Customer Reviews

Requiem for a Dream: A Novel

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Ever since I first read The Demon I have been hooked on Hubert Selby Jr. His style and unique ability to tap into the dark side of humanity is unbelievable. He has this strange talent at making you care for every single character, whether or not they are criminals, murderers, or just trapped souls. Hubert Selby Jr. will no doubt go down as one of the greatest American writers ever.

This story revolves around the lives of four people, all of which become entangled in addiction. Harry, Marion and Tyrone are three druggie friends living the dream of the 70's who come across a way to get lots of cash through drug dealing. They plan on copping and cutting heroine then selling at high price to prime buyers in order to start up a coffee shop.

Sara Goldfarb, Harry's mother, receives a call from a man who says she has been picked to be on television. Her whole life mainly revolves around the TV so she is more than just excited. But, the dress she wants to wear doesn't fit her any more. So, she gets prescribed diet pills and becomes addicted for she is unaware that they are actually speed pills.

Selby's characterization is probably the best you'll ever see. He makes each character somehow familiar to you after only a chapter. Each one of the four main characters has a unique personality, different dialect, and a different dream. Sara Goldfarb, for instance, is one of the most colorful and interesting characters I've ever come across. She is somewhat estranged, not knowing exactly what is going on all of the time and also having strange conversations with her arch nemesis: the refrigerator. But, she is also charming, as each person she encounters comes to enjoy her company, as does the reader.

The fact of the matter is, Selby makes you care about the people in this book. You feel the strangest empathy for them and share their feelings and anguish. But, just when the book is at a high point, it becomes cold and bitter. The characters start to decay inside and so do you. Everything you'd want to happen to these people does, but at a very high price. It was so devastating at the end that I nearly broke down and cried. For there was no end in these people's lives. The brutal truth is that there would be no end for them. They would have to continue on their downward spiral in the current situation. This bitter and original twist makes this book all the more enjoyable to read.

Although most people won't be able to stand Selby's graphically descriptive style, most will tolerate it. And, Selby has this different style of writing that might get confusing for some. He doesn't punctuate correctly, not using quotes for the speaking parts which gets confusing as to who is currently talking. Most will think him lazy. But I simply think of him as brilliant, as will most. Because he doesn't need to use the proper writing format to get his point across. So, though most will be somewhat disgusted by the outcome of the book, it is a very unique reading experience indeed. In the end, would I recommend that people buy this book? If you're the type of unconventional reader I am, I would say yes, pick up a copy. In addition to this book, let me recommend another great new title I picked up off Amazon called "The Losers' Club: Complete Restored Edition" by Richard Perez, a very special book, both funny and sad - one I can't stop thinking about.

Most of the themes in the book are cliches which have been done to death elsewhere by now already, but this 1978 book is nonetheless well worth reading. Cleverly written.

It would have been nice to know the characters' appearance. Apart from Sara, there wasn't much detail as to what they look like.

Requiem For A Drean is, so far the most amazing piece of literature I've ever held in my hands.Selby is an underrated genius;his writing bleeds with such pain,urgency,life,humanity,and despair.He is able to combine the horrific and the heartfelt into one stunner of a novel.By the end I had tears in my eyes, and found it hard to breathe.Don't miss this one, whatever your tastes in literature-it isn't everyday a novel so harsh,brutally honest,hopeless, and yet so poetically beautiful at the same time comes along.This novel is a journey into addiction's darkest hell with no return.As the characters fall, you will fall with them.PLEASE READ THIS NOVEL

I remember seeing this book sitting on the library shelf. I have heard many reviews and opinions on this book. I just wasn't sure if I could handle the book. My sister was the one who eventually made me read it. It took me a week to read it, and 3 days to read it a second time. It consumed me. I thought about all the things and cliches I had heard about addiction, and threw them out of my head. I invited friends over to watch the movie. After sitting in silence for a good 5 minutes, I told them, just wait until you read the book. By far the best book I had ever read, and I will never have anything to compare it to.

I just finish reading this masterpiece and the entire time I was reading it I kept thinking, "I wish I would have read this before seeing the movie." I saw the movie when it first came out about 3 years ago and it left a great impression on me. When I found a copy of the book in my father's library I felt I needed to read it. Hubert Selby Jr.'s writing style captures the feeling of being in an altered state...no indication of who is talking or who they are talking to...none of the usual punctuation found to indicate conversation. very interesting, very profound, and extremely depressing. read this book before you see the movie (which is also great...but not nearly as amazing).

I just dinished this book about 15 minutes ago and I must say that it was one of the most moving and powerful books I have ever read. The book is more than heroin. It's about addiction and a cloudy persepctive of what the american dream is. It shows the destruction of 4 people that were previously sane. But instead, adidction takes over their lives while they attempt a shortcut towards the american dream. If you enyoyed this book for it's powerfulness, I recommend "My Bloody Life" by Remundo Sanchez, which is the autobiography of a boy growing up in Chicago as a Latin King.

I made the crucial mistake of watching the movie before reading the book. While the movie was a masterpiece in itself, I would have to say that the book intruiged me much more from the start of the first page. While Selby's writing is extremely unorthodox, I find that his words are an addiction that is second to none. From the beginning of this novel I was immediately subjected to the life of a drug dealer. The fast money, the gorgeous girlfriend, and the best friend that will always be there through good and bad. While you are able to notice that Harry's mother is a bit strange, it does not bother you until you are farther along in the novel. In the beginning, heroin was merely a recreation for a couple of young adults. Sleep all day, make love to your girlfriend, drop a few dexies and off you go to another night of work hopped up on speed. None of this seems bad, until the weeks begin to wear on. Sara (Harry 's mom) is invited to be a contestant on a TV show. She has found a new reason to live, and decides to go on a diet to shed a couple of punds to fit into her red dress that made her look stunning. Within a week Sara is off the diet, and on amphetamines. A few more weeks go by and you are able to feel her racing heart, her grinding teeth. Its pains you just to read it. All the while Harry, Marion, and Ty are running out of smack. While this had been their recreation in the beginning, it was now becoming a need, an utterly unattainable thirst that they are unable to quench. They turn to scrounging, finding that they will do anything to be comfortably numb. Friendships seem to be broken, love seems to be lost. Junk was the only thought one one's mind. Hubert Selby's rendition of addiction is by far the most gut wrenching thing that I have ever experienced, even if it was just words on pulverized wood. In my mind, this should be in every high schoolers locker in 11th grade. Yes, it will warp their minds, and yes, it will indeed be an experience one will never forget. I thank you Hubert Selby for making this wonderful novel feel so real, and touch so close to home.

This book is one of the few truly depressing reads I've experienced. It manages to be truly unsentimental and raw, showing the dehumanizing effect that drugs have had on these people's lives, and quite effectively gets Selby's theme across: life should be about giving, not getting.
Though I was blown away when I first saw the movie, and it is excellent, I must recommend reading the book before viewing that version. The tweaks on film were not many in number, but they effected the overall impact. Though it was an "indie" movie, there were a couple of "hollywood" plot touches towards the end that I will not discuss for fear of being a "spoiler."
Many here have remarked about the unconventional writing style. I didn't find it to be very bothersome... the story is so engrossing that I hardly noticed after the first two pages, and it was effective. I could not imagine this book having the same impact if it had been written in "normal" paragraphs with proper punctuation and all the usual trimmings.
The feeling that the reader gets as he's wrapped up in the dreams of these characters and then watches as the world slowly, inevitably crashes down around the oblivious group is indescribably horrifying, and perhaps even life-changing. That makes it a must-read, at least to me.

This is simply an incredible read that you will not be able to put down. If you do drugs this book will make you question your drug use.

I try to always finish books that i start which is a brutal task in the case of this book. the movie was great because the director has a good eye for candy.

I'm almost thinking it would have been the acclaimed movie it was even if it were about an inner city boy trying to make it in a private school because he's good at writing (he even uses paragraphs because being easy to read is art too!), great at basketball and aided by sean connery.

If you want a good heroin book try out trainspotting. if you want to be in as much agony as the people you saw in the movie try this book out. This book is why i usually shy away from books that have been made into good movies because this one just isn't as much fun to read as it was to watch.