Reviews with content warning for Forced institutionalization - Requiem for a Dream

"For without it his life was worse than hell, far worse than death, death seeming to be a reward rather than a threat"

What a ride this was, watching the 4 main characters, Harry, Tyrone, Marion, and Sara, as they get addicted either to heroin in the case of the first three and diet pills for the last. You watch as they enjoy the highs of the drugs at the start, Harry and Ty making a bunch of money, Sara losing weight so she can look good on TV, only for things to slowly fall apart. Soon the addition starts to take hold the money starts slowing down and they are getting off more on their supply, and Sara getting a tolerance to the pills and ending up taking Valium to level out from the rush of the diet pills. Then things change, the trio starts doing anything they can to get their next hit as fast as they can, Marion whoring herself out while Sara ends up getting admitted to a hospital and being "treated" with shock therapy. Rock bottom hits when the boys try to head to Miami to score drugs and end up on the wrong side of the law, while Sara end up in a mental ward after her treatments. The ending was a train wreck you couldn't look away from.

Selby did a great job pacing the book with the characters growing additions, slow in the beginning and just ramping up and up as you get closer to the end. You watch as they all think "I'll never be one of those junkies all I need is one good score and we are straight" even as Harry is using an infected arm to get high or Marion whoring herself more and more to make sure she has enough dope to get through the day eventually ending up in an orgy for dime bags. Watching them with their though process you can see how easy it is to slip into and then last the point of no return when it comes to drugs.

Overall a haunting look at drug addiction written really well.

Content Warnings

literarylion's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This was EXTREMELY graphic, sometimes gratuitously so, but I still think it has a lot to say, especially when it was published in the late 70s. Selby's experimentation with minimal punctuation was effective and didn't impact the flow. Probably some of the most complex and evocative character development I've read.

Content Warnings

sidekicksam's review

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challenging dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Wow. This book was a trip.

Requiem For A Dream is the story of four addicts and how their illness affects their life. Written in the most confusing style I have ever encountered (little punctuation, no quotation marks, single paragraph chapters), this was one of the toughest books I have read, ever.

This book is not one to go through lightly (or quickly, for that matter). The story itself, and the characters and their journeys, get a tight grip on your arm, dig their nails into your flesh until your skin breaks, then crawls under your skin and starts eating away at you. That is how uncomfortable this book made me feel at times.

Despite its heavy content and dense writing, Selby does an amazing job of portraying addiction and all its deprevity. The writing style also makes the reader feel the brain fog drug use can cause and the manipulative character of their addictions. I've seen some movies about drugs and read some books in which drugs play a role, but I've never seen it portrayed so vividly and accurately as Requiem for a Dream.

I don't know how to rate this, and I don't know if I'll ever pick this up again. But I'm happy I pushed through and read this.

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