To be alive is enough - By: Chas, 05 Mar 2008 
Put simply, the barrier between art & life has never been as thin as it isin this book. How thin? The breadth of the printed page.
"Last Exit" a masterpiece by a problematic writer - By: gary shooter, 10 Jul 2007 "Last Exit to Brooklyn" is undeniably considered Selby's masterpiece by most literary critics, towering over the rest of his literary output. "Last Exit", I think, embodies both the strengths & weaknesses of Selby's literary imagination. Now that the lawsuits & controversy are over, it's time for a measured approach. This is a very polyphonic novel & it achieves its greatest aesthetic moments when it plays off its own contrapuntal interweaving.(The movie of "Last Exit" unfortunately decided to jettison the contrapuntal element of the book.) Selby is,in my opinion, at his best when he combines his humanity with his perception of human & social degradation. "Last Exit" is his only book that fully manages to marry the two, although "Requiem for a Dream" comes close. There is, however, the suspicion that he is,in effect, a literary voyeur who gets off on degradation & violence. Indeed, the critics Alex Comfort & Wayne Burns used to single out "Last Exit to Brooklyn" as an example of what they called the "bloodshot novel"(i.e., the literary stylization & eroticization of violence). Comfort & Burns were not big fans of Selby or this novel. Critics can talk about Selby's "morality" all they want, but there is clearly that elementin Selby's literary imagination. In his lesser fiction, Selby could not seem to break free of his fascination with degradation & violence. "The Demon" is an almost commercial fiction about a psychopath. And what is "the Waiting List" but "the Demon" revisited on a lower social scale? "The Room" is an odd(and oft-times silly) marriage of the Marquis de Sade with stream-of-consciousness technique. At times one suspects Selby is enslaved to the let's-shock-mom-and-dad syndrome. While I am fascinated by Selby's writing, he is, for me, a problematic writer. He is too limitedin focus to be a truly great writer. Jane Austen could take extremely limited social & psychological concerns & turn them into true works of art. Selby just does not have the aesthetic (or human) reach to become, let's say, a Celine. Selby can also be a very sloppy writer at timesin ways that his eccentric literary style does not always cover(witness parts of "the Demon" & "Song of the Silent Snow"). Although some case can be made for "Requiem for a Dream", I think Selby's literary achievement rests on "Last Exit to Brooklyn." If you are to read one book by Selby, this is it. It embodies a true sense of the humanity behind his portraits of degradation & it is his greatest accomplishment at interweaving various literary strands into a satisfying aesthetic whole(something he would never quite do again). Allen Ginsberg was enthusiastic about this novel & it is useful to read it as an offshoot of the beat era & movement. Selby was also connected somewhat to the Black Mountain school of writing(Olson, Creeley, Duncan, etc.). One could profitably read Selby's style bothin this novel & elsewhere as an extension of the Black Mountain school's concern with "breath" as it relates to the literary line. Anthony Burgess's suggestion of a Dos Passos influence should also be taken into consideration. "Last Exit to Brooklyn" has,in effect, gone into the language. It is a problematic masterpiece, but it is a masterpiece. Any consideration of Selby's literary achievement, such as it is, has to begin here. - Greg Cameron, BA, MA. Surrey, B.C., Canada
Shocking stuff! - By: , 14 Jul 2004 
I read that the author of this book was a recovering drug addict. Well I think he must have been on drugs when writing 'Last Exit.." This is because it takes a while to understand his way of writing & the language being used, & it is difficult to see which character is saying what. Even though I got the hang of this way of writing the deeper I got into the novel, it took me that little bit longer to finish it.
What makes me award this novel with 3 stars is that it was so incredibly haunting due to the events that occurin each of the characters lives. In particularly the characters of Tralala & Georgette are interesting,in the way that they stickin your mind for days after reading about them due to their horrifying experiences.
Overall, a memorable & decent read. Its one of those books that wasn't exactly amazing but had Selby's desired effect on the reader - shock & disbelief.
the first book to make me feel physically sick - amazing - By: , 19 Jun 2004 An amazingly written book, which isin a style so completely original it makes Selby stand out as an amazing author. The story of desperately lonely transvestite Gearogette left me feeling physically sick, although this does not sound like a good thing it shows just how powerful the stories are & how lifelike they become through Selby's writing. This is the type of book that wil stay with the reader long after they have finished it. Hubert Selby's death earlier this year will leave a great loss so i recomend to everyone to read the stunning novels he left behind.
