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A review by gsher002
Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr.
3.0
truly encapsulating and gritty, removing every reader out of their comfort zones. forced to envision the lives of those preferred to be kept on the periphery. it is powerful and heart wrenching, but it feels wrong to rate it higher than 3 stars.
the level of violence inflicted on black and/or queer people is so prolific that i struggle to not feel that the trope of white cis straight men being the storytellers of history isn’t entrenched in this novel.
is the narrative useful for black, brown, queer, working-class lives or is it vouyerism at its peak.
Selby wanted an authentic narrative but in a world so institutionally apathetic towards non-white/queer lives, the outcome feels more exploitative than representative.
the level of violence inflicted on black and/or queer people is so prolific that i struggle to not feel that the trope of white cis straight men being the storytellers of history isn’t entrenched in this novel.
is the narrative useful for black, brown, queer, working-class lives or is it vouyerism at its peak.
Selby wanted an authentic narrative but in a world so institutionally apathetic towards non-white/queer lives, the outcome feels more exploitative than representative.