Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24127 in Books
• Published on: 1978-05
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 312 pages

Synopsis
Harry White is a man haunted by a satyr''s lust and an obsessive need for sin and retribution. The more Harry succeeds the more desperate he becomes and eventually a life of petty crime leads to apocalyptic violence.'

Customer Reviews

A masterpiece... Selby Jr's finest
This is simply one of the most powerful, compelling and complete novels I've ever read. A classic manifestation of one of the basic tenets of fiction writing - that which states that character equals plot - Hubert Selby Jr.'s The Demon is indeed a train ride to hell, as the book's principal character, Harry, and, specifically, his insurmountable battle with an inner demon drive him to complete and utter doom...

And how. Along the way, the reader is 'treated' to Harry's exploits, which include adultery, rape and murder, and despite the shocking, unpleasant nature of these actions and the way they are described, every sentence is horrifyingly believable. As a result, it is impossible to put this book down permanently.

Selby Jr., who sadly died in 2004, was best known for his landmark novel Last Exit to Brooklyn. Having read that, as well as Requiem for a Dream, and then this, I couldn't really say enough about how much I admire the man's writing. So, suffice to say The Demon is an incredible book in its own right and, in this reviewer's opinion, one that deserves to be as widely revered as Last Exit.

Matt Pucci

Sickeningly Compelling
This book wraps itself around you like a millstone ,and drags you down and down until you can hardly breathe. What is hard to bear is that Harry, the protagonist, is initially very likeable. You can see yourself in him, in his vaguely innocent actions, in his humour, and in his success.

Having drawn you in by association, Selby then starts to work away from this and draw you towards extremes that you can't imagine doing. Because you can initially associate with Harry, and his chains of thought, you go along with it without judging him. But as you get deeper in, you wonder at which point you lose touch with him, at which point you'd say no. You greet his occasional steps toward virtue with gleeful hope that you are correct, that underneath he is a good guy, a hope that is dashed remorselessly again and again.

Selby is utterly disconcerting in depicting what modern people think they want, without having the nerve to act upon it.He then wrenches this belief apart by extrapolating the actions of someone who is prepared to act upon them, and who gets caught up in them to the extent that he cannot escape them.

all aboard... hell time
Harry has everything a man could wish for. Good looks, nice house, loving wife, well-paid job. But for Harry... it's not enough. He wants more. Much more. And his 'hobbies' are accelerating fast. Lunchtime affairs, robbery, fraud. Now murder...

Selby Jnr's third book plumbs the underbelly of human discontent, and explores a scenario where the side effects of material wealth are beyond abhorrent. Prepare to be lead to a dark hole where values have shifted, and man has become a bored and dangerous animal on the prowl through the city for ever more murderous thrills.

This is a disturbing study into the human condition, a modern-day parable of one man's descent into the madness of his own private hell. The prose is breathtaking. Fast to the point of panic-stricken. Selby pulls you by the scruff of the neck into this nightmare ride, as menacingly as a pack of deranged street-robbers working through a pre-Giuliani subway train, frisking your senses with a sharp switchblade. Enjoy the journey.