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bobbygw's review against another edition
5.0
If you haven't read any of Selby’s previous works, then hello, and, welcome, because you’re in for an intense literary treat and one hella bloody rollercoaster ride, so strap yourself in.
One of the masters of 20th century fiction, and hard realism, his work is an even more bleak variation of Simenon’s romans dur, or “hard novels” (see one appreciation here: No adjectives necessary: Simenon's a great writer). He was also an uncompromising writer from the start with Last Exit to Brooklyn, his first novel that caused such notoriety, outrage and impact.
Waiting Period focuses on the huge frustration and anger many of us feel about some of the draining, negative forces in our lives (aka, bureaucratic indifference, institutional rigidity, people's pigeonhole non-thinking and lack of humanity, the need for endless forms to fill in, and authority's insistence that we must be subservient to it, to submit without questioning, or risk being rejected).
There are two major reasons to read this novel: it speaks up for those who are most often made silent - the vast majority of the downtrodden, exploited, unemployed, neglected, and discarded. And, the narrator of the story speaks directly and powerfully to you.
He’s one of the many ignored underclass. Having served his country dutifully in the army, government, all he’s left with as a war veteran is the endless arbitrage of dealing with the contempt of government bureaucracy.
Ultimately, being ignored over too much time, and feeling, in conclusion, desperately suicidal, he decides to buy a gun and kill himself.
But there's a glitch in the computer system, and the few days it takes for him to get the gun, makes him completely re-interpret his goal, and - frankly, find a new and disturbing reason for living.
There are many vivid, incredible moments in this novel, made all the more powerful because, as a reader, there’s no escaping the narrator's thoughts viewpoint.
He decides, instead of killing himself, to kill at least the principal figure who controls the finances of the government administration and who, automatically, continues to deny him his rightful claims to support.
Because you’re reading the novel from a deeply personal, angry first-person view, Selby challenges, complicates and ultimately annihilates any attempt by the reader naive enough to simplify and seek refuge in binary thinking of good vs bad, and evil.
Selby's genius, is that he enables you to experience the anger, deprivation, frustration and anxiety of a vet, while at the same time you ’hear’ the narrator trying, always, to rationalise his behaviour, so that he does the ”right” thing.
Over time, the intensity, and sheer, unrelenting power, of the narrative, draws you to one conclusion: inevitably, justifiably, and yet disturbingly, you side with the narrator as he fantasises and commits acts of - how shall we characterise them - "assassination"?; "terrorism"? Soon, you're morally compromised (or implicated, rather) where you find yourself thinking he’s kills righteously, for justice - from the fascistic bureaucrat denying his rightful VA claims, to genuine racists who have killed and since glorified their actions in yearly festivals.
The intensity is comparably to Louis-Ferdinand Celine's fiction, but Selby goes far beyond that. He takes no prisoners.
I think this is a wonderful novel that sadly has been mostly underrated, even by his fans. It’s incredibly focused, relentlessly first-person, overwhelming, visceral, and deeply moving. An important work that captures the sense of despair, anxiety, alienation and frustration caused by powerful institutions and society in general, and that Celine first articulated from the 1930s onwards. In Selby, we have a writer who has continued that legacy. Should you read this novel you will, I promise, never forget it.
One of the masters of 20th century fiction, and hard realism, his work is an even more bleak variation of Simenon’s romans dur, or “hard novels” (see one appreciation here: No adjectives necessary: Simenon's a great writer). He was also an uncompromising writer from the start with Last Exit to Brooklyn, his first novel that caused such notoriety, outrage and impact.
Waiting Period focuses on the huge frustration and anger many of us feel about some of the draining, negative forces in our lives (aka, bureaucratic indifference, institutional rigidity, people's pigeonhole non-thinking and lack of humanity, the need for endless forms to fill in, and authority's insistence that we must be subservient to it, to submit without questioning, or risk being rejected).
There are two major reasons to read this novel: it speaks up for those who are most often made silent - the vast majority of the downtrodden, exploited, unemployed, neglected, and discarded. And, the narrator of the story speaks directly and powerfully to you.
He’s one of the many ignored underclass. Having served his country dutifully in the army, government, all he’s left with as a war veteran is the endless arbitrage of dealing with the contempt of government bureaucracy.
Ultimately, being ignored over too much time, and feeling, in conclusion, desperately suicidal, he decides to buy a gun and kill himself.
But there's a glitch in the computer system, and the few days it takes for him to get the gun, makes him completely re-interpret his goal, and - frankly, find a new and disturbing reason for living.
There are many vivid, incredible moments in this novel, made all the more powerful because, as a reader, there’s no escaping the narrator's thoughts viewpoint.
He decides, instead of killing himself, to kill at least the principal figure who controls the finances of the government administration and who, automatically, continues to deny him his rightful claims to support.
Because you’re reading the novel from a deeply personal, angry first-person view, Selby challenges, complicates and ultimately annihilates any attempt by the reader naive enough to simplify and seek refuge in binary thinking of good vs bad, and evil.
Selby's genius, is that he enables you to experience the anger, deprivation, frustration and anxiety of a vet, while at the same time you ’hear’ the narrator trying, always, to rationalise his behaviour, so that he does the ”right” thing.
Over time, the intensity, and sheer, unrelenting power, of the narrative, draws you to one conclusion: inevitably, justifiably, and yet disturbingly, you side with the narrator as he fantasises and commits acts of - how shall we characterise them - "assassination"?; "terrorism"? Soon, you're morally compromised (or implicated, rather) where you find yourself thinking he’s kills righteously, for justice - from the fascistic bureaucrat denying his rightful VA claims, to genuine racists who have killed and since glorified their actions in yearly festivals.
The intensity is comparably to Louis-Ferdinand Celine's fiction, but Selby goes far beyond that. He takes no prisoners.
I think this is a wonderful novel that sadly has been mostly underrated, even by his fans. It’s incredibly focused, relentlessly first-person, overwhelming, visceral, and deeply moving. An important work that captures the sense of despair, anxiety, alienation and frustration caused by powerful institutions and society in general, and that Celine first articulated from the 1930s onwards. In Selby, we have a writer who has continued that legacy. Should you read this novel you will, I promise, never forget it.
yvesricard's review against another edition
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
nicnacnoo's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars really, I just wasn't blown away by this which is weird because Hubert Selby Jr is one of my favourite authors, It just felt like he was trying to hard but ended up half arsed.
nicnacnoo's review
3.0
3.5 stars really, I just wasn't blown away by this which is weird because Hubert Selby Jr is one of my favourite authors, It just felt like he was trying to hard but ended up half arsed.
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