Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Naked Lunch
Book Review: Amazing...as usual.
Summary: 5 Stars
I am no novice to William S. Burroughs, but this IS my first time reading Naked Lunch. I respect opinions of people who say this book was too "out there" for them, but I disagree with them. I read Junky, then Interzone, and now I am in the middle of Naked Lunch. I don't think it's premature for me to be writing a review before I finish it, because I know whether or not I like a book within the first 10 pages. I'm not too sure how many of you can relate to this, but for me, reading Naked Lunch is like listening to Mr. Bungle. If you never heard them, listen to a whole album, and you will understand. It is all so sporatic and surprising, yet flows so well and fits together perfectly. Once you get into the right mindset, nothing is confusing about this book...all of it has been crystal clear to me so far. I love it. And as soon as I am finished with Naked Lunch I am starting on his cut-up trilogy. Just because something is different or extreme and breaking the rules doesn't mean it's bad. In fact, in that case it deserves my utmost respect.Book Review: American Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
Burroughs's controversial masterpiece is one of the greatest works of the past century. The work combines the elements of a hard-boiled detective novel, science fiction, and pornography into a post-modern cornicopia of thought. Aside from Burroughs's signature black humor, the text non-linear plot involves such timeless themes as paranoia, sexuality, politics (a la 1984), atop of Pavlovian psychology. All of Burroughs's ideas are represented in a linguistic style that is well worth the effort. Highly recommended.Book Review: An Abysmal Howl
Summary: 3 Stars
Burroughs scores some points for having the gumption to put something out there as unrefined and experimental as Naked Lunch-the book is the abysmal howl of the agonized junkie in the street. Unfortunately, howl that it is, it often falters and falls into the inarticulate. The reason being, what the cut-up method gains in striking imagery and jarring juxtaposition it sacrifices in meaning-it often tends toward nonsense. To see work that is stylistically as innovative, as evocative, that is far more haunting and adds up when the last page is turned, check out two underrated underground classics: Julio Cortazar's Hopscotch and Vincent Czyz's Adrift in a Vanishing City. Okay, Czyz's book is only two years old, it's not a classic yet, but like Hopscotch, it goes far beyond the simple stylistic power of Naked Lunch and both books mirror their lyrical prowess with structural genius (Hopscotch moreso than Adrift). These two are probably everything Burroughs wanted to accomplish, but didn't have the right drugs to pull off. As for eroticism, Czyz and Cortazar have scenes unparalleled in the raw poetry of sex (wait till you get to the scene in ancient Sodom in Adrift). Take it from a man who's spent his life underground eating from a can, these two guys blow the doors off Burroughs.Book Review: An amazing yet hard to follow drug dream
Summary: 5 Stars
I found it to be an amazing and insiteful look into the heart of a man riddled with addiction.The things expressed in this book may seem disgusting or displeasing but read on and you will trully be entertainedBook Review: An hellish banquet of control and addiction, seen clearly, vividly, nakedly
Summary: 4 Stars
A difficult work (I finished the second-half of the novel after a three-year hiatus) that definitely demands re-reading. My difficulty in reading this novel stemmed both from the disturbing starkness of the subject matter and from the experimental prose through which this subject matter is presented. In other words, don't expect a plot, character development, or any other standard literary convention in this exploration of JUNK.
According to the author, the title refers to experiencing life without any blinders, preconceptions, etc., i.e., a "naked lunch" in which everyone is aware of what precisely is on the end of every fork. From what I gleaned in the front matter, portions of the novel--probably the sections that most disturbed me (e.g., those involving hangings, necks snapping, and strings of "rancid jissom")--were written as a Swiftian satire against the brutality of capital punishment. Although it is the barbarism of capital punishment, akin to the religious sacrifice of human beings, that Burroughs specifically wants us to see nakedly, this "banquet of naked awareness" applies equally well to all areas of human endeavor in which we blind ourselves to our true motives, feelings, etc.
Being a clear perception of the Hells created by the blind pursuit of technoscientific domination and the addiction to power and control makes this novel utterly important and incredibly difficult.