i remember many years ago when i was travelling in new york, not the new york you know, this one was pre rudy giuliani, a different scene, one with a sharper edge, a harder kick. i was in queens and tuned in to lou reed talking about his fave writer, i think he was taking to william burroughs. anyway's he said 'last exit brooklyn' which i sought out when i had money again. 
i read it and was stunned, not just by the sheer brutal realism of the novel but the writing was immaculate. herbert selby jr had it, that quality of being a great writer.

what are they? for me they are energy. the words, the story have to have an energy, i guess that means it's got to speak to you, engage in your synapsis, heart and sexual organs. it has to turn you on, even if it's brutal and ugly. somewhere it has to capture your attention in some part of your body, guts, brain, cock. very few books capture them all.
i think i can tell when a writer puts everything they have into their book, i can tell by the story, the way it's told and how it effects the reader. everyone has a different experience of a book. my time with henri charriere aka papillon would be vastly different than yours. so we have to have some personal connection with what we read.  

selby was poor and struggled most of his life, only in later life did a new generation tune in to his work, films were made and his writing hit the wave of the new underground culture, still imbued with fringe credibility, now it was obscure post punk bands, filmmakers other writers and lou reed who seemed to acknowledge his work as influential.
i read that book in a couple of days, mind you that's all i did. page after page, it held me captive.
those characters  that life. nihilistic, the annihilation of it's savage trajectories as characters train wreckage lives were further crushed by savage humanity. 
when many years later i saw 'requiem' while being involved with a girl who was a character from the book, but was edited out for being to ridiculous. 
it was strange seeing all that addiction, processing my situation and relationship.  
so i'm about to re read some herbert selby jr. 
obviously some of that energy will find it way in these pages, be warned.