content: This was the worst thing I have ever had the displeasure of slogging through. Not since high school have I ever labored to finish a book like I did with this one. I don't understand the appeal of this style of writing and the seemingly pointLESS "stories" in this book. By the end there are characters just yelling at one another in ALL CAPS for pages and pages. I don't get this book at all. Maybe it's just one of those supposedly *cool* things, like William Burroughs, that I don't get at all. Whatever the case, I don't understand at all why this book is so revered as some sort of 20th century classic.This has put me off Hubert Selby, Jr.. This is the first book of his I ever read and it seems highly unlikely I would read one of his books again.