The Willow Tree Book

The author of the notorious Last Exit to Brooklyn returns after a 12-year hiatus with another bleak tale of inner-city life. Revisiting the familiar and forbidding New York City of his previous works, The Willow Tree is the story of Bobby, a young black man who, with his Hispanic friend Maria, is savagely beaten and burned by a Hispanic gang, their lives irrevocably shattered. Rescued by an elderly handyman named "Moishe", Bobby is drawn from his hatred and thirst for revenge by the lonely survivor of the concentration camps. Written in Selby's characteristic long, fractured, unpunctuated paragraphs, The Willow Tree certainly lacks the vigour and depth of Last Exit, content to wallow in sentimentality and simplistic morality. However, Selby has certainly lost none of his ability to evoke atmospheres of tension and suffering. Moishe's details of his family's imprisonment, their escape to America and the death of his son in Vietnam are heart- rending and provide a platform for Bobby to jump beyond himself. While Selby's later works may have been overshadowed by the growth of realistic fiction, this will not disappoint his legion of fans. Beyond the comparisons, Selby has extracted another keen glimpse in to the shadows of dispossessed America. --Danny GraydonRead More