Last Exit To Brooklyn

For another one of my honors books, I decided to read Last Exit To Brooklyn written by Hubert Selby Jr. This novel told the story of living in New York's infamous Greenwich Village in New York City during the 1950's. This was not my favorite novel, but it did have a lot of insight into life in the fifties. Last Exit to Brooklyn covered taboo subjects such as drugs, alcohol, homosexuality, beatings, and prostitution. The novel focused in on different peoples lives and their perspectives. The outlooks included an average persons view of the neighborhood, a transvestite (known then as a fairy), a man at a young friends wedding, a young female whore, and a man in everyday factory life. From these different perspectives I got a broad variety of insights and social norms. The most shocking perspectives were of the transvestite and the young whore. It was interesting to read through those characters thoughts since they both were away from the stereotypical day to day life during that time. I felt this novel gave me a deeper and more meaningful look into what New York City was like for a resident living at the "Last Exit To Brooklyn".

The Bell Jar

I recently finished reading The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. I found it interesting to read about how the character felt about everything, and her reasoning throughout the story. This book gave great insight into the life in New York in the 1950s, doing a job (magazine writer) that people still find desirable today. I felt the author touch on influence of materialism and having money. During the 1950's the nice things you had/ places you went defined who you were and how you were treated in the book. I also enjoyed reading about her experiences in the various mental hospitals, and it helped me realize that not all of the asylums treated patients the same. It was very interesting to read the narrators perspective about mental illnesses since she had the outlook of someone living in the 1950's. The Bell Jar was inspired by Sylvia Plath's experiences, and they are almost identical to her real life. This caused me to read the book and question how much of the story was actually true, and if those thoughts and feelings were Sylia Plath's. I enjoyed this book a lot, and it was a great book to read right before our "what is normal?" unit. The novel gave great insight into my city and thoughts during my decade.