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shance417 's review for:
Requiem for a Dream
by Hubert Selby Jr.
In the preface, Selby describes the American Dream as a futile endeavor, framing it as an egocentric ideology that precipitates un/intended violence. “Life is about giving, not getting,” he goes on to say (or something along those lines), and insinuates many Americans focus on the latter.
Requiem for a Dream is Selby’s attempt at depicting this notion, through the gradual, tragic decline of four characters’ lives from addiction, as dealers themselves; addiction to heroine, amphetamines, and fundamentally, addiction to misdirected hope.
I don’t disagree with what Selby’s trying to get at, but RFAD felt rather shallow, merely illustrating the slow demise that comes from substance dependence. There’s little said on the conditions that foster drug abuse, and on the system that neglects to address this crisis. Characters fell rather flat for me, as they were primarily defined by their cyclical, addiction-driven behavior — which makes sense towards the end of the book, but there was opportunity to introduce other aspects to them in the beginning.
Also, was not a fan of this literary device Selby uses that calls for grammar anarchy… I assume his intention was to impose onto readers the chaos of living with addiction. It was distracting, difficult to navigate, and thereby a challenge to better understand the characters. I’ve enjoyed the stream of consciousness prose in other books, but it was tedious to get through here.
I see Selby’s intended message; I just don’t agree with his execution.
Requiem for a Dream is Selby’s attempt at depicting this notion, through the gradual, tragic decline of four characters’ lives from addiction, as dealers themselves; addiction to heroine, amphetamines, and fundamentally, addiction to misdirected hope.
I don’t disagree with what Selby’s trying to get at, but RFAD felt rather shallow, merely illustrating the slow demise that comes from substance dependence. There’s little said on the conditions that foster drug abuse, and on the system that neglects to address this crisis. Characters fell rather flat for me, as they were primarily defined by their cyclical, addiction-driven behavior — which makes sense towards the end of the book, but there was opportunity to introduce other aspects to them in the beginning.
Also, was not a fan of this literary device Selby uses that calls for grammar anarchy… I assume his intention was to impose onto readers the chaos of living with addiction. It was distracting, difficult to navigate, and thereby a challenge to better understand the characters. I’ve enjoyed the stream of consciousness prose in other books, but it was tedious to get through here.
I see Selby’s intended message; I just don’t agree with his execution.