Take a photo of a barcode or cover
dknippling 's review for:
Requiem for a Dream
by Hubert Selby Jr.
Four people destroy themselves with drugs, because they aren't wise enough not to.
On the one hand, I've never seen stream of consciousness work better than this. You're in these people's heads.
On the other hand, I've never romanticized drug culture, so this book doesn't undermine my romanticizing of drug culture, so...whatever?
The real thing that knocked a star off, though, is probably what sets this book apart from others in the same genre: the character of Sara. It was a caricature, a satire, a mockery of someone with serious mental issues. The word she keeps saying is "zaftig." It means having a full, rounded figure, plumpness. A whole book where the author makes fun of his character for not recognizing a vocabulary word--a word that he chose, and that he chose not to have anyone explain to her--is a book founded on contempt.
Which turned the plot into:
Four people destroy themselves with drugs, because the author said so.
Four stars for technique.
On the one hand, I've never seen stream of consciousness work better than this. You're in these people's heads.
On the other hand, I've never romanticized drug culture, so this book doesn't undermine my romanticizing of drug culture, so...whatever?
The real thing that knocked a star off, though, is probably what sets this book apart from others in the same genre: the character of Sara. It was a caricature, a satire, a mockery of someone with serious mental issues. The word she keeps saying is "zaftig." It means having a full, rounded figure, plumpness. A whole book where the author makes fun of his character for not recognizing a vocabulary word--a word that he chose, and that he chose not to have anyone explain to her--is a book founded on contempt.
Which turned the plot into:
Four people destroy themselves with drugs, because the author said so.
Four stars for technique.