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Title: Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby Jr., Hubert, Jr. Selby, Hubert, Jr. Shelby ISBN: 1560252480 Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Press Pub. Date: 15 August, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.95
Rating: 5
Summary: An amazing, and sad, journey
Comment: If you were interested enough in the book to come to this page and read this review, chances are that you will like this book. The marvelous characters and shocking imagery propel the stories of each addict to it's shattering conclusion. Selby has somehow paced the book so perfectly that you can feel the natural degression of the characters until you are finished and then look back. It's amazing to see how they started and how they ended. By far my favorite parts dealt with the Sara Goldfarb character and her addiction to diet pills. Her chance to be on a television game show is so important to her that she loses sight of everything around her. As good as those parts were, that doesn't mean the passages about her son and his two friends equal dive isn't interesting. The book is simply fantastic, and instead of being a preachy "Don't do drugs" novel it is a heartfelt and harrowing look at a group of people who have been dealt a bad hand in life. I would not hesitate to reccommend this book to anyone.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Glimpse Into Hell
Comment: I, like some of the other Reviewers was immediately gripped with a desire to read this book after seeing Darren Aronofsky's film. I remember reading a review of the movie calling it the "Feelbad" experience of the year, well this book is a "FeelWorse". This is definitely one of the most powerful works of fiction I've ever read -it left me far more shell-shocked than the movie and even depressed for some time afterwards.
What struck me most of all was the light/darkness aspect of the storyline which pretty much mirrors the experience of using drugs or other stimulants. The first part of the book is generally upbeat with only some hints as to what beckons for our protagonists in the future. Indeed there are many moments of humour and Selby seems to promise some hope and happiness for Harry, Marion, Tyrone and Sarah which is partly why what eventually ensues is so utterly gut-wrenching. I was also struck by the religious overtones to this story, there are a couple of verses from scripture at the start of the book which I read and re-read trying to extract the real meaning, but which I now think are quite straightforward. The message seems to be that simple faith in God is a surer compass than any attempt by human beings to create Heaven on Earth or in Harry's case the quest for a pound of pure. I kept thinking over and over again of the commandment 'Thou shalt not have False Gods before me' while reading this book. Is Heroin not unlike the Golden Calf from the Old Testament? With all it's allure and false promises it seems to be just as appealing to mankind and equally as destructive.
I found myself on the point of tears on many occasions during the final odyssey into hell but was particularly moved by the passage where Marion prostitutes herself in return for drug-money. Arnold her shrink, is concerned by the tracks on her arms and scarcely wants to believe the reality of her condition.
She responds to his protests in a way that chills the blood; "Because it makes me feel whole...satisfied.".
This is all the more disturbing because she has already been presented as such an intelligent self-confident young woman who lacks for nothing. You realise that she has crossed that magic boundary into the world of self-delusion.
There is no brighter tomorrow for these characters, just the constant spiral towards destruction. This book will drive an icicle into your spine - I definitely recommend it.
Rating: 5
Summary: The most emotional and horrific book I've ever read
Comment: When I opened this book, the first of Selby's I've read, I was prepared to feel sad. But there is no word for the pain and emotion I felt when I'd finished it.
The story revolves around four characters: Sara Goldfarb, a desperately lonely widow who wants nothing more than to be on a television quiz show, her junkie son Harry, his girlfriend Marion, and his best friend Tyrone C. Love.
As Harry and his friends come up with a plan to become powerful heroin dealers, Sara, the most innocent and loveable pathetic character ever, becomes addicted to diet pills, the only way she can see to loose weight so she can fit in her red dress for the television.
Each character slowly begins to descend into the hell of addiction, and as they do the reader is subject to the most brutal passages of drug abuse and false hope found in literature.
If you're one who responds to emotions in a book or a movie, read this book. It will not be forgotten.
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Title: Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert, Jr. Selby ISBN: 0802131379 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: September, 1988 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title:Requiem for a Dream - Director's Cut ASIN: B00005Q4CS Publisher: Artisan Entertainment Pub. Date: 18 December, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $11.24 |
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Title: The Demon by Hubert, Jr. Selby ISBN: 0714525995 Publisher: Marion Boyars Publishers, Ltd. Pub. Date: August, 1994 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title:Requiem for a Dream (2000 Film) ASIN: B00004Y6Q5 Publisher: Nonesuch Pub. Date: 10 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $18.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $13.99 |
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Title: Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk ISBN: 0805062971 Publisher: Henry Holt (Paper) Pub. Date: October, 1999 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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