42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Pit...., December 24, 2001
Whenever you read something by Selby you have to wonder how sick and disgusting the human mind can get. Do not misunderstand me. I think Selby is brilliant and everyone should read his works when they are ready for it. But not until then. Indeed, with Room that hole into the soul of humanity is so deep that if you were in the last level of hell, you would still be looking down...a long, long way. This book has been the worst experience of my life. I would highly recommend it.
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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Selby Masterpiece, January 14, 1999
By A Customer
First off, let me say this book is not for the squeamish or easily offended. As anyone who has read Selby before knows, his writing is about as 'reality based' as you can get and he spares the reader nothing as he delves deep into the minds of the often-forgotten denizens of our society.
When I first started The Room, I thought it would be a kinder, gentler Selby, since there are few characters and only one setting. However, this is definitely one of his most searing novels, and parts of it make Last Exit To Brooklyn seem like almost family reading. Selby has an amazing ability to define his characters so well, that not only do you understand/see their madness, but you also see the human being that lies beneath the madness, the part that at one point in time had potential to live in our society, but circumstance and environment led them to the lower levels of society; the bums, criminals, prostitutes, etc. To ignore his writing is to also ignore the breakdown that is happening at the edges of society, and the suffering that the 'average' person has to endure in their lifetime.
Despite the heavy content, I was unable to put The Room down as I became more familiar with the main character and his true nature and situation slowly reveal themselves, like an evil thing lurking in the shadows with a pleasant smile (or something).
Any Selby fans who have not come across this book should order it right now! You will not be disappointed and this book was the follow-up to Last Exit To Brooklyn, so it was written during that period when Selby seemed to have an agenda. His more recent books (The Demon, The Willow Tree) just didn't do it for me like this one, Last Exit to Brookyln and Requiem for A Dream did. Very compelling reading.
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27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
a real scorcher, December 19, 2001
If Last Exit to Brooklyn didn't disgust or make you cringe, this novel definitely will. As I stated in my "Last Exit..." review, "Last Exit..." has it's moments but is not nearly as brutal as "The Room". The main character in "The Room" is a convict and it is not very clear under what conditions he became incarcerated. The convict constantly fantasizes about some very sick scenarios in which pain is inflicted on others. The one scenario that is perhaps the worse is one involving the torture of dogs. Graphic details are given, so if you are a dog lover and or you really hate reading about any type of animal cruelty, avoid reading this book.
One has to ask the question after reading this book, what kind of person entertains such sick thoughts? The answer to that is the people are all around us. I don't think there is a person alive who hasn't once fantasized about some pretty sick things not unlike what the main character in this book has thought about when things didn't go our way. Interestingly, after reading this book I didn't have any sick fantasies for a while because I was so disgusted with some of the main character's thoughts. Catharsis isn't the only redeeming aspect of the book however. I think the book also makes very powerful statements about prison and being incarcerated.
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