Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby , Jr. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I finally picked up this oft-mentioned book; what I got was a bombastic descent into the brittle, cruel world of the working man’s life in Brooklyn during the late 50s. Selby teases you at first, makes you think you’ll be spared heartache with snapshots of the grief and turmoil of the lonely, overpopulated existence each character struggles with by writing short vignettes. The tale of Harry hits you around page 100 and holds on almost to the end…the end of a world where sex is an act of violence, power, and anything but love, where it doesn’t matter that everyone is from the same place, because everyone is just a rat on a sinking ship. Selby does not shy from the lack of morality in his characters, rather, he ironically hints at each one’s failing with a Biblical quote prior to his story. It is a world represented by moral decay, public prejudice and the aching, unfulfilled need for acceptance that propels action. The book is hypnotizing and painful all at once, where hell is not a threat, but a reality.
