Reviews

The Room by Hubert Selby Jr.

laviskrg's review against another edition

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1.0

Dnf at 10%. This book is nothing but a boring rant. I don't understand how one can be impressed, scared or disgusted by pointless, overly verbose ramblings. To me, the shit punctuation was the true horror. Hipster fail.

chasingholden's review

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2.0

maybe its just me and my obsession with dark and twisted media, but this book did not live up to its rep. It was also poorly written (perhaps intentionally, but painful nonetheless)

If you want dark and twisted there are so many great works to turn to; don't waste your time with this one

amy_da1sy's review against another edition

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4.0

This took a while for me to get into and it’s one of the first books in a long time which I had to pause and read some other books and then come back to it. Once i got to the end of the book I did enjoy it in a sense but it took a while

emsemsems's review against another edition

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1.0

'His dogs were different in many ways from most dogs, but he realized that the sexual drive in all animals was very strong and so he thought it only proper that he should teach his dogs the proper way to screw. '

Nah, it's basically extreme trauma porn written so incredibly self-indulgently . What the fuck, Penguin? This book does not deserve to be published, let alone be placed on that kind of 'pedestal' . This isn't a 'classic' . This is pure wastage . I am surprised that I even got to the middle of it (a little more than that even). What kind of person would that make me? If I had actually forced myself to finish such literary trash ? So, DNF for fucking sure .

Disturbing? No. Perversely pornographic, filthy, lacking substance and style (to be lacking of both is quite rare!). There are literally so many 'Hahahahahahah' in the book. Like yes, we get that he's losing his mind or whatever. Repetitive - could easily have been a much shorter book. None of the scenes in the book 'shocked' me. No care for grammar/spelling or structure. Basically desensitised after a while since it's all so similar - and only trying to the provoke the readers. Not a fan. Burn it.

menintrees's review

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reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

ewascibior's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

mituna's review against another edition

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4.0

I love books that break the rules. No capitalisation, no grammar. It all represented a person's stream of consciousness perfectly. The court scenes bored me a little, but the violence was great.

petekeeley's review

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challenging dark tense slow-paced

5.0

christie_evelyn's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

ghosthardware98's review against another edition

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4.0

I didn't think this book was as disturbing as the other reviewers have suggested but it was easily the toughest book I've ever gotten through. The main reason the 'impact' was lessened for me was because the most disturbing scenes were presented in a fantasy world conjured up by the protagonist. As a result, it ended up feeling less real to me. The average reader will more than likely stop reading about a third of the way in, but if you can stick with it you'll find it to be a rewarding read.

I loved the way the book was presented, the mix of stream of consciousness and sudden formality was jarring and worked very well. The ending was great also, it might come off as anti-climactic but I thought it did a solid job wrapped up the story and the protagonist’s feelings: a prisoner in the physical and imaginary.