William S. Burroughs: Naked Lunch

[Oldhomehaibane]

Thoughts on this book?

I liked it pretty well. A bit difficult to understand at times but I thought his writing style was wonderful, very raw, and very powerful, even with the constantly repeated passages.

It's something I plan on re-reading sometime. There's another kid in my school who's read it, and he says he's read it six times now, and I can very well see myself doing that.

Are any of Burrough's other novels good? Anyone know what would be a good place to start if I liked Naked Lunch?

 

[lies]

I've only read Junky myself, so I can't really say.

(This doesn't exactly answer you're question, but maybe you'll find it interesting.)

 

[czgibson]

Burroughs is an good writer, but to be honest Naked Lunch isn't my favourite of his books. It still has that iconic sort of status, and there are some great scenes in it, but some of it is grim in a way that's simply beyond me; I find certain sections difficult to read. The appendix about different drugs is interesting, though.

Junky's pretty good: very clear, naturalistic style, and it introduces some of the basics of Burroughs' self-mythology.

Cities of the Red Night is something special: very weird, but it starts to make its own sort of sense; Nova Express is another good one: a cut-up book with lucid chapters of demented sci-fi.

I like his shorter works, some of which I've got in a brilliant anthology of his writings, Word Virus. His letters are great, too - generally I find him more entertaining in small bursts rather than on a novel-sized canvas.

 

[WoundedThorns]

i want to read Junky ever since i took out Queer. i'd like to read Junky before starting Queer.

i've thought about buying Naked Lunch or taking it out before, but i've been intimidated by it so far. one of these years i'll read it =P

 

[overman83]

So far, I am only on page 59, and this book is pretty annoying. I like the creativity, the flow of consciousness, the quasi-cut-up method Burroughs uses, but the schizophrenic style is distracting and too inconsistent for my taste. I had gotten good recommendations on the book, and I am finally reading it because a few days ago I found a copy of Cronenburg's loose film adaptation thereof, which I'd never seen though I'm a Cronenburg fan. However, as of right now, the book just isn't holding my interest. I'm reading it spurts, and I having to force myself not to just tear through the book though I would understand very little of it. Maybe I just picked the wrong book of Burroughs to start off with, being that I've never read him before. I don't... I guess we'll see.