Customer Reviews

Leaving Las Vegas

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

"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.

I heard once that John O'Brien's father called this novel a suicide note from his son. It's hard to seperate the two character's paths of destruction from the author's own suicide. A stunning first book, though. O'Brien had a wonderful command of the language. His talent makes his own fate that much harder to take. This book lingers with you long after the last page.

I read this book after the movie and I have to say it augments it and intensifies it. I have never seen a movie that so closely matches the tone of the book. There are small differences (slightly different chronology- Sera's rape happens at the begining not the end, language toned down a tiny bit)but overall I am amazed that so much of the novel is in the film. If you love the movie, your love will deepen after this read.

Leaving Las Vegas is a unique novel destined to (and already has) become a classic of American literature. It succeeds by forcing you to care on the deepest level about Nick and Sera, 2 of society's casualties. The narrative starts off with Sera, a Las Vegas hooker and O'brien's original writing style takes the 1st part of the book to get used to. We get inside 1st Sera's mind and later Nick's, a man who has given up on life and arrives in Vegas to literally drink himself to death.

Camus has said that a good book doesn't give every detail of a life, but rather implies the whole by focusing on a significant part. This novel implies alot that it never goes into. It implies 2 lives with intricate and tragic pasts, that converge in a city at the last possible moment. Nick's line that he forgot why he wants to die, he just knows that he wants to implies or inspires a whole tragic past the reader must manifest in his/her own mind. Sera's need for love with Nick as the vehicle implies the tragedy of a loveless past of prostitution. Both have taken wrong turns in life and ended up here in Vegas.

To me this novel is not about alchoholism or prostitution on any level but the surface. It's about tragedy, loss, despair, love, injustice. The author's suicide can only imply a few things. 1, he got so much into the characters he created he sank into those characters' despair himself and/or 2, this was too autobiographical to deal with it becoming so big (major film and all that), and/or 3, alchoholism....but most alchoholics don't die at 34, especially when as successful as O'brien.

The final part of the book, though, seems abbreviated too much. We get many short vignettes toward the end (half of the film only uses about the final 10 pages). Therefore, my only criticism is that the book is too short.

I read this book years ago, and have never forgotten it. As a non-alcoholic myself, it was an incredible education in how someone stays drunk, from the time he wakes up until the moment he falls asleep dead drunk. O'Brien described, in incredible detail, things I had no idea about, such as how an alcoholic carefully proceeds from bar to bar, and how he hides and "minimizes" what he is drinking to non-drinkers. The only criticism I have about the book is the character of the prostitute. She wasn't as well-drawn, and there was no real explanation or development of the attraction between them. There are probably many lonely hookers and alcoholics in Las Vegas; so what drew these two so close together? But even so, I am sure I will never find a better book revealing the life of a man whose every waking moment revolved around a bottle of booze. Highly recommended.

One of my very favorites. Leaving Las Vegas is a study of three characters lost in their own worlds.

Sera grows from a naive girl lost on the streets in Los Angeles to a smart, sexy, and increasingly independent woman working the streets in Las Vegas. I understand why Sera does what she does, and so does she.

I particularly like Ben. He is the guy you see stumbling through the shadows at 2 am. Ben is lost in the world he lives in, shunned by society, by everyone, but he is grounded in his own world. Ben has a plan and this is why his character is so powerful. His plan of drinking himself to death sounds bizarre, even downright insane, but he has every detail worked out perfectly. This is where Ben gets interesting. The fact that he donates his clothes, his furniture, his useless household items to real homeless and underprivileged people proves Ben's humility. He is a good person deep down and my moments with him in the story really make me empathize with him. One of my favorite passages is Ben's description of true love with a dancer performing at a strip club as he falls for her with her lingering kiss.

Although it may appear that the alcoholic and the prostitute are the weakest characters, the third person in the story, Sera's pimp, is actually the most troubled. Al hides behind his Mercedes, his fancy jewelry, and his false sense of control over Sera. While Sera and Ben are in the front seat of the car plummeting off the cliff with their eyes open, Al is in the backseat with his eyes closed.

John O'Brien was a wonderful author with a true ability to create living, breathing characters with his words. He died too young. I salute you. You live on through your words... -Jonathan Sturak 12/21/2011

I haven't seen the movie yet, so I wanted to read the book first. Overall, it's a great story that can pass for reality. I'm sure there's an alcoholic somewhere on the path toward self-destruction... all he needs to do is find his prostitute girlfriend. I personally have been going through trying times; as I was reading the book, I'd accompany each chapter with a few shots. I hope the movie doesn't disappoint.

I actually did not enjoy this movie the first time i viewed it. I thought it was too dark, morose, and disturbing. However, much like Clockwork Orange, once you get past the disturbing violence and darkness, you are able to appreciate it for what it is. This movie is the greatest, the most moving tragic love story I have ever seen, read or hear of. One of the reviewers of the book version, Chris Benton of Delaware, summed it up absolutely brilliantly: "no-joke an exploration of two terminally wounded souls whose demons find near-transcendant solace with eachother."