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ed_moore's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
0.5
Burroughs’ ‘Naked Lunch’ is an exploration of the drug addiction problem plaguing 1960’s America, written by an author recently recovered from 15 years of addiction. It is told primarily through a series of tangled vignettes which mixed with the nature of depicting addiction and hallucination the story is extremely difficult to follow. Instead you are just forced to take in snippets of extremely uncomfortable text to read.
I came so close to DNF’ing this, and I never do let myself DNF books, that being the only reason I pushed through. Burroughs claimed in his afterword that the goal of the book alongside depicting the American junk scene was to criticise the capital punishment system in America and question why addiction is frowned upon more than such, though both are criticised. To me, it didn’t read like this. It was just constant exposure to awful scenes of rape, murder, gang rape, child rape, violent rape. It was just a horrific pornographic book on a drug high which had no sympathy or remorse for the topics it was describing, handled them crudely with no respect and didn’t even particularly condemn such. The scenes were persistent and quiet graphic too so it was just consistently uncomfortable and sickening to read.
Rape being the prominent unsettling element of the book, it was not the only one. It was also extremely sexist, racist and would frequently discuss the concept of hypnotising the homosexuality out of someone and was blatantly crude and homophobic throughout. It really ticked every box on the type of person you don’t want to be.
I didn’t take anything positive from ‘Naked Lunch’ at all and hated it from the first chapter. If I was brave enough to DNF a book this would’ve absolutely been the first.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Sexual harassment
tazch1701's review against another edition
This book leads me to leave the Beatnik culture was selfish. I know there is debauchery and filth in this world and to pretend it doesn't exist is naive and unhelpful. But, if I'm going to read or learn about the dark underside of society, I want to come away with some sense of having learned how to recognise or help people in those situations or how to avoid those situations or I want have expanded my empathy to a wider group of people. This book did none of that, while I understand that it was pivotal in pushback on literary censorship in the US, I find it insane that this work in particular is the one chosen to immemorial Burroughs. I also find it hard to stomach the fact that Burroughs was a trust fund baby who never had to work a day in his life, had he existed in the modern day I would say he's a spoilt champagne socialist who doesn't participate in any helpful activism and instead is part of the counter culture to fuel his perceived intelligence and as a means to indulge in his own selfish behaviour. If a person of colour had written this book it would not have achieved anywhere near this amount of praise or longevity, but for some reason a white man's drugg addled ramblings are worthy of being immortalised. In my opinion to be part of a true counter culture is to be part of a feasible alternative to the individualistic, capitalistic society of today that encompasses community, equity and kindness (which I think is the biggest thing we lack in the mainstream).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
kaitoro_walker13's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I just didn't GET IT. They were good short stories, but I feel like if I got the book, it would have been so much better
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, and Murder
crufts's review against another edition
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Disclaimer: I only read the first 30%. After that, I got the gist and didn't feel the need to read the rest. There's no plot, so it doesn't really matter if you miss some chapters or read it out of order.
After hearing the title mentioned several times over the years, I became curious about Naked Lunch and decided to read it.
In poetic, lyrical, psychedelic language, the author paints a picture of an America addled by junk - that is, opioid drugs in all their forms. Plagued by addicts of every substance under the sun, the society he depicts is in a state of complete moral and physical degradation.
Other words I would use to describe this book: deranged, delirious, fevered, stream of consciousness, extremely offensive, nonsensical, bizarre, and over the top. Don't go into this book expecting a plot, consistent characters, or any shred of common sense. It's not a story at all, it's more like a really long slam poem.
Overall, I found the book more historically interesting than anything else - i.e., what on earth did Burroughs write that caused such a stir at the time? It was interesting to see the author railing against capital punishment, and also how he considered addicts to be sick people suffering an illness rather than being morally bankrupt (which was the dominant opinion at the time).
I am unable to choose a star rating due to how obscenely obscene the book is. However, you may find it interesting to check the book if you're hunting for inspiration to write an insane or delirious character.
After hearing the title mentioned several times over the years, I became curious about Naked Lunch and decided to read it.
In poetic, lyrical, psychedelic language, the author paints a picture of an America addled by junk - that is, opioid drugs in all their forms. Plagued by addicts of every substance under the sun, the society he depicts is in a state of complete moral and physical degradation.
Other words I would use to describe this book: deranged, delirious, fevered, stream of consciousness, extremely offensive, nonsensical, bizarre, and over the top. Don't go into this book expecting a plot, consistent characters, or any shred of common sense. It's not a story at all, it's more like a really long slam poem.
Overall, I found the book more historically interesting than anything else - i.e., what on earth did Burroughs write that caused such a stir at the time? It was interesting to see the author railing against capital punishment, and also how he considered addicts to be sick people suffering an illness rather than being morally bankrupt (which was the dominant opinion at the time).
I am unable to choose a star rating due to how obscenely obscene the book is. However, you may find it interesting to check the book if you're hunting for inspiration to write an insane or delirious character.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Biphobia, Body horror, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Lesbophobia, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Self harm, and Vomit
Minor: Transphobia
Please seriously consider the content warnings in this and other reviews. The author wrote the book intending to bring light to the "naked" reality of drug addiction and moral decay that he observed and experienced.However, I will note that there are hardly any named or recurring characters, and there's a certain fever-dream-like quality to the writing style. As a result, many of these scenes come off as more bizarre than distressing.
Again, please be warned, the book basically consists of one gross and deranged scene after another.
nickreallylovestoread's review against another edition
I gave this book two chances and I just can’t do it. Read Junky before this and enjoyed the gritty realism mixed with Burroughs’ black comedy, but the vignettes in this book were jagged and incredibly hard to follow. Burroughs must have challenged himself to see how obnoxiously crude he could make depraved sex sequences. Enjoyed dark authors like Bret Easton Ellis, Martin Amis, and Hunter S. Thompson who I realize owe their writings and successes to Burroughs (Amis is debatable) but this goes on too far. I’ll read Queer or Junky if I go back to this author.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Murder
moranguinhos's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
even in the annotated version there were so many words i had to google. half were drugs & the other half were sex acts. wild vacation read
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Murder