Leaving Las Vegas [Hardcover]

John O'Brien (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1991

Named a Best Film of 1995 by the New York Film Critic's Circle and the L.A. Film Critics' Association

Nominated for four Oscars, including Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, Leaving Las Vegas was the most lauded film of 1995, winning honors from several organizations as well as awards for its actors and its writer/director, Mike Figgis. The film depicts a lush, highly melancholic romance, a story about the mercy of finding love when love is least expected. Written in a spare, simple style, the script for this great film is herein enhanced by a series of notes by Figgis, who discusses the process by which the movie found its final form.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The wrenching but compelling story of unconditional love between two lost and disenfranchised souls. Sera, a prostitute, and Ben, an alcoholic, stumble together and discover in each other a respite from their unforgiving lives. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Publishers Weekly

O'Brien's first novel, which uses a present-tense format for immediacy and heavy-handed irony to call attention to its characters' delusions and false optimism, explores a merciless world ruled by sex and booze. Sera, a surprisingly well-paid hooker from L.A., finds making a living in the squalid streets and casinos of Las Vegas fairly simple, provided that injuries from abusive tricks do not leave permanent scars; trouble starts when Al, her former pimp, tracks her down to reassert his authority. Her initial fear of Al's notorious cruelty turns to pity, however, and she frees herself of the self-destructive love she once felt for him to begin a gentler yet equally destructive relationship with Ben, a Southern Californian who has decided that Las Vegas's perpetually open bars are the perfect place to drink himself to death. Sera cares for Ben, and her compassion elicits the reader's sympathy and hope despite Sera's dead-end occupation and Ben's steadily worsening condition. Fast-paced and violent, this saga is derivative of such chroniclers of dereliction as Charles Bukowski and Larry Brown.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 189 pages
• Publisher: Watermark Pr; 1st edition (June 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0922820120
• ISBN-13: 978-0922820122
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #620,090 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terse, brutal... as hard to pick up as it was to put down, December 12, 2001

By 

J. Malcolm McLean (NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Leaving Las Vegas (Paperback)

The movie gives a lot of attention to the love affair before dashing its viewers against rocks. Here, hugs and kisses are few and far between. O'Brien's book injects its moments of passion and accepting love as brief moments of hope laced with doubt, when the overall tone should be enough to foreshadow its bleak and painfully real conclusion. It is written with the raw journalism of somebody who has seen what's on the bottom of the pool and has resurfaced to call for help. I offer this book five stars instead of, say 4, because it sticks to its guns throughout. It never flinches as it paints portraits of characters so desperately needy that somewhere inside you know they will never make it, with or without each other. This is true of more people than we care to admit. I don't know if I have the stamina or the desire for another reading. But I won't ever forget it.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The tragedy of alcoholism, June 5, 2000

By 

Vodka and Cranberry (Sydney) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Leaving Las Vegas (Paperback)

There can be fewer books in the English language so poignantly tinged with tragedy as 'Leaving Las Vegas'. The author, John O'Brien, commited suicide shortly after the film rights to the book were sold. He was 34. With this background, the book itself takes on an almost unparalled sadness. The description of the the decline of a successful man into a sick and pathetic figure is brilliant, and the the character of Sera is equally convincing. Although this is a tragic tale, however, one must see the hope that lies behind it: in the end, Ben has found true love, and although it is too late to save him from the lure of the bottle, he dies as happy as his situation will ever allow him. The backdrop of Las Vegas is perfectly used, and the city of perpetual excess is the ideal venue to show what that excess can do. A book to put you off drink if ever there was one, and not one to read when depressed, but ultimately a beautiful, touching and liberating exploration of desperation and hope.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Dark Masterpiece, April 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Leaving Las Vegas (Paperback)

"Leaving Las Vegas" is a dark tale that is not meant for the timid reader. It is real, it is gritty, it is graphic, it is depressing, and it is beautiful all at the same time. This book seriously deserved more credit than it recieved in its year of release, for it is a beautifully written account of unconditional love and loss in Sin City. Compulsively readable, and shatteringly honest, this is a book that will stay with you because of its frank and gorgeous language.