[drc]

Last two books I read were Our Lady of the Flowers by Jean Genet and The Room by Hubert Selby Jr.

Our Lady of the Flowers was written by a man serving a life sentence in solitary cell in France, and the book is dreamlike/nightmare-like and very subversive. The prose is uniquely dreamlike and beautiful. It makes no difference to me, but I will note that the book is very homosexual.

The Room was written by Selby (Last Exit to Brooklyn, Requiem for a Dream) who is often ranked as the most disturbing serious writer of fiction, and this book, though profound and sad, is often ranked as the most disturbing book ever written. Selby said he couldn't read the book for 20 years after he wrote it. Comparable to Our Lady of the Flowers, the book is the first person narration of a petty criminal waiting in a cell before his trial. The criminal is deluded, pathetic, unreliable in what he says, broken and truly sick as he talks about his past and fantasizes about those who he perceives have wrong him. Its a fascinating and serious psychological book for the few who can stomach it. Most people who read the reviews for the book are scared to even touch it, though I didn't find it that bad.

An interesting thing about Selby, a Brooklyn heroine addict, is he was a devout Christian, and considered his books to be religious stories. It's just that his books were about the wretches and broken people of 'the other side' of New York City. Many who had read his books were surprised when the met him that he was such a nice, friendly guy. Also counterintuitively, he loved and raised songbirds and you'll find photos showing him with a bird on his shoulder.