Reviews tagging 'Death'

Naked Lunch: The Restored Text by William S. Burroughs Jr

11 reviews

catsarecool43's review against another edition

challenging dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

mosaic of terror

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Grief, Cannibalism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

fireballme's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Vomit, and Alcohol

resolvedpoem's review against another edition

It was for a book club, but everyone decided it wasn’t very fun and wouldn’t be a great time to talk about. A little too heavy for everyone. I was planning to finish it anyway but without the motivation from the club, I too moved onto more fun reads.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Its hard to describe exactly what is upsetting about Naked Lunch, and why, because theres simply so much of it. A very challenging read, at its best, and downright unfun at it’s worst.

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, and Murder

jblago's review

challenging dark funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A book to more absorbed than read. When I started I was understandably challenged just comprehending each sentence as I read it, sometimes rereading the same paragraph multiple times simply to understand the words themselves let alone any semblance of deeper meaning or overall plot. But as I read more I became more comfortable with the style of this book. A literal Diary of a Madman. Junk-sick and mostly disgusting, yet proud and satirical on a level I have yet to see in any other book, film, or other art piece. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Trafficking, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment

Minor: Homophobia, Pedophilia, Islamophobia, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

The satirical nature of the book makes it HEAVY with content warnings, but within context everything has its purpose. Each word serves its raison d’etre perfectly, in spite of its outward appearance.

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

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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

gleerest's review against another edition

challenging funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Racial slurs, and Violence

emcee_othello's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I don’t think William S. Burroughs meant for anyone to understand Naked Lunch. I doubt even he completely understood what he’d made, especially if we’re to trust his assertion that he wrote most of it while strung out on heroin. But even after he’d sobered up and began editing, I think Burroughs recognized the hallucinogenic potency of his words and decided that the toxic prose contained in Naked Lunch was the only true and unabridged way to represent the life of a junkie.

Burroughs insisted that drug addiction was a disease—a “junk virus” that threatened humanity as much as any other deadly ailment. But he also recognized that heroin abuse could only be promulgated in a capitalist system. Drugs are the perfect commodity. They sate a primal appetite for pleasure, turn ordinary people into lifelong customers, and most importantly transform a curious mind into one wholly dependent on product. Addicts move at the whims of pushers—desperate to feed a fix, made to wait for hours or days, and always in the losing position in a bargain. It could be an allegory for consumerism if opioid abuse wasn’t still an epidemic today.

If Naked Lunch is about anything, it’s about the miserable life of an addict. The paranoia, the sickness, the lethargy of being hooked on heroin. But it’s also about the world that addiction creates—the “perfect capitalism” of the drug market. Naked Lunch is as much about sickness as it is about how drug pushers both illegal and corporate exploit and experiment on people. Burroughs insinuates that the pusher, the pharmacist, the CIA are all just as addicted to power and control as their customers are to their product. See the junkies go ape as they tear each other apart and hang themselves for sex. See the scientist observing from a window, hands soaked in blood, shaking his head in disappointment. See it here, then look around you; you might be eating at the same lunch, too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Violence, Excrement, and Medical trauma

It’s some crazy stuff! Very obscene.

alicejwhite17's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, and Alcohol

dig2deep's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, and Murder