Review from a Transgressive Fiction Fan
Rare is the book that leaves me so disoriented and raw-nerved. When I finished this I sat slack-jawed for a minute letting my cigarette burn out and trying to fix my mind on something/anything. This is an excruciatingly penetrating vision of the total dregs; a narrative of self-delusion, rough trade, addiction and thanatos thanatos thanatos. Selby, Jr. never seems to slant toward exploitation or pulp and strangely enough, in spite of the godawful hopeless hate-filled suckers that populate his writing, seems to have some sort of very real and desperate heart. I didn’t like the characters (you can’t) but oh god did I want to stop with the beating into senselessness, I really really wanted them to claw out some bitty iota of self-awareness, life-force, something/anything. Do I sound like some dumbfuck blurb or what? Whatever. Read this.
“Insightful” Review from a Mainstream Reader
Lacks authenticity, much of it is poorly written, stereotypical, sensationalist… what can I say. I didn’t like it. Had it not caught the end of the censorship witch-hunt it would probably not have the notoriety it now enjoys.