Product Description

Sera, a prostitute from the streets of Las Vegas, and Ben, an alcoholic who is drinking his redundancy money in a countdown to death, stumble together and discover in each other a respite from their unforgiving lives.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1040319 in Books
• Published on: 1997-10-24
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Leaving Las Vegas is the wrenching but compelling story of unconditional love between two lost and disenfranchised souls. Sera, a prostitute, and Ben, an alcoholic, stumble together and discover in each other a respite from their unforgiving lives. -- Kathleen Keefe, Amazon.com

Review
Gritty first novel about the bittersweet relationship between a brutalized prostitute and a boozer at the tail end of his last binge: a stark and plausible account of life on the hard-luck side of town. Sera, who is free (but only temporarily) from her sadistic ex-pimp Gamral Fathi (just call him Al), has a good life, of sorts, living "the story that she knows is working well here" ("Tricking is still, for her at least, a profitable gamble"). But after a slice-of-life account leaves her beaten when her street-smarts desert her, we switch to Fathi's point of view: he's a total jerk, having come back to Sera ("I must still own her. . .she knows that I still own her and she is afraid to admit this to herself") only because his other business ventures have come to nothing. She begins working for him again; then Ben from L.A. appears on the scene: his point of view is modified stream-of-consciousness, otherwise known as first-person intoxicated. He drinks Listerine when he runs out of booze, but, like Sera, he has a good heart, and once the two of them meet ("blood running high with adventure and thin with bourbon, Ben decides to get laid"), they care for each other, more or less. We're given a tour through garish all-night action on the Strip, but finally there's inevitable heartbreak. Ben pawns his watch, sells his car, and moves in with Sera before he gets beaten up by a biker and then screws up yet again by bringing a prostitute to Sera's apartment. Ben leaves, but Sera, with her heart of gold, will arrive at his motel room in time to see him die. Transitions are occasionally awkward, but the story's mostly affecting - characters with little hope are given their due but aren't cheapened with an excess of optimism or sentimentality. (Kirkus Reviews)

Customer Reviews

A modern classic.
I hadn't heard of John O'Brien until I saw the film adaptation of this novel in 1996, the sad details had emerged that O'Brien had committed suicide during the making of the film. His tragic death apart, this is a brilliant novel detailing a descent into darkness and self destruction. It tells the story of a tragic couple living in the lowlife, one a prostitute and one a suicidal drunk and the strange love between them.

For me it feels like books such as Dan Fante's Chump Change, Denis Johnson's Resucitation of a Hanged Man and Hubert Selby Jr's Requiem for a Dream. This is as good as the film, those who enjoyed Mike Figgis's film should enjoy this work also. I think that O'brien's book is a modern classic and hopefully it will be a work that is studied within schools and universities in years to come.

Fantastic book!
Lets start with the truth!

This is not an easy read, and if you're looking for an uplifting book, this is probably not the choice for you, but what it is, is an incredibly raw emotional book which takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions, and leaves you feeling almost drained from its intensity.

Without taking anything away from the story, you read the foreword to find that the author committed suicide after writing this book and that his father thinks that Leaving Las Vegas was his sons suicide note to the world, this makes it all the more powerful, as you draw parallels between the lead protaganist and O'Brien, feeling the depths of his despair.

The lead character is worn down by life, having split from his wife and family, he drinks to escape reality, having finally lost his job because of his drinking, he scrapes together every penny he can lay his hand on and makes the move to Vegas to drink himself to death. On arrival he meets prostitute Sara, and together they strike up an unlikely touching and tender but ultimately doomed relationship.

He helps her to see something better, whilst she can't stop the wheels he has already set in motion, and you know the story will end in his death. John O brien doesn't try to be trite by giving this story a happy ending, but you do have the hope that Sara will make something better fo her life after his death. I actually cried at the end, something I've never done before at a book.

One word of warning, there is a rape scene in the book which almost seemed to come out of nowhere and was particularly disturbing to read, but also exemplifies O'Briens skills as a writer and his loss to the literary world.