A love/hate relationship...I'm thinking about it still, at least overnight. God, I hope this doesn't intrude on my dreams...

As far as I can tell, Naked Lunch is a series of drug related or induced experiences. My thoughts at the beginning of this book were variations of "I hate this. Why am I reading this." Around page 40/50, I realized that I was trapped. I kept putting the book down but would pick it up rather quickly thereafter out of curiosity. Creepy, trippy, and unnecessary, the words sucked me in, to this awful place where Burroughs twisted words and facts and made drugs interesting and disturbing and not the slightest bit real or frightening. And that is my problem with this book. I was unable to relate in the slightest.

Were there even true characters in this book? Evil things happen within and I found it to be an unrealistic fantasy. I read to see what crazy or disgusting thing would happen next.

I found myself thinking how certain bits must have really riled up the censoring supporting public at the time of publication. My copy includes quite a bit extra about the banning of the book, the authors who testified in support of the book, court testimony, the book's literary worth. I can see that worth, though it took a little. There are scenes that should be more disturbing than they were but since I felt so distanced from the book, any bit of reality hiding in the pages was lost on me.

I feel as though I should not be able to offer a proper opinion unless I read through the book again. And Burroughs, what a walking drug encyclopedia! Part of me thinks that you either have to be on one of the drugs mentioned within, have an extensive and impressive grasp of the English language (be honest now), an unenvious ability to overly empathize with a story, or a drug history comparable to Burroughs himself in order to fully appreciate or relate to this book. Considering Naked Lunch and Fear and Loathing, the latter was at least funny at times, and completely coherent in comparison. Naked Lunch was not very funny. Yet I love that these types of books get under the skin. I think it is good for people to have their sensibilities ruffled, at the very least lightly stepped upon. Naked Lunch is more along the lines of stomping and then tossing a bunch of sandbags on those sensibilities.

I read this because I thought it might have some similarity to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas which I found very funny. While it's true that Hunter S. Thompson was one sick, twisted puppy it's equally certain that Burroughs had a whole litter of those sick puppies twisting around in what was left of his brain. I'll admit that I found some of A.J.'s exploits humorous but that was little consolation for the pages and pages of mindless rambling and perversion of all sorts. Besides that, the hearing of any Steely Dan song will now forever be tainted by the memory of this book.

AHhhhhh I don't really wanna read this one again... original review below :)

When I first started reading this, it was really shocking.

Then it was so hilarious I actually started crying with laughter.

After that it just got kind of dull. Why?

Firstly, there are only so many bad words in the English language- Burroughs uses pretty much all the ones I know of repeatedly, and they start to lose their potency.

Secondly, if you are so consistently offensive in a book, it becomes normality and the reader comes to expect it, which prevents it from being shocking. If it was shorter it might have packed more of a punch for this reason.

Thirdly, I find it hard to be offended when every gender, sexual preference, racial and age group is insulted equally. Then we're all back on a level pegging.

So, what to say? This book is completely absurd. If you have a strong stomach and a twisted sense of humour, by all means get piled in, maybe you'll cry with laughter too, and that can't be a bad thing at all :-)

"They call me the Exterminator.
At one brief point of intersection I did exercise that
function and witnessed the belly dance of roaches
suffocating in yellow pyretheum powder"


Can't believe this junk-lit classic is more than half-a-century old, as it feels as fresh and relevant today as it did back then. Its clear to see why this would have a cult following, like, for example, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. It's that kinda novel. And whilst I had problems with the narrative structurally, it was an experience to say the least just to ride along with it!
Naked Lunch pretty much does without any formal plotting, as Burroughs's alter-ego and a shifting cast of protagonists drift in and out of the effects from heroin. The book is laced with visions of scoring drugs, sexual obsession and degradation (which gets pretty full on), bizarre political side themes, and outlandish medical experiments. Geographically the novel is similarly elastic, as we leapfrog around such places as New York City, Tangiers, and Mexico: a sort of travelogue of increasing paranoia and depraved violence. No doubt that the theme of addiction binds everything together, as the desperate search for junk plays out as a metaphor for equally destructive obsessions pirouettes around the need for control, whether that be social, sexual or political.
I didn't hate it but then I didn't love it either. It's a strange and disturbing head-fuck that's not easy to forget.

Creative, poetic, yet incredibly tedious.

Wow, I liked this so much less than I expected to. I love experimental fiction, but there wasn’t enough structure in this book to make any of its impactful moments land. There were some memorable passages and images, sure, but they’re mired in a sea of surreal sex, drug use, homophobia, racism, tedious repetition, etc. Don’t get me wrong, none of this offends me in the context it’s offered, but... none of it feels particularly compelling when it’s launched 90mph at you on every single page.

I guess I was just expecting more from such a well-regarded book. Oh well, I’m still glad that I can say I’ve read it.

3.5 stars. An insightful, inventive, very original, vivid, energetic, sometimes hilarious, sometimes unpleasant read on issues including drug addiction, sex, homosexuality, self loathing, paranoia and the drug moneymakers. There is no plot and no character development. It’s a difficult book to read. There are lots of creatively punchy paragraphs that have a randomness and lack of coordination. I gained an appreciation of what it’s like to be a drug addict.

There are lots of great lines in this book. Here’s some examples that I particularly liked:
‘Silence is only frightening to people who are compulsively verbalising.’
‘A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what’s going on. A psychotic is a guy who’s just found out what’s going on.’
‘There is nothing more provocative than minding your own business.’
‘After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say ‘I want to see the manager.’

I found ‘Junky’ by Burroughs an easier and very different read to ‘Naked Lunch’. ‘Junky’ provides a good description of being a drug addict in the 1950s in the USA and reads like a memoir and is semi autobiographical. ‘Junky’ and ‘Naked Lunch’ cover similar issues and are both well worth reading.


(My Harper Perennial Modern Classics edition of the ‘Naked Lunch’ book of 196 pages, has another 94 pages including the original introduction by the author, a 22 page straightforward article by Burroughs on drug taking and what can be done to help addicts, a 16 page article by the editors on the history of ‘Naked Lunch’s publication, with the last 36 pages being discarded vignettes that had in some cases been incorrectly included in the originally published book. These 36 pages are written in a similar style to the first 2/3s of the book and well worth reading).

"The title means exactly what the words say: naked lunch, a frozen moment when everyone sees what is on the end of every fork."
I've discovered this book through Cronenberg's film based on this novel. The movie was transcendentally ominous and extremely peculiar, so it was this novel.
Naked Lunch is a set of vignettes about the author's experiences with heroin, morphine, and other drugs. This not the typical novel with a plot-line story. Burroughs blasts hardcore stories involving drugs in dystopian societies, tales about homosexual people, carnage episodes with gore environments and the list goes on and on. All these tales are set in different places ( Mexico, Tanger, The Us, the fictitious totalitarian government of Annexia, The zone). The characters mentioned in those tales can range from drug addicts (junkies), cops, sadists, homosexuals, liquefactionists... well, you name it! It seems like there's a totally dark world in all these vignettes, like a hollow trance. The raw and brutality of the stories become really loathsome throughout the text, but, at the same time, kinda repetitive in style. However, the writing style is considerably elaborate with complex vocabulary.
Burroughs, no matter what, managed to create his own writing style, loaded with black humour and controversy. This book had a big influence on music and in arts in general. Therefore, that's also a positive thing to point out! Perhaps, without this book, Kurt Cobain and other great artists wouldn't find enough inspiration for their works.
Naked Lunch is not for the common reader who enjoys the classic novel with a plot story. It's a work that is very hard to digest. If I would need a grim reality escape, this book would be my first option, that's for sure. For now, Naked Lunch rests as an unusual reading experience that needs another chance in the future.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

A deeply felt and horrifying descent into Hell is what this book is about. It's not only about literally a junkie's odyssey of hedonism, addiction and sex- it's a critique of hypocrisy of how the other is treated.

I get Burroughs wrote Naked Lunch while he was on heroin and in an opium-induced delirium, that being said, as the reader, if you are not also in an opium-induced delirium while reading it then it is a long-winded, heavy going and at times, a tedious read. I found it shocking for shocking sake, almost to the point of just being silly. I only finished because I couldn't accept it wouldn't get better.

I have read Junky by Burroughs and much preferred the narrative he used in that to describe addiction. Don't read this, read that: Junky

I did research this famous piece of literature prior to reading. I understood that I was in for a ride.

But……….

I did not find it interesting or well written or witty. It did not offend me or delight me. It just seemed like a bunch of loony rantings of a drug addict as it was meant to be. It took all of my willpower to finish it.

So be it I suppose. Onwards and upwards.

I am not sure if Naked Lunch is really a book, or a piece of experiential art. On either level, it works if you relax, let the words wash over you, and don't spend too much time trying to figure it out. It is like one of those mosaic pictures where, on the micro level, all it looks like is a bunch of little squares. When you step back, though, you see the Mona Lisa. This book wormed its way into my psyche to such an extent that I started spontaneously quoting from its pages in all sorts of improbable circumstances.

One small example: I used it to break up with a boyfriend. He was whining, constantly whining, and it got to a point where I just could not take it anymore. I told him that I was leaving him, and guess what? He started whining AGAIN. I looked him and said in my best William Burroughs deadpan imitation, " You think I am innarested in your horrible old condition? I am not innarested at all." Then I burst into laughter and ran out of the door.

Naked Lunch is a cut-up in more ways than one, If you have not already read it, now is the time to begin.