LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN (Hubert Selby, Jr.) - December 29/13

Sigh, stream of consciousness. I still don't see the appeal of this particular form of writing - it just seems so hacky and lazy - but Selby, Jr. admittedly does a nice job of packing this episodic novel with a few compelling stretches. (The whole Tralala section is appropriately horrifying.) And although the "strike" chapter is good (if entirely overlong and repetitive), Selby, Jr. destroys the reader's good will by closing the novel with a rather interminable stretch revolving around several different characters residing within the same rundown apartment building. I didn't hate the book as I suspected I was going to when I first started it, but I wouldn't call this entertaining in any real sense of the word. *1/2 out of ****