Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Naked Lunch
Book Review: A Literary Classic!
Summary: 5 Stars
Naked Lunch is one of the greatest books of the 20th century. It is a must for anyone who dare think of themselves as literary connoissuers (sp?). Filled with humor, symbolism, fantasy, and ground breaking writing style, I recommend it to everyone. The book replaces traditional measures such as "plot" and "story" in favor of creating an overall "feeling". When you are finished it will hit you, and when it does you will never forget Naked Lunch.Book Review: A Misunderstood Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
I can't believe how amzingly interesting this book is! I have read it many times and will continue too for a long while. It is also amazing that my school teachers(yes I am only 14, I can still read) tell me that this book is just plain crap (and then force us to read "Of Mice and Men" for the 3rd time and tell me how much it changed modern literature and blah blah blah). This book influenced tons of writers, poets, visionaries, hippies, artists, and a bazillion other people. Come on, this book influenced modern music! Any book that can change the music world is very special and important (it heavily influenced the writting of Lou Reed in his Velvet Underground days of the late 60's). Everyone seems to take this book solely as a book about a junky's hallucinations and a vehicle for Burroughs' cut-up style. It is moslty in Interzone (the hallucinatory planet,city,whatever..), and I am sure that this place was created by various drugs. That is all beside the point, this book is mainly about addiction, not necessarilly addiction to smack or junk but man's addiction to everything he may be addicted to. All in all, with this book, you have to take it as it comes. If you don't like it, don't bother to read it, but you'll be missing out on an amazing literary work of great beauty.Book Review: A True Masterpiece Of 20th Century Literature
Summary: 5 Stars
It's been almost three years now since Uncle Bill scored the Immaculate Fix, but his spirit still lives on. This novel, Burroughs' greatest work was written in the late 1950's, a time when American pop culture reached untold heights of banality. Enter Naked Lunch - a double-barreled assault on truth, justice, and the American Way. No institution is safe, nothing is sacred, and the taboo is made holy, as capitalists, racists, fascists, homophobes, doctors, cops, Christians, and hypocrites of all sorts get their just desserts. Burroughs, a fortunate son born into wealth and power, dissects and destroys proper society in his prose, exploding mind bombs of words throughout. Veering somewhere between a bad acid trip and exact Swiftian satire, Naked Lunch remains the most original work of fiction ever written. A must-read for all serious students of literature, this is one of those books that you just can't "like" - you either love it, or you hate it. I absolutely loved it! This book also begs for re-reads as new insights are revealed with each reading. And please, PLEASE be sure to listen to Burroughs read the abridged version on tape! After completing this novel, Burroughs went on to invent the cyberpunk sub-genre of science fiction with his Nova Trilogy of novels. As Norman Mailer once opined, "Burroughs is the only American novelist living today who may concievably be possessed by genius." Squares need not apply. A word to the Wise Guy.Book Review: A brilliant piece of work
Summary: 5 Stars
Burroughs paces across the spectra of feeling and creativity in this classic book (it doesn't really feel like a "novel"). He induces confusion, disgust, hope, insight and various other reactions in the reader, and if the reader "gets" any of it, there is a big payoff. You see, Burroughs is a fantastic writer. He can take absurd situations and make sense out of them, all the while dazzling the reader with his weird feel for structure and plot. I've read this book a dozen times, I think, and I'm always discovering something new. I bought the cassette version, with 80-year-old Burroughs reading the thing, and listening to that turned the book on its head for me, making me appreciate points I hadn't noticed before. So why not a 10? Because this is a cold piece of art, rather than an uplifting experience.Book Review: A difficult read
Summary: 3 Stars
Naked luch starts out as absolute gibberish, and I almost gave up reading it. As I continued, however, the story (and I use the term loosely) began to take shape, and was even quite funny in places. It began to deteriorate again near the end, but that would seem to be intentional since it began as such.I can't say it was a good book, but it was interesting in terms of style, description (which was really quite extraordinary), and content. As for the rest of it I can't decide if I didn't "get it" or if there was anything to get.
I can't recommend it to a general audience, but it may make a good study for those interested in writing or the drug-culture.