Well passed the last exit.

Last Exit to Brooklyn (1964).

A pastiche of degenerates congregate is Hubert Selby Jr.’s exhausting, terrifying and unashamedly honest portrayal of lower class New York circa 1950.

Littered with the likes of abusive husbands; negligent mothers; drug-addled drag-queens; prostitutes and aggressive alcoholics, Selby’s world is one which you must step into with caution. These are characters whose momentums consist of anger, lust and desperation. His characters are a Freudian dream, ruled by their unconscious extremes. Here the ego, and any sense of rationality has been demolished. In this sense, Selby’s book almost serves as a warning for what could happen if you ever let go of morality. Their accounts will leave you with a sense of pity, disgust and guilt resting uncomfortably in the pit of your stomach.

Yet the most unnerving part is something you may never want to admit aloud; you begin to draws parallels with yourself and the characters – perhaps not with their actions, but their motives and their feelings. Whether it is the frustration of the sickening Harry Black, or the desperation of attention-seeking Georgette; some nugget of repressed emotion is here unleashed, like a wild beast from a caged cell. The overwhelming familiarity, with even the nugget that initiates these actions, will become hard to swallow.

The quasi-novel is a series of stories from a group of characters all intrinsically linked on the web of their society. These stories needn’t be read consecutively because each section stands alone, with enough power to justify defining it as a short-story. However, I believe that Selby designed his book with a certain pattern in mind; the final section being the epitome of his grand scheme. The final pages are a climax (or aptly named Coda) for the imagination – a climax the reader must reach, like the lives they have become involved in.

If you’re easily bruised by the brutality of controversy, then I implore you – do not read this book. A book which left me riddled with unease when reading the final chapters on the First Class carriage of a Virgin Train. A book that has been prosecuted, banned and deemed obscene in its history of publication. A book written through the author's fear of imminent death. But Selby achieves something which every author aims for – a reaction. Physical, psychological and most importantly, unforgettable.