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Summary: "ADIÃ"S A LAS VEGAS"- THE SPANISH TRANSLATION OF THIS BOOK
Review: En Las Vegas, febril simulacro de la esperanza encarnada en las mesas de juego del azar mercantilizado, un hombre y una mujer se encuentran y viven la historia de amor más generosa e imposible que pueda imaginarse.
Si la pasión, porque efímera, borra toda huella de futuro y convierte a los amantes en fugaces inmortales, Sera y Ben saben, como pocos enamorados, que el tiempo ha apostado a banca y el destino se ha acelerado. Él, impasible y apacible, ha llegado a Las Vegas porque quiere morir en ginebra y ésta es la única ciudad de Estados Unidos donde los bares no duermen. Ella, una prostituta callejera independiente, ha logrado escapar de su chulo pero no de los peligros de la profesión. Se aceptan tal como son, como se aceptan las cartas en una partida de póker, aunque la baraja esté marcada. Y desde sus situaciones extremas, perciben lo cotidiano en toda su metafísica nitidez.
El fundamento de la libertad infividual, el derecho de disponer del propio cuerpo para la vida o la muerte, rara vez se ha expuesto tan vbien como en esta novela autobiográfica de John O'Brien, donde una ramera y un alcohólico terminal adquieren las dimensiones que creíamos reservadas para Abelardo y Eloísa (Muchnik Editores SA).
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Summary: A well-written, harsh look at life.
Review: I heard once that John O'Brien's father called this novel a suicide note from his son. It's hard to seperate the two character's paths of destruction from the author's own suicide. A stunning first book, though. O'Brien had a wonderful command of the language. His talent makes his own fate that much harder to take. This book lingers with you long after the last page.
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Summary: The Future & Past of Brilliance
Review: I need to collaborate on a biography of this O'Brien fellow...any takers?
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Summary: The Best Account of "End-Stage" Alcoholism Ever Written
Review: I read this book years ago, and have never forgotten it. As a non-alcoholic myself, it was an incredible education in how someone stays drunk, from the time he wakes up until the moment he falls asleep dead drunk. O'Brien described, in incredible detail, things I had no idea about, such as how an alcoholic carefully proceeds from bar to bar, and how he hides and "minimizes" what he is drinking to non-drinkers. The only criticism I have about the book is the character of the prostitute. She wasn't as well-drawn, and there was no real explanation or development of the attraction between them. There are probably many lonely hookers and alcoholics in Las Vegas; so what drew these two so close together? But even so, I am sure I will never find a better book revealing the life of a man whose every waking moment revolved around a bottle of booze. Highly recommended.
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Summary: alcohol
Review: I think the film is better than the book. neither seem to me to be a love story. the film focuses more on Ben, perhaps because of the stunning performance by Cage. For me, the strength of the film is showing how alcohol drags people with it: Ben, the alcoholic (the scenes when he moves out of his flat - added in the film) are gut-wrenching) and we see that Sera needs him because he gives her someone to look after (even if that isnt what he wants). So much has been written about relationships where one partner tries to stop the alcoholic drinking. Sera doesnt because that is part of the bargain. interestingly, the film puts the rape scene just after Cage has moved out- showing the downward spiral she is lead into. It shows how her attempts to have a "nice" time are frustrated by the drink (the casino, the outing to the desert) beacuse what Ben really wants is to drink himself to death.
This is really a review of the film. It is stunning, and I am amazed that it is currently out of stock in the main distrubution outlest (though not amazon)
I have given the book 4 because it keeps a separate structure for both characters while the film links them almost from ther start. I would give the film a 5+
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Summary: A drunk, a pimp, and a tart with a hart
Review: I'm not really going to review the plot since the film version received the noteriety it did. Three characters are connected with each other in the underbelly of society. Ben, an alcoholic with a purpose, Sera, a jaded prostitute looking for anything to grab onto, and Al, her manic, sinking pimp come to head in Las Vegas. The movie chose to concentrate more on the relationship of Ben and Sera, wile the book took quite awhile (as terse as it was) to get Ben there. We get shadowy glimpses into what he was, but its never quite clear. The relationship of Sera to Ben is definitely as believable as her relationship to Al. Its the abuse and the quality of being needed that keeps her going. She's almost a defiant hooker, waiting for the worst to happen and willingly acceptin the abuse Al gives her. And Al...if this book had a week point, it would be Al. But the way to really look at this novel is more like a portrait than a story. This is a moment captured and should be savored, as it is a quick read. The language is poetic and insightful and the overall feel echoes Selby.
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Summary: Yo Eisenberg
Review: I've got my bio-ears on in Ohio.
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Summary: The book overcomes its shortcomings
Review: John O'Brien wasn't a strong writer, and he frequently loses control of this narrative. For example, he does strange things like assumes the point of view of a refrigerator ... but doesn't do anything with that. He's not really in control of his language, either -- grabbing words that seem out of context, e.g., "redolent of his prescience" instead of a straightforward "suggestive of his foresight," which would've fit better with his own rhetorical choices earlier in the novel. Some of the sex scenes with Sera also seem to betray a sexual aggression on the part of the narrator, which is weirdly blind for this narrator considering just how omniscient this narrator is in other places ... Nonetheless, these flaws may make the story easier to take. A perfect execution of this story may have been too dark. Instead, the flaws humanize the story (which is powerful) and the characters and make it a compelling read.
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Summary: Despairing irony & over the top subtlety a great novel makes
Review: Leaving Las Vegas is a unique novel destined to (and already has) become a classic of American literature. It succeeds by forcing you to care on the deepest level about Nick and Sera, 2 of society's casualties. The narrative starts off with Sera, a Las Vegas hooker and O'brien's original writing style takes the 1st part of the book to get used to. We get inside 1st Sera's mind and later Nick's, a man who has given up on life and arrives in Vegas to literally drink himself to death. Camus has said that a good book doesn't give every detail of a life, but rather implies the whole by focusing on a significant part. This novel implies alot that it never goes into. It implies 2 lives with intricate and tragic pasts, that converge in a city at the last possible moment. Nick's line that he forgot why he wants to die, he just knows that he wants to implies or inspires a whole tragic past the reader must manifest in his/her own mind. Sera's need for love with Nick as the vehicle implies the tragedy of a loveless past of prostitution. Both have taken wrong turns in life and ended up here in Vegas. To me this novel is not about alchoholism or prostitution on any level but the surface. It's about tragedy, loss, despair, love, injustice. The author's suicide can only imply a few things. 1, he got so much into the characters he created he sank into those characters' despair himself and/or 2, this was too autobiographical to deal with it becoming so big (major film and all that), and/or 3, alchoholism....but most alchoholics don't die at 34, especially when as successful as O'brien. The final part of the book, though, seems abbreviated too much. We get many short vignettes toward the end (half of the film only uses about the final 10 pages). Therefore, my only criticism is that the book is too short.
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Summary: The greatest love story ever told
Review: no-joke exploration of two terminally wounded souls whose demons find near-transcendent solace with each other
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