Candy

Davies, Luke. Candy, New York: Ballantine Books, 1998

Set in Sydney Australia Candy tells a tale of a young couple’s addiction to heroin and each other and like all addictions it has euphoria and self destruction.

Once the narrator see’s Candy he is enthralled by her beauty and presence and they fall in love quickly.

Unfortunately their relationship turns sour when it becomes a threesome with heroin and they are forced to do abhorrent things to obtain money to sustain their habit.

Like many novels about drug culture Candy is filled with regret, pain and an abundance of dark humor but what sets Candy apart is its Australian setting where drug culture hasn’t really be explored so realistically.

Candy was adapted into a film starring Heath Ledger candy which was a moderate critical success but before watching the film read the book a rare Australian transgressive novel.

Last Exit to Brooklyn

Selby Jr. Hubert. Last Exit to Brooklyn. Groove Press, c1964

Considered the first book to really portray America’s lower class and displays the violence and anger pertaining to being part of America’s forgotten people.

Told in six parts the novel tells stories about different individuals and their life in a New York slum. Controversial upon its released Last Exit to Brooklyn was banned in Italy and part of a obscenity trial in the United Kingdom due to its realistic portrait of drug use, street violence, gang rape, homosexuality, transvestism and domestic violence in modern day society.

Written with that real stream of conciseness style of writing that was influenced by and influenced a abundance of writers and a high use of natural slang make it easy to read give more truth to the depiction. Time has not hurt this novel as it has become a transgressive fiction fan must have.