206743
9780802131379
"It is inconceivable that anyone will read [this book] twice over. Readers who don't have copperlined stomachs will have trouble getting through it even once. It is rude, powerful gut-writing. There may be protest in the background, even a buried point of view, but it is submerged between waves of shockingly bestial detail. Most of the narrative elements in the stories cannot be mentioned in what one still thinks of as decent company; and as for consecutive thought and critical perspective, they are as much out of place as they would be in the presence of a skunk. The book's major effort is clearly to nauseate--and I am not saying this to attack it. On the contrary, it is a terribly effective book...At any rate, for the moment, Mr. Selby has written a sickeningly good book, from which I am happy to have escaped."Selby, Hubert, Jr. is the author of 'Last Exit to Brooklyn', published 1994 under ISBN 9780802131379 and ISBN 0802131379.
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