Disturbing Books: The Room by Hubert Selby Jr
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Book details/Content warnings:
Title: The Room | Author: Hubert Selby Jr | Publisher: Penguin Modern Classics | Pages: 225 | Publication date: 1971 | ISBN: 9780141195674 | Source: Purchased
Content Warnings: Rape, extreme animal cruelty
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Music: Who's Afraid of Halloween by Alfred Grupstra from Pixabay
Nobody can do disturbing like Hubert Selby. Twenty-three years on and Requiem for a Dream is still the most disturbing film I have ever watched. The book is pretty unsettling in its own right.
I need to check that one out
@@CriminOllyBlog I'd avoid the film. I forget who directed it, but it is from beginning to end, a weak string of visual shock value, and almost no story at all!
I watched requiem for a dream with friends when it came out. Not a word was spoken throughout. All I can say is that thankfully none of us were depressed or suicidal at the time or this would’ve pushed us over the edge!
Some scenes made me physically ill ...
"Requiem for a Dream" (film version) was directed by Darren Aronofsky, who can be very hit or miss. I liked it a lot--in that I found it very disturbing but powerful and exceedingly memorable. Still, I will likely never sit through it again. Too depressing/unrelentingly heavy & dark. I also liked "Pi" and "Black Swan." In contrast, I hated "Mother!" (although I did admire parts of it). I haven't seen "The Wrestler" or "The Whale," which both got a lot of critical acclaim but seem very bleak to watch. You have to be in just the right mindset to take in bleak art.
Selby is one of the greatest - it's a shame so few people know about the landmark court case around his work that was one of several that changed the landscape of British publishing in the 60s. Good to see you covering him.
Cheers - I'll definitely be checking out more by him
@@CriminOllyBlogHe struggled with heroin and suffered an extreme bout of tuberculosis. His illness required the removal of one of his lungs.
As a legal person, I am both fascinated and repulsed by the evolution of our justice system. I hope that we continue to try and strive for restorative justice rather than punitive. We need a complete overhaul honestly, but it makes me hopeful.
Yeah it does seem like a broken system. I mean if it worked, prison numbers would go down, right?
@@CriminOllyBlog exactly. We have been doing the thing for like 200 years and it still isn't working - guilty people are unaccountable and innocent people are captured and punished in error. I personally love the Scandinavian system. It responds to people that make mistakes with humanity. There are monsters out there who are incapable of actually existing in society peacefully, but they are a tiny tiny minority that should be in a hospital and studied and still treated humanely, just not allowed their freedom.
I was watching a program on a Nordic prison and the warden said, "Prison should not be the punishment. The punishment is the loss of freedom, nothing more."
@@SheilaTheGrate Yeah I completely agree
Addicts are considered trash in the U.S. It is ashame that being dependent on opiates is a crime. Many European countries are Far More Enlightened regarding drug addiction than in America. I earned a PhD in mathematics and have had police tell me that I shouldn't be teaching. Well, it turns out that I was a highly regarded math professor who obtained praise from my students on evaluations! The Dean, in fact, informed me that my student evaluations were the best in the department. I have been on methadone for quite awhile and am enjoying retirement.
So glad you put in the Tommy Wiseau disclaimer in the beginning. I would have been tempted to quote the film as a second running gag.
Ha!
Wow! Ur book readers must be an underground movement! I have a new employee under my belt and she loves books. She was shy about sharing this and told me how grateful she felt that our team was quite the readers of BOOKS! I always love to find a personal connection with my co-workers. I gifted her my copy of "The Store" and she told me she is the best book borrower ever. I shared your youtube Olly.
Thanks Lynn! Hope she enjoys the channel!
I read a copy of Last Exit that had an extensive preface all about the obscenity trial. The book did my head in, by the end I felt like I was tripping - and as the preface lingered on the accusation that the book was 'depraved' and capable of depraving the reader, the word stuck in my head and I spent a while after finishing trying to figure out if I was now depraved [?] I can report no significant changes in my character. I didn't get the film the first time I watched it, it seemed such an American story that I so wanted an US 'auteur' to tell it, I've re-watched it since & though some killer scenes are left out it is throughly disturbing enough for my 'depraved' tastes now. Reticent to read The Room.
Sorry to hear it left you undepraved, I do need to try it myself sometime
I have Last Exit to Brooklyn on my own "Disturbing Books" TBR & hope to read it sometime this yr. Selby's The Room reminds me I have Room by Emma Donoghue on my TBR as well... There's an interesting challenge: Read 3 books with the same title (Ex: The Stranger) and compare & contrast them. HA HA. Has anyone done this yet??
I don't know if they have, but that would be a fun game. Room is really good.
I haven't read this one. But based on your recommendation, I'm reading book 1 of the Factory series by Derek Raymond. Loving it so far.
Glad you're enjoying the Raymond! So good!
I want to read this, but picking it up when it has so much animal cruelty is stopping me. I have read Requiem for a Dream, and seen the movie - both are excellent, and are a rare instance where the movie rivals the book. Jared Leto, Marlon Wayans, and Jennifer Connelly are perfectly cast for that film. The dark side of addiction and each characters disturbing path. Check out both, you'd enjoy it.
The sentence/ paragraph approach is also played upon in Last Exit to Brooklyn. When you were talking about the breakdown of the mental state it reminded me a little of Kafka's The Trial. Thank you for the review! I am still hunting for my Garb1.5 read but I might have to cheat in terms of length. Tough to get hold of some fiction in a non-English native speaking country...
Interesting! I think I will give Last Exit a try soon too. And The Trial for that matter!
Hope you find something for GarbAugust!
@@CriminOllyBlog You mean Garb1.5?! The one this weekend... I think I will have to get what I can on Kindle...
@@darkfaetarot yes! :)
I've only read Requiem for a Dream but it's a fascinating read and one of the most upsetting reading experiences I've ever had even as a connoiseur of disturbing lit. The way that the dialogue is structured made it a bit difficult for me to get started, i.e (if memory serves) characters interrupting other characters within the same set of dialogue tags, giving no indication that another speaker has begun speaking apart from just delineating tone. I was incredibly impressed, however, with how well he managed writing the characterization such that this particular style was actually super interesting and effective in service to the overall 'vibe' of the book.
As far as recommendations go for folks, some of the stories in Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Machado really stuck with me but the prose is overall really lovely, and the structure of one of those stories is also very unique.
Wow that does sounds like an interesting way of writing! I'm definitely keen to try more by him
Interesting how many books and movies have been called "The Room" or "Room", all with different, but disturbing content.
At least 3 (or 4 if you count the book and movie of Room twice)
Room with a View; Room for Two, Red Room; etc ...
We read Emma Donoghue's 2010 novel, ROOM, for a bookclub, and it nearly undid me. Something about the structure of the child telling the story (in a childlike voice full of wonder) made it so much sadder and more disturbing to me--his extreme naiveté in the presence of so much claustrophobic horror and carnal abuse. I could hardly look at the book cover on my bookshelf after that. It really messes me up, even though it's a wonderful and very compelling read.
i was SO excited when i found this at a goodwill in michigan during a day trip! maybe i'll add it to my tbr for next month!
It's definitely worth a read
If you liked this, (and I say like hesitantly) try The Demon. One of the only books I read as a teenager, and it was incredibly hypnotic and disturbing… Selby rules. The Room is the most disturbing, but most of his works are fun IMO. I just bought “the willow tree” by him and have been meaning to read it. Just finished THE SLOB and started Foe by Iain Reid last night. Cheers Olly!
Cool - I'll definitely try more by him. What did you think of The Slob?
@@CriminOllyBlog ummm. I guess you could say I liked it. Very gross, but the extreme horror genre seems to be almost humorous in its depiction of depravity. It was good, not great IMO.
the demon is an excellent book.
@@plasticweaponIt scared me (the Demon). After returning from 3 tours in Vietnam in '69, I have had to be careful what I mentally ingest😮!
Remember how I mentioned Laymon's reputation as a lovely man, and Highsmiths reputation amongst her peers as a cold hearted sociopath, and thats why she wrote the dark side of humanity so well...well 'Cubby' - in my opinion at least - really was one of the good guys. a wonderful soul.
Ah interesting! He certainly knew the darkside based on this
I’ll try to read it, despite the animal cruelty. I regard Selby’s LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN as one of the Great Books of the 20th Century, right up there with ULYSSES and Sam Beckett’s Unnameable Trilogy.
Currently reading Derek Raymond’s Factory novels, which are outstanding. Had to go to eBay to get two of them. Out of print hence hugely expensive in The USA.
I'm definitely going to try Last Exit at some point.
So glad you're enjoying the Factory novels - I really do think they're incredible
This is the same guy that brought you Requiem for a dream. He sort of known for making realistic horror.
True!
Great review. I saw this book on Amazon but wasn’t sure what it was about? Now I know . Thanks for the information on it .
My pleasure, Jessica!
@@CriminOllyBlog ❤️ always great reviews Olly .
I have one to recommend if I may, not a Selby but of William Kotzwinkle / Nightbook !
I had great fun, utterly disturbing in a way or maybe not but a great laugh.
I found this quote on goodreads: „we learn of the enduring pleasures of incest, transvestitism, voyeurism, bestiality, masturbation, heterosexuality, homosexuality, and other events that can only be described under the cover of night before sunrise“
It says it all 😂
That does sound good!
I remember the court case back in the 60's over Last Exit to Brooklyn. Read the book as soon as I could and found it well written but some of it too horrific. Perhaps I was too young to get it.
Yeah any book getting taken to court makes me want read it!
@@CriminOllyBlog Then i would suggest Charles Baudelaire's Flowers of Evil. It's poetry but it's so good. He was brought on trial for it and some poems had to be taken out.
@@christine7956 Sounds like it might be a bit clever for me, but I'll check it out
@@CriminOllyBlog come on olly. You're a smart cookie!
This is my favourite "The Room", and not the hugely overrated Tommy Wiseau film.
To make it even more confusing there is also the book and movie Room, both of which I thought were very good
I've been trying to get into reading for a while now... I'm mainly into film, but I used to read loads as a kid. More recently I've attempted Burrows/Carter and abut of Ballard, and Ballard is the only one that properly stuck. I've ordered The Room, and your thoughts and comments are great! I'm looking forward to it!
Thanks . Glad you found the review useful.
Sounds like an interesting read! I might actually try this one. I can deal with gross or horrific if the book feels like it has a purpose.
I’d say this fits the bill then
Brill video. What do you usually drink when reading? Do you ever like to relax with a glass of lager or alcohol on your days off? Do you like to read on kindle? I like a paperback and a kindle book. But I find the options some times a lot cheaper on kindle. Plus the husband has mentioned I don’t have enough shelf space now haha. My view is I just need to buy another book case then. Do you like comedy books as well? Sorry for all the questions Olly but thanks for the content and that kind of thing. 🤓
Thank you! And no need to apologise for the questions!
I don't drink alcohol any more - I gave it up a bit over a year ago after 3 decades of drinking too much too often!
I read on kindle a lot (probably 50% of my reading).
And i do read comedy books occasionally.
:)
@@CriminOllyBlog how’re you finding the no alcohol part? I don’t have a problem with it but I find I do drink more than I probably should…..guilty. 🙋♀️ haha. I’m on a court of mist and fury at the moment. Trying to read more light hearted things. Too much deep stuff brings my mood down for a week. That said it’s nice to have a mixture and balance it out. Everything in moderation as they say. 🤣
@@wifiraslibrary8096 I've found it much easier than I expected. I liked the ACOTAR series up until ACOFAS which I just thought was dull
What a weird structure. I think I'd enjoy working my way through it.
Yeah it’s one of those books you have to put together in your head
When you mention animal cruelty do you mean his dogs? Because they're not dogs and ive not come across any other animal cruelty so far (nearly finished the book)
I used to think Selby was cool and a homeboy and all etc.but he describes in exacting and loving detail the sexual torture of a housewife in The Room.Selby was a junkie who had to sell books to support his habit.He knew that that torture part would appeal to some people.And of course some clowns consider torture "art".
I got about halfway through Requiem for a Dream and stopped but I want to go back and finish it at some point.
He's definitely someone I'm interested to try other things by
This is one of my favorite disturbing books.
It was a good one!
Yess my man I read Hubert Selby's discography last year the rooms good and if you haven't read waiting hour by Hubert Selby jr then maybe put that on your list and or possibly the demon
Yeah there are a few I want to get to. Love your username!
@@CriminOllyBlog*waiting period* everyone's got a reading and or movie list that's impossible to get through. thanks a bunch I'm the cousin of rumple stitskin
Read "Last Exist" yonks ago, it was OK. I still might read "The Consumer" by Michael Gira someday, which is more disgusting than disturbing. Finally resumed my read of "Black Wings Has My Angel" by Elliot Chaze. Gonna be a hellish ride. Looking forward to reading Saki's "The Unbearable Bassington" as a pallet cleanser, so to speak. What a lovely man Saki was.
Saki is great - I haven't read him for decades, but really should again
@@CriminOllyBlog It's taken all my life to become open to the gay mentality behind his writing. And it's bitter sweet since his is obviously very resentful at having to suppress his real self to fit the dictates of society. There's so much snideness in his attitude it's obvious he's angry about every little thing which is how I was when I was younger. But the beauty of his writing is still a wonder to behold. It's a shame he threw his life away in the trenches of WWI where there was no need for him, he was in his 40s for crying out loud.
You are going to have to give your brain a break after reading all of these disturbing books. I couldn’t do it.
I do tear lighter things in between 😊
Where found book the demon to download pdf?
Last Exit to Brooklyn is the best
I definitely want to read that
Which book of him would you think is the best (out of those)?
- The Room
- Requiem for a Dream
- Last Exit Brooklyn
Thank you
O.
Well, I've only read The Room..
@@CriminOllyBlog ok, thank you!
I read two ir three of his novels some years ago: Last Exit, and Requiem For Dream. The movie if Requiem really good and so it the novel. Totally an addiction story, Heroin, food, TV addiction. Book and movie both pretty great. There is another one that I really liked but I can't remember from the titles which it was (It's that helpful? Hey, give me a break I am 20 years older than you.)
I quite like his quirky style with text. He's someone I would consider a bold original with books about low life people, anti-heroes, like the earlier great NELSON ALGREN who also wrote about addicts like, The Man With The Golden Arm (I posted my reviews of three Algren classics recently.0
I am ashamed of the USA with the incarceration percentage and lots of other things I won't get into.
Thanks for reminding me of Selby, I shell dip back into him again soon and try The Room.
I really need to read Algren - he sounds like someone I'd like
Watched this due to thinking about reading the novel. Pleased I did as one thing I can't handle is animal cruelty, so its a definite swerve for me.
olly, pleeeease read "our mother's house" by julian gloag ! i got it for less than a dollar and it blew me away with how Weird and Disturbing it was. one of my top books of all time and i've seen no reviews on it!
That sounds very interesting! Added to my wish list!
Just read the description and it reminded me of The Cement Garden.
@@christine7956 apparently! that book has vague accusations of plagorism from our mother's house! but i will honestly be checking that one out too, because this one Fucked Me Up
@@ghostlyreads666 you definitely should read it
I have this book, can it be read as a standalone? Or do I need to read the first book? I also have.
It can be read as a standalone
There has been talk of a movie based on this novel. Good luck with such an attempt.
Yeah hard to see how that could work
🖤💚
Pick Flick!
ummm....?
@@CriminOllyBlog From Election.
@@slothrob Ahhhhhh yes!!!!!
kind of off topic, but a weird/ disturbing/ F*ed up book i really enjoyed is "geek love". aparently its kind of a classic. i would love to hear your opinion on it :)
Funnily enough I'm reading it at the moment. Nearly finished in fact
Have you read "the shack"?
No, I've heard of that one but not read it
@@CriminOllyBlog its a really interesting take on Christianity. I found myself crying on multiple occasions. Worth a read for sure
I know this is unrelated but “Tender Was The Flesh” SUCKED. I still think about it, maybe that means it’s okay. But I am disappointed 😭
I thought it was great! Sorry you didn't enjoy it more. But yeah the fact it has stuck with you suggests it had some quality
Charts & Graphs? 🙄 Yes, the USA is number one but remember the size of our population as well as the layers of local, county, and state government AND law variances from county to country. Lots of little factors make up that huge blue line.
That aside, animal cruelty is a hard pass for me.
I think you should do a disturbing meter or something. For books you say “wasn’t all the disturbing…” I’d like to see them ranked amongst the other “wasn’t that disturbing” books you have read.
Ok. I’m done book buddy! 😊
Ah but that graph is prisoners per 100k population.
I am going to do a tier ranking video for disturbing books 😊
@@CriminOllyBlog even so, you still fail to look at the other variances that can impact the chart data - as referenced above.
Be sure to cover all the bases when explaining your Disturbing Books graphs or questions will be posed. Kidding…maybe. 😊
@@M-J noted!
Serious question - are you deliberately trying to corrupt people or have you convinced yourself you are performing a public service. In a world that could do with people being cleaner and more loving this is what you encourage people to feed their souls on? Can you do not better with your intelligence? Please stop
Not intending to stop. I discuss books that I think are interesting in some way. I didn’t love The Room, but it was definitely an interesting and noteworthy book.
I’d also say that I think that reading books that discuss the darker side of life (which exists whether we want it to or not) and topics like mental illness is something that can improve our understanding of the world and our compassion towards others.
I've seen too many people thinking they could handle evil - and as a consequence leading others to think they could too - only to see them irrevocably changed, and not for the better. I admire your hope that you can extract some good out of this mine of filth, but you could do yourself and others far more good sealing up your own vein, even if you can't seal up others'. I fear for you - best wishes,@@CriminOllyBlog