Reviews

Junky by Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Oliver Harris

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dustyhayes's review against another edition

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dark informative fast-paced

4.0

unrealpunk's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny informative reflective

4.0

Four stars for the novel itself, but for Burroughs fans this is five stars when you include the editing and introduction from Oliver Harris. Of course, I recommend reading the novel first and then the intro as an afterword.

aydanroger's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative tense medium-paced

3.75

Addictively nauseating. Glad to have read it and have a better understanding of heroin use in the US in the mid 20th century, but I'm not going to be in a rush to go through this short book again. Also found Bill's distaste for "fags" and queer bars to be completely at odds with his predilection for sexual encounters with young men.

kaylapt's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense medium-paced

tampoldm's review against another edition

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4.0

Fascinating exploration of life as abject. Does get a bit dull in parts

irishdrew83's review against another edition

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4.0

A dark, seedy world shown on a flickering, faded, black and white film strip. Real and raw. Real life. Raw emotion. In a sense emotionless, but not devoid of feeling. Depression. Pain. Sickness. Not a disease anyone can catch. Known to a select chosen few, self-inflicted and not contagious. A disease of society, but contracted by a certain sect. William S. Burroughs explores the disease and those suffering from it as only he can. His first novel, 1953’s Junky, presents a semi-autobiographical account of junk, junkies, and addiction gained from his own personal experiences...

To read the rest of this review go to https://drewmartinwrites.wordpress.com/2016/11/22/junky-1953-review/