Carol L. (LittleRhody) reviewed on + 14 more book reviews
John O'Brien's first novel, Leaving Las Vegas, which was turned into an Oscar-winning movie, focused on the despair of the alcoholic; so too does this second novel, but with an even darker vision. O'Brien killed himself before he finished it (his sister, Erin, wrote the conclusion from his notes). The book is set in the near future, in Tony's bar, with the world outside consumed in a fury of race violence. While the pressures of that world impinge on the middle-class white barflys at Tony's, their main concern is the supply of booze. Passionate and wrenching.
-- The New York Times Book Review
(O'Brien takes) us deep into an alcoholic's world that few others have described so well. Reviewer,Michael Harris
-- The New York Times Book Review
(O'Brien takes) us deep into an alcoholic's world that few others have described so well. Reviewer,Michael Harris
