Demon [Hardcover]

Hubert, Jr Selby (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 31, 1977

A major American author of a stature with William Burroughs and Joseph Heller.?Los Angeles Times

Harry White is a man haunted by a satyr's lust and an obsessive need for sin and retribution. The more Harry succeeds - a good marriage, a good corporate job - the more desperate he becomes, as a life of petty crime leads to fraud and murder and, eventually, to apocalyptic violence.

Author of the controversial cult classic, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Hubert Selby began as a writer of short fiction. He plunges the reader head-first into the densely realized worlds of his protagonists, in which the details of daily life rub shoulders with obsession and madness. Although fundamentally concerned with morality, Selby's own sense of humility prevents him from preaching. He offers instead a passionate empathy with the ordinary dreams and aspirations of his characters, a brilliant ear for the urban vernacular and for the voices of conscience and self-deceit that torment his characters.
"Selby's place is in the front rank of American novelists ... to understand his work is to understand the anguish of America."?The New York Times Book Review

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Selby's place is in the front rank of American novelists ... to understand his work is to understand the anguish of America. The New York Times Book Review A major author of a stature with William Burroughs and Joseph Heller Los Angeles Times --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Hubert Selby, Jr. was born in Brooklyn in 1928. At the age of 15, he dropped out of school and went to sea with the merchant marines. While at sea he was diagnosed with lung disease. With no other way to make a living, he decided to try writing: 'I knew the alphabet. Maybe I could be a writer.' In 1964 he completed his first book, Last Exit to Brooklyn, which has since become a cult classic. In 1966, it was the subject of an obscenity trial in the UK. His other books include The Room, The Demon, Requiem for a Dream, Song of the Silent Snow, The Willow Tree and Waiting Period. In 2000, Requiem for a Dream starred Jared Leto and Ellen Burstyn and was directed by Darren Aronofsky. Hubert Selby Jr died in Highland Park, Los Angeles, California in April 2004. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: Marion Boyars Publishers (March 31, 1977)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714525987
• ISBN-13: 978-0714525983
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,439,486 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrifying, raw, emotional, intense, but above all....real., November 4, 2001

By 

R. Fox "cheseface" (Shropshire, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Demon (Paperback)

Selby is just about the best author I have ever read. His books speak to me and make me believe what each page says more than any other author. There is a fundamental, and somewhat un-nerving, realism to his books that makes them highly uncomfortable reading, but it is this discomfort which makes me come back to his books again and again. Last Exit To Brooklyn blew me away, with it's picture perfect description of desperate, (an perhaps a little extreme) cases of inner-city slum-type living, and the psychological effects it can have upon it's street dwellers. Requiem For A Dream carried on a nasty, horrid-tasting tale of drug-related woe that Trainspotting could only begin to thinly paint. And now I've read The Demon, and this is another gut-wrencher, ready to pull you under life and show you how it REALLY works.

The Demon focuses on Harry White, a young, high-flying office worker in a successful Manhattan firm, who basically spends his days working hard, travelling hard (he has to journey from his parents' place out of town to work and back every single day), and seducing hard, because Harry's favourite hobby is to pick up strange women (especially if they're married - it adds to the excitement), and then basically dump them right after he's had his fun. The book goes on to show how Harry derives an almost narcotic-like craving for women, and begins to pick up just about anyone on his lunch hour, take them to a motel, and then try to get back to work on time. The futility of his carnal desperation soon takes it's toll on his work-load, and he finds himself getting torn between 'Broads' and potential promotion.

As time goes by, it seems that Harry grows up somewhat. He gets married to a lovely girl he knows called Linda, who mentally captured him by not sleeping with him 'til they were married, thus becoming a sort-of 'chase' for Harry to find irresistable. But even through the wonders and beauty of this marriage, Harry finds himself uneasy at work, on his lunch break, and even at home. So, he wanders the streets of New York and the deep, dark depths of his psychological make-up to find new and exciting ways to fulfill his constant craving for elation, excitement, adrenaline and even terror.

The way in which the story is paced, and the way that Selby has set the story out so that it can swing from one scene of absolute horror to a beautifl, emotional journey is immense. The writing is so bafflingly simple that this, itself, provides the most starkly human quality of all. There is no complex meaning to the way Harry feels, and even if there is, trying to figure it out is futile. The mind of the character is set. No pacing, no adjustment brought on by psychological help. He is what he is, and this will shock you for being to frank. It's like looking through someone's eyes, and that's why it's so good.

I highly recommend this book. No, I dare you to read this book. How does that sound?

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly amazing book, a truly human book, June 22, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Demon (Paperback)

I am a huge fan of Selby and of all of his books, this one has to be my personal fav. Some will not like it for it is too dark, too personal, too true. If you are like me, and you look at a person as shallow in most cases, your mind goes off into deeper things, you are always tormented morally for some reason, the demon will rock your soul. As I was finishing the last few pages I looked down at my chest...it was going up and down as if I was gasping for air. The end is that intense. I have never had such a reaction from a film as I did from this book.

I also felt like throwing up that night after finishing it. Not because it was gross, but because I was feeling that sickness that the main character was feeling. It was as Selby told my gut how to feel, and it felt.

This is my fav book of all time, and if you see things differently than others, or you think you do, read this, it will change you.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book about the twisted roots of human sin, February 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Demon (Hardcover)

Usually when fiction writers tackle the subject of men driven by the compulsion to kill, they drag out the same worn Freudian cliches; typically, in showing what made a character turn into a serial killer, an author will treat the reader to scenes from the character's childhood in which they were anally raped by their grandmother or some such nonsense, and this is assumed to be reason enough for the character to become a killer. This is utter bull, and Selby's neatly sidesteps silly psychological explanations to demonstrate more realistic motives behind compulsive, motiveless slaughter. If you study the lives of many serial killers, you'll find that they began killing after having committed less serious offenses. At first, they may be inclined to simply peep in windows or steal. Soon the excitement of these acts diminish with repetition, and more extreme activities must be engaged in to cause excitement, such as rape. And if that ceases to satisfy their jaded sensibilities, they will then engage in murder. Selby illustrates this progression through the character of Harry White, an outwardly successful businessman driven by the compulsion to screw just about any presentable woman who crosses his path. Sounds like most men, but unlike most men Harry begins to find sex too easy, and not exciting enough. To fill this void within himself, he takes up petty theft. And from then on, his crimes become darker, and his soul more tainted with sin. However, Harry is trapped by his own need for excitement, and because of this he is the perfect illustration of the mindset of a serial murderer; the man who kills to fill the hollowness deep within, and who with each crime finds the hole growing bigger, yawning to be filled with more and more blood and gore after each crime. The best book you'll ever read on the subject of compulsive murder.