Book Review: "The Demon" by Hubert Selby Jr.

The transgressive genre is basically dominated by a few great modern authors: Bret Easton Ellis (whom I was obsessed with in my teen years to the point that I carried a copy of Less Than Zero to school every single day and even based some of my coursework on it), Hunter S. Thompson, Chuck Palahniuk and Hubert Selby Jr. I think that when it comes to Hubert Selby Jr. I haven't really read enough of him to make a very informed opinion about his writing style. I've only yet read his books Last Exit to Brooklyn and Requiem for a Dream (and obviously The Demon as of now). I feel like that whatever I say about the book here needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, especially if anything I say is negative towards the book. So here we go - The Demon by Hubert Selby Jr.

This novel felt like a strange similar version of Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho. Just not as well written, or as well-plotted, or nearly as good as Bret Easton Ellis' sets his own standard of writing a character-driven narrative at. This does not, by any means, state that Selby Jr's novel is no good. It's just that in the grand scheme of corporate successes who turn to a life of crime in an almost Dr Jekyll and mr Hyde fashion are done much better by people who tend to focus more on the personality of the character rather than the simple shock value of the crimes. This is someone like Bret Easton Ellis, or even better than that, Robert Louis Stevenson.

The Demon is about a guy named Harry White who, with his perfect life in a socially up-scale job and a family that he always wanted with his wife, he prepares almost cliché Tom-Wolfe-esque character breakdown which leads to him wanting to commit crime. The problem with this is that from the very outset of the book, we know there is something wrong with the way Harry White is. We are never really presented with the normal, everyday version of him with the outward appearance in contrast with the introspection in an in-depth way as we are in something like American Psycho or even like the final chapter of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. From the very first page of the book we are presented with someone who is wholly unlikeable and we aren't really drawn into him. No matter how witty and darkly comical Hubert Selby Jr is with all of his writing magic, this cannot be lived down and I feel like it may be a fault of the novel.

By the end of the book, there is something really quite twisted about the way Harry White is. I have to say, I did enjoy the progression from sexual deviant all the way to serial killer and simply a man who committed crime without the requirement for a deep and meaningful motive. It felt like a film I can't remember the name of when a white collar worker trapped in a traffic jam goes batshit crazy and flips out on everyone. Anyways, there is something really realistic about the progression in crime that as he becomes more and more apt at it without being caught, he becomes more and more confident - turning himself more into a sociopath than a psychopath - his lack of control showing the cracks the more serious and deadly the crimes become.

All in all, I do think that Hubert Selby Jr was halfway there with this one. He really got the progression of crime and confidence rate correct, making it look almost too good. But in terms of the character-driven narrative itself, I do think that we have seen others that are far better written than this.