Hubert Selby Jr. was a writer who unflinchingly explored the darkest corners of the human psyche and society. His works, often raw and uncompromising, focus on themes of addiction, desperation, and the struggle for survival in harsh environments. Selby's style is marked by its directness and authenticity, drawing readers into the inner lives of his characters and their battles. His writing stands as a powerful testament to human resilience and the yearning for redemption.
Driven to desperation by the hand the world has dealt him, a man attempts to buy a gun to end his life. But a computer malfunction causes a delay with the gun license: a life-saving event that sees the man questioning why he should die when there are so many others he believes should go before him.
Fat Phil can't lose at dice, even when his friends turn nasty and he's trying his hardest; a salesman finds success comes from fortune cookie mottoes, but panics when these mottoes turn against him; and, a commuter finds himself obsessed with a plain young woman on his train, at the expense of his marriage.
Harry White is the man other men want to be: admired by his peers, talented, rich, and desired by countless women. His steady rise to a position of unprecedented influence in a New York investment firm seems inevitable to those who know him, and on the way he acquires a beautiful wife and children.
Set in the Bronx, this novel tells the story of Bobby, a young black man, and his Hispanic friend, Maria. Their lives together are irrevocably shattered when a vicious Hispanic street gang attack leaves Bobby savagely beaten and Maria lying in a hospital bed with a badly burned face.
Harry Goldfarb, heroin addict and son of lonely widow Sara, cares only about enjoying the good life with girlfriend Marion and best friend Tyrone C Love, and making the most of all the hash, poppers and dope they can get. Sara Goldfarb sits at home with the TV, dreaming of the life she could have and struggling with her own addictions - food and diet pills. But these four will pay a terrible price for the pleasures they believe they are entitled to.
'It is quite an experience to be locked up all by yourself in any size room' says the anonymous narrator of Hubert Selby Jr.'s second novel. What follows is a startling series of recollections and fantasies that illuminate the workings of a prisoner's unhinged mind. He yearns for his violent childhood, rages against obscure authorities, and imagines enacting horrible revenge on those who imprisoned him. The prisoner's remand cell becomes the scene of a surreal mental torture. Disorienting, nightmarish and structurally inventive, "The Room" is a shocking examination of the suffering humans can inflict on each other.
The decadence and violence of the urban streets is graphically portrayed in this novel set in a post-WWII Brooklyn slum.