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Few books have aroused so much strong feeling as Last Exit to Brooklyn, with reactions ranging from the highest admiration, through horror, pity and disgust, to the blind fury of those who are opposed to the exposure of social evil. Its merits, challenged first by private and then by public prosecution, have been tested in the courts. Those who have spoken for it, both as an original work of modern fiction and as a true documentary account of life in a section of Brooklyn, leave us without a doubt that it is one of the most important books of the post-war period.
The characters who inhabit the book are unforgettable: Harry, the strike leader, who during his weeks of power discovers something of his true nature; Tralala, who rejects the only love she is offered and sinks swiftly to the lowest level of prostitution; Georgette, the 'hip queer' with pathetic aspirations to culture; Abraham, the 'cool ass' black stud, with his girls, his 'bigass' Cadillac, and his undernourished family; the debris of American civilisation, for whom the author ultimately makes us feel a profound compassion.
Last Exit to Brooklyn was found obscene at the Old Bailey in November 1967, a decision which was reversed by a historic Appeal Court judgement in July 1968. Now this 'honest and terrible book', as Anthony Burgess describes it in his Introduction to this new edition, can take its rightful place as one of the major books of our time.
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Previews available in: English
Showing 6 featured editions. View all 29 editions?
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1
Last Exit to Brooklyn
28 August 2007, Marion Boyars Publishers
Paperback
in English
0714531294 9780714531298
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2
Last Exit to Brooklyn (Black Cat Book; B543)
1986, Grove Press, Grove/Atlantic, Incorporated
0394621824 9780394621821
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5
Last Exit to Brooklyn
1970, Calder & Boyars, Distributed by Corgi
Paperback
in English
- 2nd Edition / Post-Trial Edition
0552083720 9780552083720
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Book Details
First Sentence
"They sprawled along the counter and on the chairs."
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Work Description
Last Exit to Brooklyn is a raw depiction of life amongst New York's junkies, hustlers, drag queens and prostitutes. An unforgettable cast of characters inhabits the housing projects, bars and streets of Brooklyn: Georgette, a hopelessly romantic and tormented transvestite; Vinnie, a disaffected and volatile youth who has never been on the right side of the law; Tralala, who can find no escape from her loveless existence; Harry, a power-hungry strike leader with a fatal secret. Living on the edge, always walking on the wild side, their alienation and aggression mask a desperate, deep human need for affection and kinship.
Banned in Britain on first publication in 1964, Last Exit to Brooklyn brought its ex-marine, drug-addict author instant notoriety. Its truthfulness stunned a generation and continues to shock to this day.
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- Created September 20, 2008
- 9 revisions
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October 25, 2021 | Edited by Jenner | Merge works |
August 18, 2010 | Edited by IdentifierBot | added LibraryThing ID |
June 21, 2010 | Edited by George | merge authors |
April 24, 2010 | Edited by Open Library Bot | Fixed duplicate goodreads IDs. |
September 20, 2008 | Created by ImportBot | Imported from Miami University of Ohio MARC record |