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Morrer em Las Vegas
Morrer em Las Vegas, o primeiro e único romance publicado em vida por John O'Brien, é a história emocionalmente arrebatadora de uma mulher que adora a vida e de um homem que a rejeita.
É a história de um amor, sem quaisquer barreiras ou condições, entre duas almas perdidas e marginais.
John O'Brien, tragicamente desaparecido semanas após negociar os direitos para um filme que viria a conseguir quatro nomeações e um Oscar, conseguiu com este romance único o reconhecimento praticamente unânime da crítica.
É a história de um amor, sem quaisquer barreiras ou condições, entre duas almas perdidas e marginais.
John O'Brien, tragicamente desaparecido semanas após negociar os direitos para um filme que viria a conseguir quatro nomeações e um Oscar, conseguiu com este romance único o reconhecimento praticamente unânime da crítica.
210 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
226 people are currently reading
7902 people want to read
About the author
John O'Brien
5 books94 followersJohn O'Brien's first novel Leaving Las Vegas was published in 1990 and made into a film of the same name in 1995.
His other three works were published posthumously.
[Source]
John O'Brien was born in 1960 and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. He moved to Los Angeles in 1982 with his then-wife Lisa. During his lifetime, he was a busboy, file clerk, and coffee roaster, but writing was his true calling. He committed suicide in April 1994 at age thirty-three. His published fiction includes "Leaving Las Vegas," "The Assault on Tony's," and "Stripper Lessons."
"John O'Brien was a stunningly talented writer who created poetry from the most squalid materials."--Jay McInerney, author of "Bright Lights, Big City"
His other three works were published posthumously.
[Source]
John O'Brien was born in 1960 and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. He moved to Los Angeles in 1982 with his then-wife Lisa. During his lifetime, he was a busboy, file clerk, and coffee roaster, but writing was his true calling. He committed suicide in April 1994 at age thirty-three. His published fiction includes "Leaving Las Vegas," "The Assault on Tony's," and "Stripper Lessons."
"John O'Brien was a stunningly talented writer who created poetry from the most squalid materials."--Jay McInerney, author of "Bright Lights, Big City"
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 407 reviews
May 13, 2012
Opening Line: "Sucking weak coffee through a hole in the plastic lid of a red and green styrofoam cup, Sera spots a place to sit down."
Charming at times yet brutal in its honesty LEAVING LAS VEGAS is ultimately a graphic and depressing love story. There is no hope for redemption here and author John O'Brien makes no apologies for it, having committed suicide soon after the movie rights to this book were sold, many consider LLV to be the authors suicide note to the world. However this is also a beautiful and compulsively readable masterpiece. Exploring the dark depths of alcoholism, the needy loneliness of prostitution and the unconditional love between two lost souls.
LLV is told in 4 sections. Alternating between Sera, a content yet increasingly jaded hooker and Ben an alcoholic on one final bender. We also get to meet Al (unlike the movie) Sera's violent and broken former pimp who's hoping to reclaim what was his. I will admit to having a bit of trouble following the story in the beginning as I got used to O'Brien's style of writing. He tended to jump between the past and present in a pretentious manner that was very hard to keep track of. In these beginning chapters we watch Sera go about her daily routine and witness some of the harshest and most shocking moments in the book.
Section 2 traces Ben as he ties up the loose ends of his former life in California and prepares to drink himself to death in Las Vegas. Ben never makes excuses for being an alcoholic, the issue is completely irrelevant to him. He just shows us what it takes to get through the day as one. With his alcoholism progressing Ben has become a time keeper; when do the bars open? When do they close? Which stores sell liquor? How much will he need to see him through the night? And how the hell did he get home? It's all quite exhausting and he knows he doesn`t have much time left. Ben now dreams of Las Vegas where he can pawn his watch because they never stop serving there. Through circumstance Ben and Sera meet in Vegas and immediately identify each other as kindred spirits. Each accepting the other for who they are and entering into a desperate and bleak relationship that you just know isn`t going to end well as neither is about to change.
This is one of those books that stays with you long after you've finished. I found myself captivated by Ben's world and all his tricks to remain as intoxicated as possible. His POV is awesome and I think Nicholas Cage was cast flawlessly in the movie as there are moments of harsh, sardonic humour that he captured perfectly.
I recently lost a dear friend to alcoholism (he was a funny, no excuses man too) and I read this book in an attempt to somehow understand why. Now that I'm finished I still don't understand why, Ben doesn't know why either, he just is. I suppose you have to admire someone who leaves this life on their own terms, however horrible they might be.
Charming at times yet brutal in its honesty LEAVING LAS VEGAS is ultimately a graphic and depressing love story. There is no hope for redemption here and author John O'Brien makes no apologies for it, having committed suicide soon after the movie rights to this book were sold, many consider LLV to be the authors suicide note to the world. However this is also a beautiful and compulsively readable masterpiece. Exploring the dark depths of alcoholism, the needy loneliness of prostitution and the unconditional love between two lost souls.
LLV is told in 4 sections. Alternating between Sera, a content yet increasingly jaded hooker and Ben an alcoholic on one final bender. We also get to meet Al (unlike the movie) Sera's violent and broken former pimp who's hoping to reclaim what was his. I will admit to having a bit of trouble following the story in the beginning as I got used to O'Brien's style of writing. He tended to jump between the past and present in a pretentious manner that was very hard to keep track of. In these beginning chapters we watch Sera go about her daily routine and witness some of the harshest and most shocking moments in the book.
Section 2 traces Ben as he ties up the loose ends of his former life in California and prepares to drink himself to death in Las Vegas. Ben never makes excuses for being an alcoholic, the issue is completely irrelevant to him. He just shows us what it takes to get through the day as one. With his alcoholism progressing Ben has become a time keeper; when do the bars open? When do they close? Which stores sell liquor? How much will he need to see him through the night? And how the hell did he get home? It's all quite exhausting and he knows he doesn`t have much time left. Ben now dreams of Las Vegas where he can pawn his watch because they never stop serving there. Through circumstance Ben and Sera meet in Vegas and immediately identify each other as kindred spirits. Each accepting the other for who they are and entering into a desperate and bleak relationship that you just know isn`t going to end well as neither is about to change.
This is one of those books that stays with you long after you've finished. I found myself captivated by Ben's world and all his tricks to remain as intoxicated as possible. His POV is awesome and I think Nicholas Cage was cast flawlessly in the movie as there are moments of harsh, sardonic humour that he captured perfectly.
I recently lost a dear friend to alcoholism (he was a funny, no excuses man too) and I read this book in an attempt to somehow understand why. Now that I'm finished I still don't understand why, Ben doesn't know why either, he just is. I suppose you have to admire someone who leaves this life on their own terms, however horrible they might be.
February 10, 2013
John O'Brien was an alcoholic. He died at the age of 34 by a self inflicted gunshot two weeks after learning that Leaving Las Vegas, published four years earlier, would be made into a movie. He was already too far gone by the time fame had found him.
The story is about two lost people (three if you count Al, Sera's former pimp) on the fringe of society, lonely and alone. It is a drunkard's fantasy, as O'Brien through Ben tells us numerous times, about a tragic drunk and a hooker with a heart of gold. This kind of thing has been done to death, but usually as a story of redemption. This is going to be an uphill climb for O'Brien, but he manages.
How did he do it?
The novel is by no means perfect. George Orwell had some rules for good writing, two of which go something like this: never use a big word if a little word will do and never use a complex construction if a simple one is readily at hand. John O'Brien never heard of George Orwell's rules for good writing. So, it you look at the reviews that mention O'Brien's prose, most remark on it unfavorably. It does take some getting used to, but after awhile you don't notice it.
Sera and her world are the subject of the first third of this short novel. Ben and his world take us a little past the halfway mark and the rest develops the relationship between Ben and Sera. O'Brien does the world building part pretty well, but good characterization allows the reader to understand why the characters do the things they do and anticipate future decisions/actions. Not so much here. They don't know why they do what they do and neither do we. Perhaps that's just the way it is.
Ben and Sera form a relationship out of loneliness and desperation. This isn't going to be a pretty thing and it could have easily descended to the maudlin, but O'Brien is too smart for that. Neither Ben nor Sera complain; their stoicism is remarkable. And O'Brien salts this sad tale with necessary doses of humor. In so doing, O'Brien has given the readers a rooting interest in the characters. There can be no happy ending to this story; the readers know how it must end and O'Brien delivers. It is the inevitable tragedy of flawed characters played out in slow motion and O'Brien has made us care all the way to the end.
That is the genius of Leaving Las Vegas.
The story is about two lost people (three if you count Al, Sera's former pimp) on the fringe of society, lonely and alone. It is a drunkard's fantasy, as O'Brien through Ben tells us numerous times, about a tragic drunk and a hooker with a heart of gold. This kind of thing has been done to death, but usually as a story of redemption. This is going to be an uphill climb for O'Brien, but he manages.
How did he do it?
The novel is by no means perfect. George Orwell had some rules for good writing, two of which go something like this: never use a big word if a little word will do and never use a complex construction if a simple one is readily at hand. John O'Brien never heard of George Orwell's rules for good writing. So, it you look at the reviews that mention O'Brien's prose, most remark on it unfavorably. It does take some getting used to, but after awhile you don't notice it.
Sera and her world are the subject of the first third of this short novel. Ben and his world take us a little past the halfway mark and the rest develops the relationship between Ben and Sera. O'Brien does the world building part pretty well, but good characterization allows the reader to understand why the characters do the things they do and anticipate future decisions/actions. Not so much here. They don't know why they do what they do and neither do we. Perhaps that's just the way it is.
Ben and Sera form a relationship out of loneliness and desperation. This isn't going to be a pretty thing and it could have easily descended to the maudlin, but O'Brien is too smart for that. Neither Ben nor Sera complain; their stoicism is remarkable. And O'Brien salts this sad tale with necessary doses of humor. In so doing, O'Brien has given the readers a rooting interest in the characters. There can be no happy ending to this story; the readers know how it must end and O'Brien delivers. It is the inevitable tragedy of flawed characters played out in slow motion and O'Brien has made us care all the way to the end.
That is the genius of Leaving Las Vegas.
March 22, 2021
Actually, it's the 3rd time read not the 2nd - the 3rd time that the bittersweet bond between the prostitute Sera and the drunk Ben has completely moved me, crushed me, and rammed home a few hard truths when looking at my own attitudes towards drink, and how had certain things not changed in my life it could have got the better of me too. Yeah, I still like a drink - but now only in moderation. The novel as a whole might be void of hope - made even more so by John O'Brien's suicide - but at the same time the affection and understanding shown by Sera towards Ben and Ben towards Sera was life-affirming. Two souls on the dark path in life - one brutalized by selling her body to get by, the other seemingly spiraling down towards an alcohol infused death - but two souls with two good and caring hearts of gold. While the film - which I've seen countless times - sticks very close to the novel, there is a difference in the fact that Sera takes up roughly the first third of the novel whereas in the film it starts with Ben in L.A before heading to Vegas.
July 17, 2025
Took a while to get into this. The book is separated into four sections: Cherries, Bars, Lemons, Plums (casino, you see). I struggled to find anything very compelling in the first three. Cherries focuses on the female protagonist, Sera, and her work as a Las Vegas prostitute, going from one trick to the other, opening with her especially brutal anal rape by three teenage boys. After this, she simply goes back to work like it's nothing more than an occupational hazard (which it probably is). What follows is more random men, more blow jobs, and more bleakness. It was mildly diverting but never that interesting to read.
Bars, meanwhile, switches to our male protagonist, Ben, an alcoholic who has recently lost his job. He lives in L.A. and frequents bars and strip clubs, drinking himself sober, and planning a last big trip to Vegas where, somehow, he will find a way to let his life come to an end (this is very evidently his desired outcome). This section was probably the least interesting to me, full of medicated boozing and self-pity. I understand it's purpose and what it means to the outcome of the novel, but I just didn't find the cycle of bars, booze, and planning for his Vegas trip to be especially entertaining. It was all very banal. I will, however, compliment O'Brien on his ability to write a convincing drunk. There are no slurring words, no comedic gibberish or puerile humour, just a man who drinks, relentlessly, but remains present, almost articulate, until he loses himself and blacks out. His alcoholism is so advanced that being drunk is no longer even possible (or the purpose). After this is the short section (Lemons) that focuses on Sera's pimp Al, a man who regularly beats, rapes, and abuses her. This too wasn't very interesting to me.
Then comes, what is, by far the best part of the novel (Plums). This is where Sera and Ben meet. He hires her, but, due to a staggering inability to keep it up, gets only a brief blow-job and mostly just some company. The two seem to be kindred spirits and deliberately seek each other out again the next day. He pays for her time but they become a form of comfort for one another, sharing their bed without sex, looking forward to each other's presence at the end of the day until he, without meaning to, finds himself moving into her apartment. She knows she can't help him with his alcoholism; he knows she has to go out to have sex for money. They accept each other for who and what they are, and the book becomes genuinely tender and perversely romantic. You could even be tempted to imagine a happy ending for these two. But no... that would not be the right way to end this thing. That would have been a pathetic lie. And when you take into account O' Brien's own life and alcoholism... it makes sense that such an ending would be asking too much.
The book reminded me a lot of City of Night by Rechy but without the same high quality of writing or the originality. It never quite reached those heights.
And however great the final section is, I found the first three parts a little too dull to ignore. In many ways, the book, like Ben, was almost saved at the very end. Almost.
Bars, meanwhile, switches to our male protagonist, Ben, an alcoholic who has recently lost his job. He lives in L.A. and frequents bars and strip clubs, drinking himself sober, and planning a last big trip to Vegas where, somehow, he will find a way to let his life come to an end (this is very evidently his desired outcome). This section was probably the least interesting to me, full of medicated boozing and self-pity. I understand it's purpose and what it means to the outcome of the novel, but I just didn't find the cycle of bars, booze, and planning for his Vegas trip to be especially entertaining. It was all very banal. I will, however, compliment O'Brien on his ability to write a convincing drunk. There are no slurring words, no comedic gibberish or puerile humour, just a man who drinks, relentlessly, but remains present, almost articulate, until he loses himself and blacks out. His alcoholism is so advanced that being drunk is no longer even possible (or the purpose). After this is the short section (Lemons) that focuses on Sera's pimp Al, a man who regularly beats, rapes, and abuses her. This too wasn't very interesting to me.
Then comes, what is, by far the best part of the novel (Plums). This is where Sera and Ben meet. He hires her, but, due to a staggering inability to keep it up, gets only a brief blow-job and mostly just some company. The two seem to be kindred spirits and deliberately seek each other out again the next day. He pays for her time but they become a form of comfort for one another, sharing their bed without sex, looking forward to each other's presence at the end of the day until he, without meaning to, finds himself moving into her apartment. She knows she can't help him with his alcoholism; he knows she has to go out to have sex for money. They accept each other for who and what they are, and the book becomes genuinely tender and perversely romantic. You could even be tempted to imagine a happy ending for these two. But no... that would not be the right way to end this thing. That would have been a pathetic lie. And when you take into account O' Brien's own life and alcoholism... it makes sense that such an ending would be asking too much.
The book reminded me a lot of City of Night by Rechy but without the same high quality of writing or the originality. It never quite reached those heights.
And however great the final section is, I found the first three parts a little too dull to ignore. In many ways, the book, like Ben, was almost saved at the very end. Almost.
November 24, 2020
John O’Brien took his own life in 1994, approximately 4 years after publishing Leaving Las Vegas, the only work he completed on his own. It has been described by his father as his suicide note. With this information at hand and after actually having read the novel, it is quite hard and potentially pointless to look at it from an aesthetic point of view alone.
It’s fairly obvious that O’Brien observed reality with an exceptionally keen eye and closely reported on his findings. I believe Leaving Las Vegas to be first and foremost a novel about the clarity of his vision. Sera, a prostitute based in Las Vegas and Ben, an alcoholic who moved there from L.A. in order to drink himself to death, meet and fall in love. Their story is brief and O’Brien doesn’t use them to present his educated guess on social realities, abuse and victimhood, being lost and found, redeemed by love, or other low hanging fruit from the narrative tree. Instead, he lays bare an existential reality for the reader to see, respectively, to recognize.
His characterization of Sera may be the most convincing and beautiful female portrait in literature. The way O’Brien presents her inner life, her thoughts, and her indestructible drive to live, gives her voice a level of depth and integrity that at least I, haven’t encountered anywhere else so far. The fact that he doesn’t patronize her, nor judges, and, most notably, does not pity her – is a powerful statement on his side as an author. It commands respect and captures your undivided attention as a reader.
What O’Brien does is to juxtapose two fundamental attitudes towards life: acceptance and dismissal. As Camus would put it “there is only one really serious philosophical problem and that is suicide.” He even jokes at one point about Ben being past Camus’ existential pep talk. As any serious writer diving into topics such as these, O’Brien has moments of brilliant humor and sarcasm that put a very humane and diverting spin on this book, which is anything but funny. It’s his way of pointing out the laughable and absurd side of life and he does it masterfully.
He also understands the multiple layers of brokenness Sera and Ben embody and he gives his marginal characters the necessary space to unravel. Of course, O’Brien knows that living on the fringe of society also means being free of its hypocrisy and the lies it feeds itself in order to make reality bearable. The honesty and directness of this novel are so very heartwarming, in a way that it rips your heart out, but then flicks it back together with the truth.
O’Brien is a brilliant writer, an incredible observer, his prose bursts with most interesting associations and word choices. Reading him is a feast in every way and Leaving Las Vegas is nothing but a tour de force. There is no trace of sentimentality or sappiness. He lifts the veil allowing us to witness a raw reality as opposed to him trying to change it, to embellish it, or even worse to improve upon it. He observes, reports and so much of what he has to say rings true.
One of the aspects that make this novel so powerful and poignant is the fact that both Sera and Ben are completely unpreoccupied with appearance, with their place in society, with how it might look. You realize you don’t have to peel away several layers of bullshit to get to the center. The essence is given to you from the get-go. No tricks, no games. And that is so very, very refreshing. No symbolism, just the straightforward depiction of the human condition as experienced. Nobody tries to save or change anybody, instead, you get to look deep down into the soul of characters who in many ways have nothing left to lose, who are thus free. O’Brien lets them unfold with no pretentiousness from the engulfing clarity of his sadness.
Before the curtain falls, Sera and Ben experience some of the best things that can happen to those who are still among the living: genuine companionship, affection, understanding, true communication, love. When Ben’s not passed out from drinking and Sera is not out looking for clients, they share beautiful, genuine moments of tenderness and human closeness. For a brief moment, they are not alone. “Just stay with me for a while. There’s time left. You can have more money. You can drink all you want. (…) You can talk or listen. Just stay. That’s what I want.“, Ben tells her shortly after meeting her. She does and they share a moment of real connection; something moves inside of them despite their weariness. Their love story is a soundless supernova explosion.
The unexpected surprise of this book is maybe Al’s character. Sera’s pimp from LA and her supreme abuser, although it must be noted that Sera isn’t at any point presented as a victim. I find Al to be the real tragic character of this book. Interestingly enough, O’Brien in his supreme respect for his characters treats him equally, gives him a voice, even humanizes him – proving once more that he understands several nuances of human bankruptcy: the one that makes you reject life, the one that makes you desperately cling to it, and the one that makes you destroy it for others.
I think it’s important to mention that this book doesn’t tip the scale in favor of one or the other interpretation about the meaning of life and its value because of this or in spite of that. When Sera asks Ben why he’s killing himself, he simply answers “I don’t remember“. O’Brien doesn’t make a list of pros and cons on pulling the trigger or refraining from doing so. He writes about the ones who do and the ones who don’t, the absurdity of it all, and the moments of grace found in-between.
I wish I had read this book a long, long time ago.
It’s fairly obvious that O’Brien observed reality with an exceptionally keen eye and closely reported on his findings. I believe Leaving Las Vegas to be first and foremost a novel about the clarity of his vision. Sera, a prostitute based in Las Vegas and Ben, an alcoholic who moved there from L.A. in order to drink himself to death, meet and fall in love. Their story is brief and O’Brien doesn’t use them to present his educated guess on social realities, abuse and victimhood, being lost and found, redeemed by love, or other low hanging fruit from the narrative tree. Instead, he lays bare an existential reality for the reader to see, respectively, to recognize.
His characterization of Sera may be the most convincing and beautiful female portrait in literature. The way O’Brien presents her inner life, her thoughts, and her indestructible drive to live, gives her voice a level of depth and integrity that at least I, haven’t encountered anywhere else so far. The fact that he doesn’t patronize her, nor judges, and, most notably, does not pity her – is a powerful statement on his side as an author. It commands respect and captures your undivided attention as a reader.
What O’Brien does is to juxtapose two fundamental attitudes towards life: acceptance and dismissal. As Camus would put it “there is only one really serious philosophical problem and that is suicide.” He even jokes at one point about Ben being past Camus’ existential pep talk. As any serious writer diving into topics such as these, O’Brien has moments of brilliant humor and sarcasm that put a very humane and diverting spin on this book, which is anything but funny. It’s his way of pointing out the laughable and absurd side of life and he does it masterfully.
He also understands the multiple layers of brokenness Sera and Ben embody and he gives his marginal characters the necessary space to unravel. Of course, O’Brien knows that living on the fringe of society also means being free of its hypocrisy and the lies it feeds itself in order to make reality bearable. The honesty and directness of this novel are so very heartwarming, in a way that it rips your heart out, but then flicks it back together with the truth.
O’Brien is a brilliant writer, an incredible observer, his prose bursts with most interesting associations and word choices. Reading him is a feast in every way and Leaving Las Vegas is nothing but a tour de force. There is no trace of sentimentality or sappiness. He lifts the veil allowing us to witness a raw reality as opposed to him trying to change it, to embellish it, or even worse to improve upon it. He observes, reports and so much of what he has to say rings true.
One of the aspects that make this novel so powerful and poignant is the fact that both Sera and Ben are completely unpreoccupied with appearance, with their place in society, with how it might look. You realize you don’t have to peel away several layers of bullshit to get to the center. The essence is given to you from the get-go. No tricks, no games. And that is so very, very refreshing. No symbolism, just the straightforward depiction of the human condition as experienced. Nobody tries to save or change anybody, instead, you get to look deep down into the soul of characters who in many ways have nothing left to lose, who are thus free. O’Brien lets them unfold with no pretentiousness from the engulfing clarity of his sadness.
Before the curtain falls, Sera and Ben experience some of the best things that can happen to those who are still among the living: genuine companionship, affection, understanding, true communication, love. When Ben’s not passed out from drinking and Sera is not out looking for clients, they share beautiful, genuine moments of tenderness and human closeness. For a brief moment, they are not alone. “Just stay with me for a while. There’s time left. You can have more money. You can drink all you want. (…) You can talk or listen. Just stay. That’s what I want.“, Ben tells her shortly after meeting her. She does and they share a moment of real connection; something moves inside of them despite their weariness. Their love story is a soundless supernova explosion.
The unexpected surprise of this book is maybe Al’s character. Sera’s pimp from LA and her supreme abuser, although it must be noted that Sera isn’t at any point presented as a victim. I find Al to be the real tragic character of this book. Interestingly enough, O’Brien in his supreme respect for his characters treats him equally, gives him a voice, even humanizes him – proving once more that he understands several nuances of human bankruptcy: the one that makes you reject life, the one that makes you desperately cling to it, and the one that makes you destroy it for others.
I think it’s important to mention that this book doesn’t tip the scale in favor of one or the other interpretation about the meaning of life and its value because of this or in spite of that. When Sera asks Ben why he’s killing himself, he simply answers “I don’t remember“. O’Brien doesn’t make a list of pros and cons on pulling the trigger or refraining from doing so. He writes about the ones who do and the ones who don’t, the absurdity of it all, and the moments of grace found in-between.
I wish I had read this book a long, long time ago.
July 22, 2020
this book was so powerful,
it made me call my brother and ask how's he doing.
it made me call my brother and ask how's he doing.
March 21, 2025
A book about being human. Flawed. F-ed up. Human.
I’ve never seen the movie and decided to read the book first. I’m glad for the experience, although that was quite a dark ride. I need to gather my thoughts before writing more. But I recommend this to readers who seek stories that are raw and real.
I’ve never seen the movie and decided to read the book first. I’m glad for the experience, although that was quite a dark ride. I need to gather my thoughts before writing more. But I recommend this to readers who seek stories that are raw and real.
August 3, 2021
Filme
“That which begins will also end.”
“That which begins will also end.”
August 29, 2025
Nicolas Cage tambaleándose con la botella en la mano, o Elisabeth Shue sangrando en silencio en una habitación de motel: esas son las imágenes que muchos tienen grabadas al pensar en Leaving Las Vegas. Pero lo que no cabe en la pantalla es lo que John O’Brien escribió: una intimidad brutal donde el dolor no es un espectáculo, sino una forma de estar vivo.
¿Hasta dónde puede llegar la empatía antes de volverse inútil? ¿Hasta qué punto uno puede mirar a alguien que se está destruyendo y seguir viéndolo como humano, sin convertirlo en una metáfora o en un personaje de postal trágica?
En Adiós a Las Vegas, John O’Brien nos ofrece una mirada seca, sin maquillaje, a dos personas que ya han tirado la toalla. No están luchando. No están sobreviviendo. Están cayendo. Y lo saben.
Ben quiere beber hasta morirse. No es una metáfora. No es un poeta maldito con resaca existencial. No. Ben es un alcohólico que ha decidido apagarse a base de vodka y ginebra, y tiene claro que no hay vuelta atrás. Sera es prostituta en Las Vegas, y lo que para muchos sería el infierno, para ella es solo rutina. Ha aprendido a aguantar golpes, a negociar con la humillación, a seguir respirando como quien sigue caminando bajo la lluvia. Cuando sus caminos se cruzan, lo que nace entre ellos no es una historia de redención. No hay redención aquí. Lo que hay es una tregua. Un paréntesis. Una especie de cariño fatal donde cada uno le dice al otro: “no te voy a salvar, pero tampoco te voy a juzgar”.
La película, con Nicolas Cage y Elisabeth Shue, recogió parte de esa crudeza —quizá incluso pensaste que era lo más crudo que podías soportar—, pero la novela va más allá. No en cuanto a drama, sino en lo que duele de verdad: los silencios, los gestos, las pequeñas ruinas diarias. O’Brien te va dejando sin aire casi sin que lo notes. El tipo no necesita gritar para desgarrarte. Y lo hace porque escribe sin redondear los bordes. La prosa es brutal, directa, tan honesta que incomoda. Su narrador omnisciente en tercera persona entra y sale de las cabezas de Ben y Sera, pero lo hace sin pontificar, sin convertirlos en mártires. Son lo que son. Y eso es lo que más duele.
La estructura también marca diferencias con la película. O’Brien no junta a Ben y a Sera desde el primer momento. Primero nos hace vivir sus infiernos por separado, y solo entonces los cruza, cuando ya estamos emocionalmente jodidos. Esa espera, ese lento descenso individual, le da a la novela una profundidad emocional que la película no tiene tiempo de desarrollar. Aquí no hay prisa por llegar al clímax, porque todo es clímax.
Y sin embargo, hay humor. Sí, negro como el alquitrán, pero humor al fin. Hay ironía en medio del desastre, destellos de lucidez que duelen más que cualquier escena de violencia. Porque no es lo que hacen lo que más duele, sino lo que piensan. Lo que han aceptado. Lo que ya no esperan. En eso, la novela se cruza con Camus, con Bukowski, con Céline, con todos esos escritores que entienden que a veces el absurdo no está en el universo, sino en seguir intentándolo. Pero Ben y Sera no intentan. Se limitan a estar. A acompañarse. A no salvarse juntos.
Y Las Vegas es el escenario inevitable de su condena. Aquí no hay luces de neón con doble sentido ni metáforas de la decadencia del capitalismo. Hay calles, habitaciones baratas, clientes sin cara. Alcohol. Sexo. Para Ben y Sera, Las Vegas no es una metáfora, es simplemente donde están. No hay “lado oscuro de la ciudad”, porque no conocen otro. Esta es su realidad. Sin dobleces. Y el título, Adiós a Las Vegas, no es una promesa. Es casi una broma cruel. Porque ellos no se van de ahí. Nadie se va. La única forma de irse es dejar de respirar.
Pero también hay un eco trágico fuera de las páginas: John O’Brien se suicidó poco después de que esta novela se publicara. Lo que convierte Adiós a Las Vegas en algo más que ficción. Es, también, un testamento. Una carta de despedida escrita con la tinta de la lucidez más amarga. Y eso se nota. No hay impostura. No hay pose. Hay verdad. Dura, árida, insoportable.
Esta novela no es para todo el mundo. Ni debería serlo. Pero si te interesan las historias donde los personajes no buscan consuelo, donde el dolor no se justifica ni se redime, donde el realismo es tan áspero que parece que te va a dejar marca… entonces Adiós a Las Vegas es una lectura obligada. No porque sea bonita —no lo es—. Sino porque es honesta. Y, a veces, eso es lo único que importa.
¿Hasta dónde puede llegar la empatía antes de volverse inútil? ¿Hasta qué punto uno puede mirar a alguien que se está destruyendo y seguir viéndolo como humano, sin convertirlo en una metáfora o en un personaje de postal trágica?
En Adiós a Las Vegas, John O’Brien nos ofrece una mirada seca, sin maquillaje, a dos personas que ya han tirado la toalla. No están luchando. No están sobreviviendo. Están cayendo. Y lo saben.
Ben quiere beber hasta morirse. No es una metáfora. No es un poeta maldito con resaca existencial. No. Ben es un alcohólico que ha decidido apagarse a base de vodka y ginebra, y tiene claro que no hay vuelta atrás. Sera es prostituta en Las Vegas, y lo que para muchos sería el infierno, para ella es solo rutina. Ha aprendido a aguantar golpes, a negociar con la humillación, a seguir respirando como quien sigue caminando bajo la lluvia. Cuando sus caminos se cruzan, lo que nace entre ellos no es una historia de redención. No hay redención aquí. Lo que hay es una tregua. Un paréntesis. Una especie de cariño fatal donde cada uno le dice al otro: “no te voy a salvar, pero tampoco te voy a juzgar”.
La película, con Nicolas Cage y Elisabeth Shue, recogió parte de esa crudeza —quizá incluso pensaste que era lo más crudo que podías soportar—, pero la novela va más allá. No en cuanto a drama, sino en lo que duele de verdad: los silencios, los gestos, las pequeñas ruinas diarias. O’Brien te va dejando sin aire casi sin que lo notes. El tipo no necesita gritar para desgarrarte. Y lo hace porque escribe sin redondear los bordes. La prosa es brutal, directa, tan honesta que incomoda. Su narrador omnisciente en tercera persona entra y sale de las cabezas de Ben y Sera, pero lo hace sin pontificar, sin convertirlos en mártires. Son lo que son. Y eso es lo que más duele.
La estructura también marca diferencias con la película. O’Brien no junta a Ben y a Sera desde el primer momento. Primero nos hace vivir sus infiernos por separado, y solo entonces los cruza, cuando ya estamos emocionalmente jodidos. Esa espera, ese lento descenso individual, le da a la novela una profundidad emocional que la película no tiene tiempo de desarrollar. Aquí no hay prisa por llegar al clímax, porque todo es clímax.
Y sin embargo, hay humor. Sí, negro como el alquitrán, pero humor al fin. Hay ironía en medio del desastre, destellos de lucidez que duelen más que cualquier escena de violencia. Porque no es lo que hacen lo que más duele, sino lo que piensan. Lo que han aceptado. Lo que ya no esperan. En eso, la novela se cruza con Camus, con Bukowski, con Céline, con todos esos escritores que entienden que a veces el absurdo no está en el universo, sino en seguir intentándolo. Pero Ben y Sera no intentan. Se limitan a estar. A acompañarse. A no salvarse juntos.
Y Las Vegas es el escenario inevitable de su condena. Aquí no hay luces de neón con doble sentido ni metáforas de la decadencia del capitalismo. Hay calles, habitaciones baratas, clientes sin cara. Alcohol. Sexo. Para Ben y Sera, Las Vegas no es una metáfora, es simplemente donde están. No hay “lado oscuro de la ciudad”, porque no conocen otro. Esta es su realidad. Sin dobleces. Y el título, Adiós a Las Vegas, no es una promesa. Es casi una broma cruel. Porque ellos no se van de ahí. Nadie se va. La única forma de irse es dejar de respirar.
Pero también hay un eco trágico fuera de las páginas: John O’Brien se suicidó poco después de que esta novela se publicara. Lo que convierte Adiós a Las Vegas en algo más que ficción. Es, también, un testamento. Una carta de despedida escrita con la tinta de la lucidez más amarga. Y eso se nota. No hay impostura. No hay pose. Hay verdad. Dura, árida, insoportable.
Esta novela no es para todo el mundo. Ni debería serlo. Pero si te interesan las historias donde los personajes no buscan consuelo, donde el dolor no se justifica ni se redime, donde el realismo es tan áspero que parece que te va a dejar marca… entonces Adiós a Las Vegas es una lectura obligada. No porque sea bonita —no lo es—. Sino porque es honesta. Y, a veces, eso es lo único que importa.
December 21, 2011
One of my very favorites. Leaving Las Vegas is a study of three characters lost in their own worlds.
Sera grows from a naive girl lost on the streets in Los Angeles to a smart, sexy, and increasingly independent woman working the streets in Las Vegas. I understand why Sera does what she does, and so does she.
I particularly like Ben. He is the guy you see stumbling through the shadows at 2 am. Ben is lost in the world he lives in, shunned by society, by everyone, but he is grounded in his own world. Ben has a plan and this is why his character is so powerful. His plan of drinking himself to death sounds bizarre, even downright insane, but he has every detail worked out perfectly. This is where Ben gets interesting. The fact that he donates his clothes, his furniture, his useless household items to real homeless and underprivileged people proves Ben’s humility. He is a good person deep down and my moments with him in the story really make me empathize with him. One of my favorite passages is Ben’s description of true love with a dancer performing at a strip club as he falls for her with her lingering kiss.
Although it may appear that the alcoholic and the prostitute are the weakest characters, the third person in the story, Sera’s pimp, is actually the most troubled. Al hides behind his Mercedes, his fancy jewelry, and his false sense of control over Sera. While Sera and Ben are in the front seat of the car plummeting off the cliff with their eyes open, Al is in the backseat with his eyes closed.
John O’Brien was a wonderful author with a true ability to create living, breathing characters with his words. He died too young. I salute you. You live on through your words... -Jonathan Sturak 12/21/2011
Sera grows from a naive girl lost on the streets in Los Angeles to a smart, sexy, and increasingly independent woman working the streets in Las Vegas. I understand why Sera does what she does, and so does she.
I particularly like Ben. He is the guy you see stumbling through the shadows at 2 am. Ben is lost in the world he lives in, shunned by society, by everyone, but he is grounded in his own world. Ben has a plan and this is why his character is so powerful. His plan of drinking himself to death sounds bizarre, even downright insane, but he has every detail worked out perfectly. This is where Ben gets interesting. The fact that he donates his clothes, his furniture, his useless household items to real homeless and underprivileged people proves Ben’s humility. He is a good person deep down and my moments with him in the story really make me empathize with him. One of my favorite passages is Ben’s description of true love with a dancer performing at a strip club as he falls for her with her lingering kiss.
Although it may appear that the alcoholic and the prostitute are the weakest characters, the third person in the story, Sera’s pimp, is actually the most troubled. Al hides behind his Mercedes, his fancy jewelry, and his false sense of control over Sera. While Sera and Ben are in the front seat of the car plummeting off the cliff with their eyes open, Al is in the backseat with his eyes closed.
John O’Brien was a wonderful author with a true ability to create living, breathing characters with his words. He died too young. I salute you. You live on through your words... -Jonathan Sturak 12/21/2011
September 17, 2016
John O'Brien's debut novel was published in 1990, making it the only one in his very short body of work that was published before his death by suicide in 1994, only two weeks after finding out that his novel would be made into a movie. The way O'Brien's life ended might be the reason why Leaving Las Vegas feels so honest and real.
This is less about how to deal with addiction than about the moments after Ben's decision to end his life, and the resolve that follows. Ben is too far gone for a miraculous all-encompassing cure that suits the society's concept of redemption and happiness. Ben is at the end, at a point when he can't go back, but also - most of all - doesn't want to go back. He moves into a different direction at the crossroads than you'd expect, just waiting for that final snap to come while walking through a limbo of motel rooms and empty bottles.
Some consider Leaving Las Vegas a romance, but I'd say it's about a connection deeper and less flimsy than that, almost primeval. A connection that allows Ben and Sera to act like themselves without the need to pretend or to hide something in themselves they don't want or need others to see. They show their true selves, true intentions, innards, and find their souls in each other.
According to Erin, John's sister, he was a devout atheist, but Erin notes the presence of religious icons in his works and suggests he might have been thinking about spirituality during his last years. Erin considers Sera a shortened form of a seraph. Seraphim are the highest form of heavenly beings in Christianity and caretakers of God's throne, and Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite's description of seraphim in The Celestial Hierarchy is actually very relevant to Sera and how she's portrayed in relation to Ben:
Although Ben's journey feels like an endless period of wandering, Sera is there to unconditionally make it a little brighter and meaningful. O'Brien doesn't lower himself to preaching a moralistic lesson about salvation, but instead challenges to think about an alternative path. In the end, Sera and Ben accept each other's actions and understand, sometimes even without words, what the other needs. It's the kind of companionship not everyone are able to experience in this life.
Ben's motivations are largely left unexplained, and it's the lack of easy answers that makes the novel so involving and full of life. Knowing where all's going to end up is painful, but there's comfort in knowing that Ben has had the chance to live on his own terms and spend his last moments with someone like Sera. For those who are willing to see it, there are moments of beauty along the way, but they're just masked with the lights of strip joints and the stench of a stale casino carpet.
We can never know what O'Brien would have thought about the movie adaptation, but in my opinion it does justice to his work. For one, the cinematography is gorgeous. It's like the visual equivalent of the feeling you get when you're reading the novel. Obviously, the book delves a little deeper and the relationship between Ben and Sera is probably more fleshed out, but otherwise the movie is very much worth two hours of anyone's life.
Originally, I slapped a four star rating on this, but my undying love of slow-burn stories has struck again, and so the amount of days I have thought about this since I read it warrants a full-blown five stars. A very rare occurrence with me, I might add.
This is less about how to deal with addiction than about the moments after Ben's decision to end his life, and the resolve that follows. Ben is too far gone for a miraculous all-encompassing cure that suits the society's concept of redemption and happiness. Ben is at the end, at a point when he can't go back, but also - most of all - doesn't want to go back. He moves into a different direction at the crossroads than you'd expect, just waiting for that final snap to come while walking through a limbo of motel rooms and empty bottles.
Some consider Leaving Las Vegas a romance, but I'd say it's about a connection deeper and less flimsy than that, almost primeval. A connection that allows Ben and Sera to act like themselves without the need to pretend or to hide something in themselves they don't want or need others to see. They show their true selves, true intentions, innards, and find their souls in each other.
According to Erin, John's sister, he was a devout atheist, but Erin notes the presence of religious icons in his works and suggests he might have been thinking about spirituality during his last years. Erin considers Sera a shortened form of a seraph. Seraphim are the highest form of heavenly beings in Christianity and caretakers of God's throne, and Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite's description of seraphim in The Celestial Hierarchy is actually very relevant to Sera and how she's portrayed in relation to Ben:
"The name seraphim clearly indicates their ceaseless and eternal revolution about Divine Principles, their heat and keenness, the exuberance of their intense, perpetual, tireless activity, and their elevative and energetic assimilation of those below, kindling them and firing them to their own heat, and wholly purifying them by a burning and all-consuming flame; and by the unhidden, unquenchable, changeless, radiant and enlightening power, dispelling and destroying the shadows of darkness."
Although Ben's journey feels like an endless period of wandering, Sera is there to unconditionally make it a little brighter and meaningful. O'Brien doesn't lower himself to preaching a moralistic lesson about salvation, but instead challenges to think about an alternative path. In the end, Sera and Ben accept each other's actions and understand, sometimes even without words, what the other needs. It's the kind of companionship not everyone are able to experience in this life.
Ben's motivations are largely left unexplained, and it's the lack of easy answers that makes the novel so involving and full of life. Knowing where all's going to end up is painful, but there's comfort in knowing that Ben has had the chance to live on his own terms and spend his last moments with someone like Sera. For those who are willing to see it, there are moments of beauty along the way, but they're just masked with the lights of strip joints and the stench of a stale casino carpet.
We can never know what O'Brien would have thought about the movie adaptation, but in my opinion it does justice to his work. For one, the cinematography is gorgeous. It's like the visual equivalent of the feeling you get when you're reading the novel. Obviously, the book delves a little deeper and the relationship between Ben and Sera is probably more fleshed out, but otherwise the movie is very much worth two hours of anyone's life.
Originally, I slapped a four star rating on this, but my undying love of slow-burn stories has struck again, and so the amount of days I have thought about this since I read it warrants a full-blown five stars. A very rare occurrence with me, I might add.
May 24, 2024
Excepcional novel. A tragic story. It was a fest of sensations and most of them where extreme sadness. We wanted Ben to survive, we wanted him to stay with Sera. Two damaged human beings in need of redemption and understanding. Beautiful book. A life lesson of some sorts. 🥺🥃
June 12, 2023
It's surreal how long the protagonists exist unaware of each other in the original novel. But it hits as hard as the movie.
April 12, 2015
Amazed that I had never bothered to look into who wrote the story behind the film that stands in my mind as one of the most brutal yet moving and beautiful movies I've come across, I decided out of the clear blue a few nights ago to do some research.
It didn't take long of course to find out this story behind the story behind the film was anything close to anything that resembles "typical" in that world. Indeed, the real life story of author John O'Brien was more heartbreaking than his character Ben Sanderson in Leaving Las Vegas.
I'll let readers do their own background research on the author's incredibly sad demise that parallels Leaving Las Vegas so closely I actually winced when I quickly learned John O'Brien, a very serious alcoholic himself, shot himself in the head with a handgun two weeks after learning his book was to become a movie, starring Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue. His agent found him after he had been missing for several days at one of the infamously seedy motels around Downtown Los Angeles' "Skid Row" section (I'm from LA, and as a once Wild Child can attest to Skid Row's reputation - for once the words escape me, it's a surreal hell). He was dead on his bed, surrounded by dozens of bottles of vodka.
Leaving Las Vegas the novel is described as a "semi-autobiographical novel" and O'Brien's father has been quoted as saying "Leaving Las Vegas was his suicide note." Enough said on that subject - obviously this is a grim, dark story that has not a hint of any redemption or hope at the end.
That's why it falls in my FAVORITES category - it's reality.
I don't want to leave any spoilers - all I can say is this genius, a timeless work of art. It has its faults. Several totally unneeded long passages about one of the character's actions (Sera walking into a casino comes immediately to mind) display the raw and unwieldy nature that is part and parcel of most first novels. One character, a meaningless sideshow protagonist, should have been left out entirely, the whole story and the character himself are just terrible cliches. It was forced, you can feel it, because luckily that short subplot is short and somehow doesn't intrude on the pure magic of this novel - the story of the two main characters, Ben and Sera.
It isn't a long read. I understand in published format I understand the book is 183 pages (I use Apple's iBooks for reading books today). I'm an extremely fast reader, but even that said I devoured this book like just a handful of others - done in less than three hours, and it never left my hands even for bathroom breaks. It's the life O'Brien brings to these two characters, and the arch of the main plot that forced me to actually quicken the pace of my reading (it isn't structured with a quickening pace per say - again it's this undefinable magic of these two characters, and the imminent conclusion that is plainly in near site, that forces one to want to read faster, flip pages, to be irritated by any interruption that removes you from the author's suspended reality he created and I found myself in).
Bottom line: Brace yourself emotionally. Now that I've read the novel and seen the absolutely brilliant film, the inevitable question "Which is better?" came to my from a friend. This is one of those incredibly rare events where both belong in "Best Ever" lists. The screenwriter took raw, unrefined but powerful magic, and smoothened it out - but just a enough and no more. They both are just devastating, heartbreaking, brilliant works of artist magic.
One final note: After the hour or so it takes to be able to focus again once I completed it today, I will say that the media is wrong - this wasn't a suicide note. It was a "Suicide Fantasy" if that makes any sense. When you read the ending and then compare it to the author's ending, both were incredibly painful to read. But Mr. O'Brien did not die like his character Ben does, nor were his last few weeks on earth like Ben's. Both are BRUTAL...but on is an alcoholic's fantasy way to close this life out. The author's was his reality.
Five out of Five Stars. Not perfect...it's a first and essentially only novel from a brilliant author with an incredible story to tell. But somehow the few portions of raw or cliche writing actually augment the story.
Fair warning: it's as heartbreaking as any novel you'll read; it's gotta and realistic. Language and descriptive passages may be tough for some readers. And there is no messages here - this is far from an intentional cautionary tale. It's raw, real...life. But honestly this is a book I'd recommend to anyone - a must read.
It didn't take long of course to find out this story behind the story behind the film was anything close to anything that resembles "typical" in that world. Indeed, the real life story of author John O'Brien was more heartbreaking than his character Ben Sanderson in Leaving Las Vegas.
I'll let readers do their own background research on the author's incredibly sad demise that parallels Leaving Las Vegas so closely I actually winced when I quickly learned John O'Brien, a very serious alcoholic himself, shot himself in the head with a handgun two weeks after learning his book was to become a movie, starring Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue. His agent found him after he had been missing for several days at one of the infamously seedy motels around Downtown Los Angeles' "Skid Row" section (I'm from LA, and as a once Wild Child can attest to Skid Row's reputation - for once the words escape me, it's a surreal hell). He was dead on his bed, surrounded by dozens of bottles of vodka.
Leaving Las Vegas the novel is described as a "semi-autobiographical novel" and O'Brien's father has been quoted as saying "Leaving Las Vegas was his suicide note." Enough said on that subject - obviously this is a grim, dark story that has not a hint of any redemption or hope at the end.
That's why it falls in my FAVORITES category - it's reality.
I don't want to leave any spoilers - all I can say is this genius, a timeless work of art. It has its faults. Several totally unneeded long passages about one of the character's actions (Sera walking into a casino comes immediately to mind) display the raw and unwieldy nature that is part and parcel of most first novels. One character, a meaningless sideshow protagonist, should have been left out entirely, the whole story and the character himself are just terrible cliches. It was forced, you can feel it, because luckily that short subplot is short and somehow doesn't intrude on the pure magic of this novel - the story of the two main characters, Ben and Sera.
It isn't a long read. I understand in published format I understand the book is 183 pages (I use Apple's iBooks for reading books today). I'm an extremely fast reader, but even that said I devoured this book like just a handful of others - done in less than three hours, and it never left my hands even for bathroom breaks. It's the life O'Brien brings to these two characters, and the arch of the main plot that forced me to actually quicken the pace of my reading (it isn't structured with a quickening pace per say - again it's this undefinable magic of these two characters, and the imminent conclusion that is plainly in near site, that forces one to want to read faster, flip pages, to be irritated by any interruption that removes you from the author's suspended reality he created and I found myself in).
Bottom line: Brace yourself emotionally. Now that I've read the novel and seen the absolutely brilliant film, the inevitable question "Which is better?" came to my from a friend. This is one of those incredibly rare events where both belong in "Best Ever" lists. The screenwriter took raw, unrefined but powerful magic, and smoothened it out - but just a enough and no more. They both are just devastating, heartbreaking, brilliant works of artist magic.
One final note: After the hour or so it takes to be able to focus again once I completed it today, I will say that the media is wrong - this wasn't a suicide note. It was a "Suicide Fantasy" if that makes any sense. When you read the ending and then compare it to the author's ending, both were incredibly painful to read. But Mr. O'Brien did not die like his character Ben does, nor were his last few weeks on earth like Ben's. Both are BRUTAL...but on is an alcoholic's fantasy way to close this life out. The author's was his reality.
Five out of Five Stars. Not perfect...it's a first and essentially only novel from a brilliant author with an incredible story to tell. But somehow the few portions of raw or cliche writing actually augment the story.
Fair warning: it's as heartbreaking as any novel you'll read; it's gotta and realistic. Language and descriptive passages may be tough for some readers. And there is no messages here - this is far from an intentional cautionary tale. It's raw, real...life. But honestly this is a book I'd recommend to anyone - a must read.
Want to read
May 5, 2019I barely remember the film; but Leaving Las Vegas was also a novel, or so a friend has just told me, probably a fairly autobiographical novel, and the author killed himself right around the time he found out they were adapting it. I looked it up- he was exactly my age, 33. And...what am I to make of that, if anything?
…Add it to the TBR, I guess. Least I can do for the poor bastard.
May 11, 2016
Already seen the movie, loved it. Now I must read the book too. I enjoy comparing movies to their source marterial especially if they are good.
November 3, 2018
an astonishing and memorial movie
June 13, 2022
I'm going to go against the grain and say that John O'Brien's writing style isn't anything spectacular. What really makes this book is the character of Ben, the kind of character that really isn't a character at all, his experiences and thoughts almost undoubtedly a reflection of the author's. Sera, on the other hand, is pure fantasy and it shows. Perhaps Sera was based on a real person that the author met at some point, but I think he ultimately had a harder time getting into her head and under her skin. I can content myself with thinking of her as the angel that Ben repeatedly refers to her as, one dressed in black lace instead of white. The book starts off seemingly focusing on Sera. Ultimately she becomes an accessory or even a set piece to Ben's tragedy. She exists only to watch him fall from grace.
July 11, 2012
Of all books I've abandoned, this is one of the ones I've put down most quickly. The writing style seemed so clumsy and pretentious to me that I simply couldn't endure it. I probably lasted the second half of how far I did because of a vague suspicion that there was quickly coming an "end quote" or some such mechanism because it was *so* bad that I thought I must have been being put on in some way. This literally is of a quality that if I was handed it by a high school student I could only respond with a lecture about writing in your own voice and not trying to sound literary.
February 17, 2020
This book was beautifully written - and also truly miserable.
February 19, 2023
In my opinion Leaving Las Vegas comes across as an authentic telling of an alchoholic purposefully drinking himself to death. The three main characters in this book all are sad desperate people struggling mightily with different issues. You have a pimp who is a disgusting human but clearly had a rough life to get to the point we meet him, You have the most likeable person in the book Sarah a prostitute and an alcoholic Ben who empties his bank accounts and heads to Vegas to drink until he dies.
The best part of the book in the last third after Sarah and Ben meet. Despite their issues they have an instant connection. They act as boyfriend and girlfriend although their relationship is not sexual due mostly to Bens quickly deteriorating health.
It's hard for me to understand the desire to drink this much but clearly he is sick. It was fascinating to experience what that life would look like. Sarah is living a very rough life as well and yet she has compassion and kindness for Ben even when he deserves it least.
I knew going in that this was semiautobiographical. John O'Brien actually killed himself weeks after selling the movie rights. His father said that Leaving Las Vegas was his suicide note.
It's a quick read and I would have actually liked to known more about the lives before we meet them but maybe the author kept that a secret for a reason.
Warning- The book is very raunchy with detailed descriptions of Sarah turning tricks as a prostitute so this would not be a good read for many.
The best part of the book in the last third after Sarah and Ben meet. Despite their issues they have an instant connection. They act as boyfriend and girlfriend although their relationship is not sexual due mostly to Bens quickly deteriorating health.
It's hard for me to understand the desire to drink this much but clearly he is sick. It was fascinating to experience what that life would look like. Sarah is living a very rough life as well and yet she has compassion and kindness for Ben even when he deserves it least.
I knew going in that this was semiautobiographical. John O'Brien actually killed himself weeks after selling the movie rights. His father said that Leaving Las Vegas was his suicide note.
It's a quick read and I would have actually liked to known more about the lives before we meet them but maybe the author kept that a secret for a reason.
Warning- The book is very raunchy with detailed descriptions of Sarah turning tricks as a prostitute so this would not be a good read for many.
January 18, 2023
75%backstory, de mest rewarding siste 5 sidene jeg har lest
April 26, 2015
I'd been waiting to read this for so long and it was so hard to source a copy of it online but I finally managed to get a copy imported from the US. This is in my top 10 favourite films ever and I was scared that it wouldn't level with the film, I was happily proven wrong. There are many differences between both mediums of film and novel such as they don't correlate with each other chronologically. The film starts slow and turns grim towards its ending, however the book is harrowing from the get go and doesn't stop relenting it's clockwork of unimaginable hysteria throughout. There are many scenes that were cut from the film that are present in the book which are fascinatingly vile, but I do understand why they weren't inducted into the feature. The biggest surprise for me is that Sera is the leading character as opposed to Nick 60/40 to roughly estimate. The only guttering thing was Nick doesn't say my favourite two quotes: "I'm the Kling klang king of the rim ram room" and "I'm a prickly pear". This creation has helped me come to terms with a lot of changes that have occurred in my life in the last couple of years, and has always helped when I've been at my most existentially fragile. The craziest part is this was mostly autobiographical as the author killed himself a few years after releasing the book. A top ten film and now a top ten book for me. "Maybe I shouldn't breathe as much, ahuuuuh!".
June 10, 2019
I think he's a more developed character than she is--his motivations and reasoning and even emotions come through more clearly. She survives by skating the surface, keeping numb to pain. Maybe I understand that OK, too.
Their connection is interesting--they have that elusive something that connects people. Chemistry. What they make of it is entirely unique: a commitment not to judge, to be together for a bit, to ease their loneliness. And all of this knowing that that commitment is temporary, can only be temporary if neither wants to ask the other to change, which is outside the realm of the deal.
I wonder: is prostitution really akin to drinking oneself to death? The fact that the unjudgemental-ness goes both ways on these specific issues leads me to think that the author thought so for some reason. Is it the social stigma? The rejection of behavioral norms, especially for characters as honest about what they do as these two? The extreme of behaviors nearly everyone relates to? I don't know what to make of that. In contrast, the back of the book tells me that she embraces life and he rejects it. I don't know if it's that simple, either. They are parallel and perpendicular. That's a tough trick to pull off.
The writing has its own rhythm, choppy in places. Profound.
Their connection is interesting--they have that elusive something that connects people. Chemistry. What they make of it is entirely unique: a commitment not to judge, to be together for a bit, to ease their loneliness. And all of this knowing that that commitment is temporary, can only be temporary if neither wants to ask the other to change, which is outside the realm of the deal.
I wonder: is prostitution really akin to drinking oneself to death? The fact that the unjudgemental-ness goes both ways on these specific issues leads me to think that the author thought so for some reason. Is it the social stigma? The rejection of behavioral norms, especially for characters as honest about what they do as these two? The extreme of behaviors nearly everyone relates to? I don't know what to make of that. In contrast, the back of the book tells me that she embraces life and he rejects it. I don't know if it's that simple, either. They are parallel and perpendicular. That's a tough trick to pull off.
The writing has its own rhythm, choppy in places. Profound.
December 6, 2021
Leaving Las Vegas by John O’Brien (Watermark Press, Inc. 1990) (Fiction) (3593).
John O’Brien first novel is absolutely brutal. That’s my reaction to Leaving Las Vegas.
It’s a story about suicide. Slow, deliberate suicide. By alcohol.
It’s also a story about survival. Sera has survived for years as a streetwalking prostitute. Ben is a last-stage alcoholic who has either lost or consciously disposed of everything of value in his life. He has resolved to go to Las Vegas (where the bars never close) to drink himself to death, unknown and unencumbered by regret, relationships, possessions, or doubt.
It is also a gut-wrenching description of the danger of loving someone who believes him/herself unworthy of being loved. That’s enough tragedy for a whole big bunch of sad stories.
John O’Brien’s description of the results of long-term uncontrolled alcohol abuse is horrifying.
Brutality, suicide, doomed romance, and a terrifying addiction...what’s not to like about this story?
Author John O’Brien killed himself in 1995 at the age of thirty-three, two weeks after learning that his book Leaving Las Vegas was to be made into a movie.
My rating: 7.25/10, finished 12/5/21 (3593).
January 27, 2011
It was slow at first, but then when Ben and Sera meet, it was really good. Really, really, really good. And I appreciate that she didn't try to save him.
*******
"I only have eyes for you,...and we both know that you would never become romantically involved with a trick."
*******
"'That's amazing,' he says, truly impressed. 'What are you, some sort of angel visiting me from one of my drunk fantasies? How can you be so old?'
She turns away on the pillow and says to the wall, 'I don't know what you're saying. I'm just using you. I need you. Can we not talk about it anymore. Please, not another word, okay?'"
*******
"But this insinuation of timidity cheapens her, cheapens the sublime act of selfish selflessness that she is prolonging; the basic loneliness of her humanity, and the knowing and accepting the conditions of that which has been shown to assuage it. Sera's not living up to any agreement, she is simply living. Ben gave this ack to her, and therein lies the agreement."
*******
"I only have eyes for you,...and we both know that you would never become romantically involved with a trick."
*******
"'That's amazing,' he says, truly impressed. 'What are you, some sort of angel visiting me from one of my drunk fantasies? How can you be so old?'
She turns away on the pillow and says to the wall, 'I don't know what you're saying. I'm just using you. I need you. Can we not talk about it anymore. Please, not another word, okay?'"
*******
"But this insinuation of timidity cheapens her, cheapens the sublime act of selfish selflessness that she is prolonging; the basic loneliness of her humanity, and the knowing and accepting the conditions of that which has been shown to assuage it. Sera's not living up to any agreement, she is simply living. Ben gave this ack to her, and therein lies the agreement."
March 4, 2015
Leaving Las Vegas
I found this book to be long winded, which is impressive considering it is only 189 pages long. The sentences go on and on without saying anything. Nothing actually happens in the book. The flashbacks are jarring and pointless. Reading this book made me feel like I had walked in halfway to a movie I had never seen before. This is one of those extremely rare instances when I enjoyed the movie so much more than the book. I would not recommend this book to anyone. Rent the movie instead.
I found this book to be long winded, which is impressive considering it is only 189 pages long. The sentences go on and on without saying anything. Nothing actually happens in the book. The flashbacks are jarring and pointless. Reading this book made me feel like I had walked in halfway to a movie I had never seen before. This is one of those extremely rare instances when I enjoyed the movie so much more than the book. I would not recommend this book to anyone. Rent the movie instead.
February 17, 2013
Dejadlo todo, salid a por esta novela. Una vez leída, la película os parecerá vulgar y ñoña.
March 22, 2025
3.5/5
O John O'Brien itan alkoolikos.Aftoktonise pirovolontas to kefali tou dyo vdomades afotou emathe oti to imi-aftoviografiko tou vivlio tha ginotan tainia.
H istoria afora 2 xamenous anthropous sto perithorio tis koinwnias(3 an ypologisoume ton Al).Einai oloi lypimenoi,apelpismenoi kai agwnizontai entona me diaforetika zitimata.H Sera,mia ierodouli,einai o pio simpathis xaraktiras,o Mpen einai enas alkoolikos me xrysh kardia pou pinei mexri na pethanei kai o Al,o proin ntavatzis tis Sera,mporei na antimetopise dyskolies alla einai sixamenos.H poreia tis Sera katalamvanei to prwto trito aftou tou sintomou mithistorimatos,o Mpen kai o kosmos tou mas odigoun ligo pera apo ta misa kai telos yparxei h metaksi tous sxesh.O siggrafeas petyxainei to kommati tis oikodomisis tou kosmou xwris o anagnwstis na katalavainei tis kiniseis twn prwtagwnistwn.
O Mpen kai h Sera xtizoun mia sxesi apo monaksia kai apelpisia.H sinthiki den einai idaniki oute omorfi alla kaneis apo tous dyo den paraponietai.O O’Brien alatizei afti ti thliveri istoria me tis aparaitites dwseis xioumor kai me afton ton tropo prosferei sto koino ena rizomeno endiaferon gia tous xaraktires.Aisio telos se afti tin istoria den mporei na yparksei kai h anapofefkti tragwdia twn elattwmatikwn iroon erxetai me argous rythmous.H Sera para tin viaiotita pou kataklyzei tin zwh tis,exei simponia kai kalosyni gia ton Mpen akoma kai otan den tou aksizei.Itan sinarpastiko na vioneis pos tha emoiaze afti h zwh
O John O'Brien itan alkoolikos.Aftoktonise pirovolontas to kefali tou dyo vdomades afotou emathe oti to imi-aftoviografiko tou vivlio tha ginotan tainia.
H istoria afora 2 xamenous anthropous sto perithorio tis koinwnias(3 an ypologisoume ton Al).Einai oloi lypimenoi,apelpismenoi kai agwnizontai entona me diaforetika zitimata.H Sera,mia ierodouli,einai o pio simpathis xaraktiras,o Mpen einai enas alkoolikos me xrysh kardia pou pinei mexri na pethanei kai o Al,o proin ntavatzis tis Sera,mporei na antimetopise dyskolies alla einai sixamenos.H poreia tis Sera katalamvanei to prwto trito aftou tou sintomou mithistorimatos,o Mpen kai o kosmos tou mas odigoun ligo pera apo ta misa kai telos yparxei h metaksi tous sxesh.O siggrafeas petyxainei to kommati tis oikodomisis tou kosmou xwris o anagnwstis na katalavainei tis kiniseis twn prwtagwnistwn.
O Mpen kai h Sera xtizoun mia sxesi apo monaksia kai apelpisia.H sinthiki den einai idaniki oute omorfi alla kaneis apo tous dyo den paraponietai.O O’Brien alatizei afti ti thliveri istoria me tis aparaitites dwseis xioumor kai me afton ton tropo prosferei sto koino ena rizomeno endiaferon gia tous xaraktires.Aisio telos se afti tin istoria den mporei na yparksei kai h anapofefkti tragwdia twn elattwmatikwn iroon erxetai me argous rythmous.H Sera para tin viaiotita pou kataklyzei tin zwh tis,exei simponia kai kalosyni gia ton Mpen akoma kai otan den tou aksizei.Itan sinarpastiko na vioneis pos tha emoiaze afti h zwh
April 14, 2022
Riconosco che John O’Brien scrive (o meglio, scriveva) benissimo; soprattutto scriveva benissimo di un mondo che conosceva a menadito, quello dell’alcolismo; lo conosceva per averlo vissuto in prima persona fino al momento in cui si è tolto la vita. Non ci è riuscito con l’alcool però... lo ha fatto con una pistola.
Male ho sopportato tutto il racconto, ricchissimo di particolari aberranti; se da una parte i protagonisti, Sera (lei è una prostituta) e Ben, mi hanno fatto pena con le loro solitudini, dall’altra ho provato rabbia e disgusto. L’incontro tra loro, quella sorta di affetto che ne nasce, mi ha fatto sperare in un cambiamento, e invece niente... anzi la situazione è peggiorata e questo mi ha disturbata, ha creato ancora più disagio.
Il mio non è moralismo... ognuno ha il diritto di vivere la vita come meglio crede e di viverla così, come loro due, sulla propria pelle, ma - onestamente - l’autolesionismo cosciente non l’ho proprio digerito.
Peccato che all’autore non sia arrivato nessun premio, se non un riconoscimento tardivo per aver scritto un buon racconto. Eh, già! Perché ho letto che da questo romanzo è stato tratto un bel film che ha avuto molte nomination ed è valso l’Oscar come miglior attore protagonista a Nicolas Cage. Ce lo vedo bene in questo ruolo, ma io non vedrò mai questo film. Non ce la farei a sopportare tanto degrado.
La postfazione, scritta da Erin O’Brien, sorella dell’autore, vale tutto il libro. Mi ha fatto venire la pelle d’oca.
🇺🇸 LdM: USA/Nevada
📚 Biblioteca
Male ho sopportato tutto il racconto, ricchissimo di particolari aberranti; se da una parte i protagonisti, Sera (lei è una prostituta) e Ben, mi hanno fatto pena con le loro solitudini, dall’altra ho provato rabbia e disgusto. L’incontro tra loro, quella sorta di affetto che ne nasce, mi ha fatto sperare in un cambiamento, e invece niente... anzi la situazione è peggiorata e questo mi ha disturbata, ha creato ancora più disagio.
Il mio non è moralismo... ognuno ha il diritto di vivere la vita come meglio crede e di viverla così, come loro due, sulla propria pelle, ma - onestamente - l’autolesionismo cosciente non l’ho proprio digerito.
Peccato che all’autore non sia arrivato nessun premio, se non un riconoscimento tardivo per aver scritto un buon racconto. Eh, già! Perché ho letto che da questo romanzo è stato tratto un bel film che ha avuto molte nomination ed è valso l’Oscar come miglior attore protagonista a Nicolas Cage. Ce lo vedo bene in questo ruolo, ma io non vedrò mai questo film. Non ce la farei a sopportare tanto degrado.
La postfazione, scritta da Erin O’Brien, sorella dell’autore, vale tutto il libro. Mi ha fatto venire la pelle d’oca.
🇺🇸 LdM: USA/Nevada
📚 Biblioteca
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