The Blitz book club: Last Exit to Brooklyn

Last Exit to Brooklynis a book that will leave you shocked by its relentless depictions of the disenfranchised of 1950s Brooklyn. One is immersed into the frenetic, nausea-inducing realities of doped-up trannies, rough-and-tumble rowdies and potty-mouthed prostitutes.

It is a book that knows no mercy, showing the underlying rage and angst of people who feel they have nowhere to go. People who are throwing their lives away, dreaming big and feeling small. No one has what they want, and they feel incapable of ever obtaining happiness.

From the closeted union leader who can’t stand the sight of his wife yet can’t afford the privileges of the costly “ladies” of the bar scene to the teenaged prostitute (who loves her big tits) who gets unforgettably gang-raped, this book is full of exquisitely well-crafted characters whose situations and sheer presence will leave your gut wrenching.

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