h_motionless's review against another edition
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.75
William Burroughs is an author I am incredibly ambivalent about - Junky and Queer were two novels I found to be genuinely captivating, through the narration style and subject matter, while novels like The Soft Machine and The Wild Boys were gratuitous displays of depravity that seemed to be thrown together with little to no thought or artistic ability. Unfortunately, despite it being his most well-known novel, Naked Lunch fit into the latter category. I couldn’t follow along with a single plot point, and nothing about this novel is enjoyable to read. Naked Lunch may be an important novel in breaking down the barriers and limitations of literature at the time, but makes no sense to a modern reader, and genuinely reads as a drug-infested pornographic rambling. After now reading five of Burroughs’ works, I am eager to read more, as two of his novels appealed to me greatly and I am sure that there is more within his bibliography that I would enjoy - this novel though, I didn’t enjoy in the slightest.
jackbowerman's review against another edition
4.0
As I've been reading this, I've discussed it with several people. After describing it or reading them excerpts, each person asked me: how can you read something like that? how do you sleep after? and you actually enjoy it?
It's hard to describe the magic in this, but the power of the text is enormous. In essence, these are the ramblings and fragmented memoirs of an addict - an addict of lots of drugs, but namely junk. Some of the passages are very close to unbearable. And yes, on the surface this can at times seem like unnecessarily graphic (and I mean extremely graphic) nonsense. But stick with it, and Burroughs forces you into a corner of comprehension.
In perhaps the most graphic passage, Burroughs describes a group of people watching television. The scenes on the TV are horrific to read. In the scene, a threesome turns into a cannibalistic, sexually fueled homicide. You have to consider the context and era in which this was published. Burroughs is forcing you to see the disgusting hypocrisy of capital punishment in the US. In the same way capital punishments always have an audience, the readers (and the characters watching the TV) are the audience here. It forces the reader into the understanding of the fact that if sexualising the decision to witness murder disgusts the reader, capital punishment should in the same way. Naked Lunch also includes constant themes of homosexuality and racially incited violence. Burroughs force feeds moral realization to you. As a result, the novel was subject to enormous censorship in the United States.
It's also worth noting that the contribution of the editors, Barry Miles and James Grauerholz, greatly enriches the book.
Do not read this book if you are easily offended, sensitive, or dislike non-linear narratives.
It's hard to describe the magic in this, but the power of the text is enormous. In essence, these are the ramblings and fragmented memoirs of an addict - an addict of lots of drugs, but namely junk. Some of the passages are very close to unbearable. And yes, on the surface this can at times seem like unnecessarily graphic (and I mean extremely graphic) nonsense. But stick with it, and Burroughs forces you into a corner of comprehension.
In perhaps the most graphic passage, Burroughs describes a group of people watching television. The scenes on the TV are horrific to read. In the scene, a threesome turns into a cannibalistic, sexually fueled homicide. You have to consider the context and era in which this was published. Burroughs is forcing you to see the disgusting hypocrisy of capital punishment in the US. In the same way capital punishments always have an audience, the readers (and the characters watching the TV) are the audience here. It forces the reader into the understanding of the fact that if sexualising the decision to witness murder disgusts the reader, capital punishment should in the same way. Naked Lunch also includes constant themes of homosexuality and racially incited violence. Burroughs force feeds moral realization to you. As a result, the novel was subject to enormous censorship in the United States.
It's also worth noting that the contribution of the editors, Barry Miles and James Grauerholz, greatly enriches the book.
Do not read this book if you are easily offended, sensitive, or dislike non-linear narratives.
crazyrhythms's review against another edition
dark
funny
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Addiction, and Drug use
koreamaria's review against another edition
5.0
Read for fun as I commuted to uni on the street car in New Orleans. I think one of my first explorations of surrealism.
margztgz's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
tense
medium-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
1.5
delusional pornographic surrealist ramblings sorry, nothing about this was enjoyable
billybookmark's review against another edition
4.0
very much homer watching twin peaks "brilliant, I have absolutely no idea what's going on"
never read anything like it, pretty good going for something he doesn't even remember writing any of
only downside is I was rarely engaged, much like a cool auntie or uncle
also for anyone else who's main reason for reading this is because it's where steely dan got their name, it's on page 77
never read anything like it, pretty good going for something he doesn't even remember writing any of
only downside is I was rarely engaged, much like a cool auntie or uncle
also for anyone else who's main reason for reading this is because it's where steely dan got their name, it's on page 77
fargestift's review against another edition
4.0
A fragmented slice of a paranoid junky's depraved worldview, Naked Lunch often offers up utter brilliance in its depiction of a society that exists somewhere between the real and fantastical. Some of the vignettes are too abstract for my sober mind, but the ideas that are effable to me stands among the greatest literature I've ever read. Did I ever tell you about the man who taught his asshole to talk?
tylerheffer's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
5.0
If John Waters is the pope of trash, William S. Burroughs is Jesus Christ.
A satirical masterstroke of shock, filth, and depravity told in a beautiful mix of prose and poetry. Scenes shift at any given sentence. The unstable life of a junkie is personified in the structure. Every chapter is like waking up and trying to remember, “Where am I? Who is this?” The only foothold is your fellow junkies, dealers, and the people in power that take advantage of both to seek their own vices and sew further chaos in this already cruel world. Every vignette is a puzzle piece each with its own unique shape, color, and size. Each still able to fit together as part of the whole but is able to stand on its own just as well. It feels like a truly epic troll maybe not with nuance but with purpose.
P.S. I listened to the restored text but skipped the deleted scenes. I watch those later. Also wrote most of this at 5 AM.
P.S. I listened to the restored text but skipped the deleted scenes. I watch those later. Also wrote most of this at 5 AM.
kalliegrace's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
3.0
This is very well written, there's no complaint there. I just can't rate this any higher because I did not enjoy this at all. The subject matter and description are stomach-churning, leaving me jaw-dropped and nauseated. I wish the author's notes had come first, because it gave much needed context for how to conceptualize what was happening. It's so bad yet you keep going back for more, like the junkie. A very creative way of portraying the experience of addiction.