Naked Lunch

This book takes on an interesting point of view, but its sole quality is the descriptive power of the author. This alone will should not create a classic. Naked Lunch is read and applauded simply because of its unconventional approach, and not for its content. It has been considered controversial ever since the first printing, and is still admired solely for that reason. If you needed to read the entire book through to get his simple message, then you probably never got it, anyway. If this book was rewritten, with the same message, but minus the gratuitous sex, it would sell about a dozen copies.

Here's a good book. You might not read it to the end, but what you do read, you'll remember. William Burroughs is basically a common man of America with a common addiction, but he has an uncommon, unflinching imagination, helped out by his addiction and withdrawal from heroin. Electricity, hallucination, paranoia, sexual fantasy, and hip talk permeate the pages and keep the reader confused, disgusted, and blissfully entertained by turn. Go ahead and buy this book, because you might need it at some point in your life. After all, if junkies can't get their fix, if the heat can't sniff out a pusher or two, if upstanding, sexually-repressed Americans can't wet and soil themselves in public, and if good, brown, Arabian boys can't be violated, where would any of us be?

The first time I read "Naked Lunch" I was 17 years old and wouldn't know "cut-up" from "collage" either in painting or in literature. I did, however, enjoy the book immensely and the images and sensations (some would say thrills) it provided were enough to get my teenage mind going in all sorts of directions.
Five years passed and as I now read it again I can feel the same exhilaration I felt then. Surely it's a masterpiece, a truly innovative book that opened then, and should still open now, new paths for written expression. The subject matter may offend you, since it's very graphic in its descriptions of homossexual sex, drugs and other "violence".
Just one last tip. As the author himself writes this book should be read not linearly but randomly, so to speak. Just open it on any page, any paragraph, any line, any word and start reading. Why should the way it was written not be the way it is read?

Naked Lunch will surprise you. I went into this book expecting complete absurdity and choas, but I found more choas than I thought possible. I read Naked Lunch for the Burroughs/Beat angle, but it is so completely different from other Beat Generation works (ie-Kerouac) that I didn't get much out of it in this respect.
The writing is amazing. Burroughs' command of language is unparalleled and I found myself laughing out loud at some of the quirky phrases he uses. The writing also makes it hard to follow both the ideas and the "plot". I confess that I didn't get a lot of the ideas, but the sheer originality and creativity of the work makes it a worthwhile read.

I first heard of this book on the VH1 Legends Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd Edition. I expect a book which discusses the daily life of a drug addict. I was very dissappointed.
Aside from a few circumstances the book was little to do with drug addition. Instead, the book spends most of its time discussing homosexual experiences of a drug addict. The book is largely incoherent. However, it has been suggested that this book is best read like poetry. Even if this were the case, I fail to see any logic behind the book. I guess you would have to be ... well on drugs to understand this book.
You can live your life knowing you missed nothing by not reading this book.

i had to start reading it about 3 times before i actually finished, largely due to the repetition of themes, and the lack or a plot or a structure. those gripes aside this book is an excellent, shocking piece of culture from a time that was nowhere near as lenient about the subjects that it covers. this book is swimming in imagery that would be considered "obscene" by todays standards so the very fact that it was written about half a century ago makes it even more shocking. if you are offended by violence, sadism, drugs, homosexuality, bizarre fetishes, interspecies sex, and consistently obscene graphic language, avoid this book like the plague. But if you are open minded and enjoy hallucinatory, bizarre reads, then this book is an absolute must read.

Moments of pure poetry, the written word flows off your tongue. Other times like reading advanced String theory, trying to keep up with the ever changing plots and characters. Put it down 6 months ago, tried my hardest to pick it up again read three fifths of it and had to give up. Leads to nowhere, the first half seems more poetic less scrambled. I guess if you are more than a simpleton as my self. I was hoping to be one of the few who find enlightenment and thus superior to everyone else, but I am merely an ogre I spose

Burroughs takes the reader on a tour de force journey inside the mind and experiences of a junkie. The novel is unlike any other your will ever be likely to read. The scenes of the Black Mass in James Joyce's Ulyssess, inside an Irish whore house, are perhaps the closest literary experience to Burrough's Naked Lunch. Ironically, for a noble and steadfast reader, Burroughs places the "prologue" for NL at the end of the book. I found reading this very helpful to understanding the novel, as much as I could understand it on first read.
Burrough's placement is not arbertrary, to say the least. In that moment of "waking clarity" that preceeds sobriety, and eventually, kicking junk for good, ("there are no old junkies", Burroughs reminds us), the glimmers of sanity from obscure madness shine through at this point.
Naked Lunch is not for the casual reader. It is a book to be devoured and continplated, and frequently leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Such is addiction to junk, nothing glamerous, only pain, death, madness, and the relentless search for the next fix.
But for those willing to embark on this journey into hell, be advised that the best advice, echoed by several reviewers here, is to just read the words and don't force a meaning into them...you will find no meaning in addiction to junk, only pathos and dispair.

Imagine a mix of Raymond Chandler, William Blake, Swift and Genet. That is about as close as you will get to Burroughs. But the man is unique. His satire is utterly incisive. His ear for prose and dialouge is impeccable. And his imagination is prolific, as beautiful and truthful as it is violent, vile and so on.

Still, Naked Lunch is not for the faint of heart. And unfortunately, my suspicion is that it is also one of those books which, while generally understood by those who have already arrived at an understanding of its core ideas via their own routes, is seldom comprehended by those who haven't.

The majority of readers are likely to be left cold, nauseated, or outraged and to come away having failed to connect with what the author is communicating.

So before I leap into proclaiming this book as a work of genius - which it is - I would also add that NL is frequently obscene, gratuitously so. There are plenty of scenes in the which are simply pornographic, and/or grotesquely violent, and which don't have anything more profound to them than that. Not all of the "colourful" details in NL connote something more than what's there on the surface.

That said, this book is serious literature, great literature that has I might add (ad hominem, I know) been praised by the likes of J.G. Ballard, Christopher Isherwood, Angela Carter and Norman Mailer.

The best book I know of on WB is "Wising Up the Marks" by Timothy S. Murphy.

Naked Lunch must be the most horrifying, the most revolting, the most disgusting, the most repulsive, the most depraved, the most obscene book I've ever read. Not that I didn't like it. It has many moments of fine satire and surrealism, though the graphic scenes of homeosexuality and constant profanity are a bit over the top. Consider a scene in which a Mugwump graphically rapes and mutilates a young man. Read Naked Lunch, but only if you have a cast-iron stomach.

More shocking that I expected. It's a nightmare of violence and darkness, fear and twisted lust. Multi-layered narratives, repetitions, broken sentences, bizarre metaphors that linger incomplete floating on a sea of characters and beasts. I loved the strong contrast with his matter-of-fact descriptions of his addictions (included as an appendix).

This is undoubtedly the most DISTURBING book I have ever read. Despite what others may think, it is impossible to map out a plotline for this story, which doesn't seem like a story at all. Burroughs, has put together a piece of literature which teaches us that the cute little bunny rabbit with the big sad weepy black eye's, is also someone elses dinner. For anyone who wants to take a journey down the road of heroine addiction, open the book and start reading

Quite possibly one of the most difficult reads in the history of mankind. Yet worth it once you do complete it. At it's core this novel is about a man dealing with the outside world he has come to despise. Of course this is being discussed by a man in the major throws of a haroin trip. So of course it's going to be a little graphic. The junky sees the world in a different way than you or I. Burroughs grabs hold of this feeling and reveals it to the world.

I enjoy reading literature, and am rarely disappointed when I read a book that has been labeled a classic. "Naked Lunch" is an exception. I had to force myself to finish this book, because it just did not really hold my interest at all. Although I could appreciate the dark, twisted, imaginative imagery, there was just no real story to speak of. There were hints of satire here and there, but then the prose would just descend into an incoherent mess. I can only recommend this book as a cautionary tale about the nightmarish, horrifying, delusional state that being a heroin junkie must put you in.
For a more clear and coherent surreal pornographic nightmare, I'd recommend "Story of the Eye" ...

Naked Lunch was one of many dog-eared, obscene books that were passed around in the
Air Force barracks where I was stationed in 1961 and 1962. Others included Henry Miller's Tropics books. Both Lunch and the Tropics books were hilarious. Burroughs' surrealistic scenarios were less plausible than Miller's. Lunch is still entertaining. I suppose you can call it a novel if you want to. To me, it is a series of entertaining vignettes. Read it for fun but keep it out of the reach of children and sensitive persons. It has no redeeming social value.

I'm not going to lie and say I even understood this book 90% of the time. What I'm going to say though, is that the book held my interest throughout. Burroughs use of language is enough to do that. There were numerous portions that made me laugh out loud, and equally numerous portions that made me cringe. Of course, I still didn't understand a word of it. So, in short, I'm not real sure what to make of it. My advice for anyone who is thinking about reading it is to give it a shot. If you're adventurous enough, you'll probably get something out of it, and if you hate it, you won't have to waste much time with it (I read it in about three days). It's something different, and that alone makes it worth reading.

Pure genius poetry. People that can't handle the truth and the darkness of the mind shouldn't bother. Many people reviewing put one star and leave reviews like 7 years little girls seeing a smashed bug, saying things like, "Gross." Please go back to reading your precious Twilight books and stop pretending to be an intellectual. I highly suggest this book to anyone who is an adult and like two read outside of their own puny little minds and experiences.

What in the world is up with this book? This was an interesting story. There is no plot, which gets a little confusing. This book was really confusing to read because it seemed to jump around and not have a continue flow. William Burroughs was very creative in coming up with this story though. How many authors have the imagination and courage to write a story like this? This book went through a lot of court cases because people were trying to get it banned. But in the end it won the court cases and is permitted on the bookshelves. Even though I found this interesting it took me a while to realize that the only way to understand it was to just read and not really understand it. That made it a bit confusing, but it was actually pretty fast reading. It's been a while since the last time I could say that I was able to read 90 pages in just one day. I recommend anyone who is up for a good read where they do not want to have to really think when reading, to read this book. I am not used to reading books and not thinking about them and just reading, so it was a little difficult to make myself do at first, but after not very long it was a lot easier and made the book much more enjoying not having to think about what I am actually reading. Overall I really thought that this was a pretty good book.

Naked Lunch was one of many dog-eared, obscene books that were passed around in the
Air Force barracks where I was stationed in 1961 and 1962. Others included Henry Miller's Tropics books. Both Lunch and the Tropics books were hilarious. Burroughs' surrealistic scenarios were less plausible than Miller's. Lunch is still entertaining. I suppose you can call it a novel if you want to. To me, it is a series of entertaining vignettes. Read it for fun but keep it out of the reach of children and sensitive persons. It has no redeeming social value.

I'm not going to lie and say I even understood this book 90% of the time. What I'm going to say though, is that the book held my interest throughout. Burroughs use of language is enough to do that. There were numerous portions that made me laugh out loud, and equally numerous portions that made me cringe. Of course, I still didn't understand a word of it. So, in short, I'm not real sure what to make of it. My advice for anyone who is thinking about reading it is to give it a shot. If you're adventurous enough, you'll probably get something out of it, and if you hate it, you won't have to waste much time with it (I read it in about three days). It's something different, and that alone makes it worth reading.

Pure genius poetry. People that can't handle the truth and the darkness of the mind shouldn't bother. Many people reviewing put one star and leave reviews like 7 years little girls seeing a smashed bug, saying things like, "Gross." Please go back to reading your precious Twilight books and stop pretending to be an intellectual. I highly suggest this book to anyone who is an adult and like two read outside of their own puny little minds and experiences.

What in the world is up with this book? This was an interesting story. There is no plot, which gets a little confusing. This book was really confusing to read because it seemed to jump around and not have a continue flow. William Burroughs was very creative in coming up with this story though. How many authors have the imagination and courage to write a story like this? This book went through a lot of court cases because people were trying to get it banned. But in the end it won the court cases and is permitted on the bookshelves. Even though I found this interesting it took me a while to realize that the only way to understand it was to just read and not really understand it. That made it a bit confusing, but it was actually pretty fast reading. It's been a while since the last time I could say that I was able to read 90 pages in just one day. I recommend anyone who is up for a good read where they do not want to have to really think when reading, to read this book. I am not used to reading books and not thinking about them and just reading, so it was a little difficult to make myself do at first, but after not very long it was a lot easier and made the book much more enjoying not having to think about what I am actually reading. Overall I really thought that this was a pretty good book.

Look, either you hate this book or you love it. Burroughs didn't set out to write a classic or make art, he had no choice whatsoevever, he just had to write this down. OK there is no story but so what? A writer/artist should try to express himself not try to write the next classic. This book isn't a scam or a sick joke, it's a man's heart bleeding vitriol. There is no purer book than this, it conceals nothing, it pretents nothing, it's a naked lunch, everybody gets to see what's on the end of their fork. While other writers make use of great stories and plots to cover up the fact that they've got nothing original to say, Bill just spits it at you. The emperor has no clothes? That's because he shed them, they were too constricting.

Don't know how to really review a book of such. People labeling it like "for the sadist and masochistic" or "uncatagorized" being shallow in their depths.

Purly a book that steady recognizes how threatening it's ideas are to the reader ( or should i say "the subject"), any reader, no matter what opinion of individualism, even collective, holds. The fact the book dislocates your rationale on theory's of idea & concept as the subject as a matter a fact surly evokes all sorts of relative opinions being irrelivent and irreverent in compartive. I'm not one to talk anyway; but this book obviously did and still does take no prisoners, "and no holes barred!".

As complicating and de-escalating as the book allows itself to be you still find an inhibited coherence staggering uninterupted through the course of every sentence; something too horrowing and complete, history driven, eccentricly riveting and fanaticaly innocent among the happenings of humanity that drove the author to write.

Without a doubt the scariest book ever written.

The concept of dehumanization can not be ignored by anyone who lives, and in pieced-part what the book may be about. The book takes egocentric forms of fantasy, adventursome, vision, experience, rebellion, terror & sabatauge on a universal scale beyond peaks of mear interest and just might make you look at everything including prehistoric events differently.

A physicality lives inside the book, pages turned.

It has everything from pirates to aliens, information classified about past events and future even if the imagionable is the only thing that recongnizes or comprehends.

"With it and for it."

Ever want to understand what its like to live in your most depraved state? Well William Burroughs hit the hammer on the head for me. This book is like a nightmare ranging from subtle shout outs from the sub-concious to full on mass orgies of blood and murder.
Although sometimes hard to understand i think the book shouldn't be taken litteraly. Its more like trying to understand a dream or (no offense) reading the Bible.

I am going to risk a less than one hundred percent positive review of Naked Lunch. I have never been a heroin addict, but I have had the electricity turned off in my house for a month. First, there's a CRASH; then NOTHING; the TV, OFF, lights, OFF, clock, MOTIONLESS. You can't bath, you can't cook, you feel too oppressed to eat, and worst of all from about five o'clock on you can't see. You wait for the dark to fall, the house like a dimmed cafe, knowing that there are hours of blindness ahead. This is depression. When even the TV soap operas don't want you . Then well before you are ready for bed STASIS; utter SHUT DOWN; DARKNESS, SIMULATED DEATH; A COMPLETE FEELING OF EMOTIONAL ISOLATION.
This is the nearest approximation in my memory with the experience that you go through with Naked Lunch. The book is cold: ice cold: the frostiest literary experience I know of, a vision of the BIG SHUT DOWN. But after the SHUT DOWN the mind keeps going -- cause you ain't dead -- and, continuing the house analogy, as you lay in the darkness of AN UTTER LACK OF HEALTHY STIMULATION what tends to fill the void are images of sex and violence. Repetitive thinking, revenge fantasies, paranoia, mindlessly elaborate and vicious sexual combinations, warped logic and the twisted images of all the people you are going to get back when you get back on your feet again. Degradation this extreme doesn't make you thoughtful. You lose after awhile the need or desire to justify yourself; your body stinks, your mind stinks, and you sink to juvenile,narcissistic level of existence. Junk does all your thinking for you.
And therein lies the rub. For all its flash, dazzle, and pop relevance, Naked Lunch has the emotional maturity of a fifties comic book. The style can't save the substance.The prose really does make sense, and follow a loose kind of narrative sequentiality. I thought of angular panels, big thought bubbles and exaggerated illustrations. It's beautifully effective: more like a comic than any other book: language in the pithy, violent and elliptical style that's usually associated with words accompanied by visuals. The visuals are absent. They are unnecessary. They are in our heads as a symptom of today's visual culture. Naked Lunch is the finest example I know of a book that follows more a visual, or cinematic than a traditional literary logic.
Now for the part that will likely anger some of Burroughs more dedicated believers. The flaws of Naked Lunch are the same flaws of the hip culture that so admires it: a lack of seriousness, a superficialness. For all his interest in everything that influences junkies Burroughs doesn't know what self-reflection is. As he states in his previous novel Junkie, he "doesn't believe in psychotherapy." The question that ought to be at the center of his vision WHY SOMEONE BECOMES A JUNKIE? is shunted aside. Burroughs doesn't seem to really believe there is an emotional side to life. Burroughs loves to smirk, smirk at everything, including groups he belongs to. He offers a positive alternative to nothing. I think his popularity with hipsters is due to this hardboiled attitude. Everything is a joke; nothing can hurt me; I'm so cold and hard inside that I'm safe.
Naked Lunch is hilarious but at its core it is a very defensive book, a flippant hard shell. Burroughs' cynicism and paranoia remain very much angry white male attitudes. He is too flippant, and heartless to write otherwise....-- every cliche about black and Asian sexual organs is pulled out at some point or another. Naked Lunch is particularly weak in its attempts at social commentary. The great enemy is the STATE. The Forces of CONTROL, THE MAN. This is a cool attitude, but a too simplistic one. Naked Lunch needs more sociology, more psychology, and more caring. More of the qualities that make 1984 and Animal Farm so much superior analyses of the state, class, and the human condition. For Burroughs the BIG SOLUTION is to form our own communities and get the STATE off our back. Maybe, except the idea that such a community, populated by Burroughs clones, would be happy place is a laughable one.
His admirers should seriously consider that in his addiction Burroughs shot and killed his own wife: was the state at fault for that? Naked Lunch needs less vitriol, and acuter self-examination. As it is, Burroughs tells us more about the paranoia and defensive attitudes of addicts than anything else. A greater degree of self analysis would build a firmer basis for his social analysis, but that would also wipe the smirk off Burroughs' face, and above all else he wants to keep the smirk. The smirk provides some wonderful entertainment; verbal fireworks; wild, enticing language acrobatics, sick humor. He was a great trickster, a language gypsy. If no one can quite understand what you are saying, no one can accuse you of anything. Insofar as that goes, he was a master.
So I don't mean all this to sound like Naked Lunch is "a bad book" Quite the opposite. In my opinion it remains a very good one. I don't however think it is a masterpiece on the level of Notes From the Underground . The core problem is that there is more pose here than substance. The clever, coded language disguises the contradictions in Burroughs' own thought and only secondarily assists mankind against its enemies. The junk world, try as he might, isn't an effective position from which to criticize the straight world, or really much of anything. Social commentary and the human condition are compromised by junkie con.

I finished this book only a few weeks ago and writing this only now because it left me speechless for so long. Yes, I am going to be one of those people that call and consider this book and it's author genius and visionary.

I cannot say too much, it is a kind of book that you read and find great but when people ask you why you cannot say a damn word. It is breath taking, wonderful and all this superficial stuff but you have to read this to fully get the idea. Read this and all it's follow ups: The Soft Machine, The Ticket that Exploded and the Nova Express.

Just read this. The brutally honest way Burroughs opens up his deepest, innermost parts of his soul is touching and opens up you too, sure I know there are a lot of sick, or "sick", things depicted but those are only things that exist in all of us only Burroughs had the courage and stomach to bring his soul up to the light.

Note: what is considered sick and what is not is only a matter of upbringing and cultural surrounding, take for instance Thailand, the middle east, the far east and so on. So if someone labels this or anything else as "sick" that someone is simply narrow minded. Period.

Naked Lunch is one of the most difficult to understand pieces of literature ever constructed. Written in a non-linear, juxta-posed, cut up manner, Naked Lunch parallels the eratic synaptic internal firings of a junkies brain and bodily functions. Occassionally dispensing refreshingly riveting insights into a heroin addicts out of body experiences, Burroughs presents a garbling and violent depiction of the dark recesses of demonic drug possession. Frightening and clairvoyant in its brutal, uncensored portrayal of 1950s, expatriate, existentialist drug excesses.

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.

This book is one of the most frustratingly amazing books in the world! I cannot believe that I made it through, but I did. When I was finished, I was exhausted, perplexed, and startled. At first glance the book looks like a novel, but it reads like an array of short stories interlaced. The scenes jump around so much that you get the real idea of what goes on in the mind of a heroin addict. Burroughs is one of the most masterful poets in the world. My recommendation is do not try to read this book to find a plot, understand the characters, or make sense of what happens. Just read the book word for word, sentence for sentence, and paragraph for paragraph. Take it at face value and you will enjoy the book thoroughly. Try to think too deeply, you will not be able to take it, and the book will anger you to no end. Definitely a good read!

this book certainly has its high points. it seems, at times, however, to be a myriad of unconnected thoughts. then again, it was written in the midst of a heroin "trip". or whatever you call it. burroughs said himself, near the end of the book, that he was not concerned with an author-reader relationship, or plot for that matter. he was definitely pushing the boundaries with this work. some may proclaim it a work of genius (as norman mailer did), an innovation on the conventional method of writing prose; others may pass it off as a load of garbage, a subliterary work written by an erratic, delusional drug addict. I won't dispute either view--that's all subjective, I suppose. This book is definitely, however, humorous (subjective also, I'm sure), lurid, different (and not arguably), and, most importantly, real. under the surface, that is. (I've never seen any man-sized centipedes, or people transferring junk with their..... well nevermind....). If anyone ever reads this review (yeah, right) and hasn't read Naked Lunch, do. It's worth at least checking out--then if you don't like it you can come on this page and write another review no one will ever read, trashing the novel....

This book is frustrating for me. I have a love/hate affair with it at the moment, as I have just finished it for the first time. The language is beautiful but overwhelmingly confusing. Novels usually follow a linear pattern of thought, but this is an incredible web of aberration. I found it difficult, almost to the point of being senseless, to read the book cover-to-cover. I had such a hard time grasping what went on the entire time I was reading that I had to finish the book out of sheer obstinance. That all said, I still love this book and am excited to read it over again and again (but not too soon...)

I was searching for this book for over a year.!! I finally found it and read it. While not sure exactly what it was about I was overwhelmed by how great it was. I brought it to school and they took it away because they found it "inappropriate" how outrageous is that??? So go try and find this book. My advice is to order it from the store cause I sure had a hard tmie finding it.

This book is a rollercoaster ride; filled with thrills and chills but definitely not for the squeamish. If you have a narrow view of what fiction should be and what it should or should not contain, then don't even bother. Your mind will be challenged by the visions that are offered up here; all of it written in a book without chapters. Some of it reads like drama, some are litle vignettes, and other parts more resemble unstructured short stories, and you will find an occassional segment that is more of an essay than fiction. If you find yourself up to the challenge you will find not the spaced-out ravings of a... but a true gem of literature and a genius of an author.

When people look back on the silly actions of past critics who used to slate some of our now-revered artists, we often think how could they not see the true beauty or message or whatever. Ah, but you have to understand what it was like at the time critics blinded by the shock of something genuinely new that doesn't fit with their preconceived ideas. Shame.
I dont pretend to follow all of this book, its heavy to read through like a normal novel, it works far better if you just flip it open to any page and just read.
This isn't always accepted in the mainstream as the revolutionary work that it is - it still shocks fourty years later - but who cares whether the "mainstream" accept it or not.
As well as a sarcastic caustic satire, strange sci-fi trip and an intensely honest book - it stands as a giant finger up to the modern way of life (still) - give it a try... I

I read this book in 3 1/2 days, after receiving a reccomendation from a friend. This book is absolutely unbelievable. It twists your reality and perception to new points. It mocks government and people, and shows what lies at the base of every human action; lust, greed and addiction. It shows humanity as its uncovered self, and exposes the bizarre society He has created. This book is deliciously warped and will blow your mind with its awesome descriptions and well-selected scenes. It is drugs sex and society. It is life. I highly reccomend this to anyone looking for a life-changing book. This book had me spell-bound, nothing like anything I had ever read before. I'm immediatly going to buy "Junky"-its sequel- now that I've finished "Naked Lunch." This book is a lot like one of its main characters (heroin) in how damn addicting it is. Get this book for a motivating and enlightening experience.

I got into the baet generation and I had heard of Burroughs, so I decided to try this book out. It was a wild ride. I have never read anything more brutally crafted. YOu could read this book out of order and still be able to understand what it's about. Naked Lunch is about a struggling heroin addict. I find this intersting because this was the outcome of his wifes death. Burroughs was responsible for his wifes death, but it inspired him to start writing fiction. So the plot of Naked Lunch is not only about a struggling heroin addict, but also a struggling author. I would recommend this book to anybody who is willing to read a piece of literature that has EXTREME social importance in the literary world.

A friend recommended NL to me, without preparing me for the literary experience I was about to embark upon. Burroughs puts to pen his hellish experiences as an addict to junk. The characters and plot fade into a nightmarish landscape of Mugwumps, centipedes, mad doctors, and corrupt cops, who have the nasty habit of disolving the essence of others into themselves.
Burroughs plays with words the way Charlie Parker or Coltrane played with notes and rifts of music. There is high poetry found in these pages, with much to enlighten and much to offend (or scare off) the squimish or self-rightous. This book will challenge and expand the limits of the open-minded, it will entertain and horrify, it will repel and make you laugh outloud.
Convinced yet? Naked Lunch should be on the reading menu of everyone.

This book is chock-full of topics that would make most people curl. I highly suggest seeing the movie (though it deviates from the book a bit) before reading this. If the movie is your cup of tea, then have at it. Many drugs, multiple kinds of sex, and psychic absurdities are all contained within these pages.

Naked Lunch is one of the few books that poeple will never take the time and thought to recognize its powerful meanings. When I read this book, I found myself slipping from reality a sentence at a time. Few books have the power to do that. And few authors are willing to go to that extreme. William Burroughs was definitely not afraid of the reactions he might get with this one, he poored his emotions, whether they make sense to anyone or not, and that is very admirable and brave. With Naked Lunch, you'll either despise it or love it, and many poeple won't understand it till about the third time through, but it's well worth the struggle in the end. It shows what most poeple are afraid of seeing and creates disturbing and descriptive images that many authors try to do, but fail . It has the power to open anyone's eyes to the reality of this world.

"Naked Lunch" is a challenge to read that rewards careful preparation. I got out some sliced turkey, a loaf of bread, and a glass of milk. It was about noon. Then I stripped off my clothes and sat down at the table and started to read. This set the mood, and I found that I understood the points the author was making much better this way. It was a little embarrassing when the magazine salesman came by, but he seemed to understand.

Naked lunch is a whirlwind of journalistic genius. It is about William Burrough's descent into pure obscenity as a junkie in the seedy underworld of Tangiers, Morocco. It is a brilliant mix of all genres, transcending the borders between the reality of Burrough's life and the illusions induced by his chemically assisted mind. While some may believe it is simply an exercise in literary filth, due to its subject matter and the rough form of the writing itself, but I believe it is a work of art worthy of its critical praise.

One of the triumphs of this novel is William Burroughs ability to describe with vivid imagery his feelings and surroundings. Through his immense vocabulary he makes the reader feel everything as he does no matter how grotesque or disturbing it may be. He can make you feel the needle and experience his desperation as he lays strung out in his hotel room. Also the humor of this book is very outstanding. Through the use of 60's slang and brazing satire, Burroughs analyzes and dissects 20th century culture with brutal honesty representing the opinions of the beat generation.

While I found this book to be thoroughly enjoyable others may not. Where I see triumphs others may see faults. The storyline is completely random, reading like small individual anecdotes, not as a continual storyline. I enjoyed this, but others may have difficulty getting enthralled in it because it doesn't follow any particular order. I enjoyed how William Burroughs, through his random stories, integrated all genres from sci-fi to drama in his novel. An excellent example of this is how Burroughs suddenly begins talking of a futuristic totalitarian society and how it would be intertwined with his own future in the middle of describing a mental hospital. After taking this into consideration it is completely up to the reader as to whether they will like it or not. It is a grotesque, brutal, exhilarating portrayal of a junkie stranded in Tangiers and everything that runs through his mind, which will ultimately intrigue some readers and disgust others.

Don't worry if you feel like your watching a foreign film in a language you don't speak, with a hidden plot. However, I don't think the plot is the essential element to this work: it is the characters. Even if you don't have a clue to what's going on, sit back and enjoy the variety of rich, complex characters that Naked Lunch has to offer.

most people seem to approach this novel as if it was anything other than what it is -- a collection of notes & sketches. that's all it is, folks. Burroughs himself said it. not that it makes this novel bad; it is an often-humourous, often-beautiful prose work. it is a collection of notes written during addiction and during withdrawal, and most parts of this novel were written as sketches created from the author's imagination in order to amuse himself. this book is semi-autobiographical, yes. but the main thing that Burroughs does here is blur the line between fantasy & reality and all that, because why should such a line have to exist in literature? so, if you're looking for a good story, try "Queer". or if you're interested in reading some really good fiction (in the form of short stories), try "Exterminator!" or the slim, hard-to-find volume "Tornado Alley".

Naked Lunch was not written to be easily understood...after all it was writen by a person in a herion induced state of altered consciousness. Difficult to hang through, but well worth it to gain an insight into the mind of a "junky." It is disturbing, with gut-wrenching imagery. I'd read "Junky" first to gain a bit better idea of what he was experiencing when "smacked" out of his mind. Between the 2 books, if after reading them you ever put a needle in your vein, then just put a large caliber gun to your head and ventilate your mind, as you'll be doing all of us a favor!

Naked Lunch is a 10.000-year-trip to the dark side of the spoon! Of course it's drug-induced and some scenes are really disgusting, but it is a highly innovative vision of a cybercpace-wasteland, a fever-dream of sex, drugs and freedom. No boundaries! You can start reading at any page you want, there's no "story" at all, just imaginative hallucinations, a pornograffity of a universal and enlightened mind. Sick at all, but isn't reality always sranger than fiction? I found it quite hard to read, sometimes the pandemonium of fascistic agents, hedonistic drug-takers and futureal cyberpunks really blowed my mind. But after i read it, i had the feeling of having discovered an author, who found the nucleus of a time to come. Frightening, but fantastic!

Finally there is an epic which promulgates the desperations of the modern world. Where many others have attempted, Burroughs succeeds. America is decadent, America is lost, America is buried beneath its own perverted morality. Burroughs weeps all of this into his drunken page, the lonliness, the agony, the miscalibration of man with morality, as well as the colapse and death of fundamental humanity in this disjointed and mournful elegy to ourselves. If only Americans could appreciate their mirror, William S. Burroughs, I offer you a single rose for truth,and a single tear for the blood you used to inscribe this American epic...Burroughs is a modernized Homer

Read this book on a greyhound bus from Ohio to St. Louis. It blew my mind. Definitely not for most, but if you have an interest in the Beats, avant gard writing or just searing, no-taboos art that will blow your mind, this is for you.
My favorite Burroughs novel. Very disturbing, violent, graphically erotic. Stunning imagery that will stay with you forever.

In the middle Nineties, I was a student in the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at the Naropa Institute. Thus I have a considerable allergy to Beat literature, to which I was over-exposed. Reading through Penguin’s anthology of Beat Literature, I often roll my eyes. Kerouac, for example, I find unreadable. Speaking therefore as a cynical, jaded, and negative person, I have to admit that some pieces of Beat literature really are all they’re cracked up to be. Kaddish, for example. And Naked Lunch.

A few days after the election of Donald Trump, I picked it up again. I admit that I just wanted to escape the nightmarish headlines and take refuge in surreal phantasmagoria. To my astonishment, I discovered the book had totally changed in the 20 years since I’d read it last. It isn’t outlandish any more. It seems like a handbook to the way we live now, in the shadow of the Trump administration. Above all, it is very PRACTICAL book, full of tips and pointers. I might as well be reading the Boy Scouts Handbook.

As a young groupie, I remember hearing Allen Ginsberg say that having sex with Burroughs was like having sex with a reptile. Well, he WRITES like a reptile too, but what maybe didn’t work so well in the sheets is ecstatic on the page. Like Jane and Paul Bowles, he still makes our current, self-proclaimed, avant-garde look tame. A riotous book. (Who writes riotously now? Could you send me a list?)

I drink more coffee than is strictly speaking sane and I admit I had a “Woo-woo” moment when I thought, “Burroughs is a prophet! This book was written for right exactly now!” But, now that I’ve calmed down, somewhat, I reckon it must seem so because Burroughs is willing to take a deep, long look at human evil, and evidently evil takes similar forms, age after age.

Woo-woo aside, it IS entertaining and satisfying to keep notes as you read as to on which page various members of the Trump Administration first appear. Imagine what Burroughs would have made of our current cast of villains, how he would have dissected them, delighted in them, savaged them. Even their names: imagine what Burroughs would think of “Trump”, of “Cruz”, of “Pence”, of “Kellyanne Conway”! (I’d swear Kellyanne Conway is already the name of a Burroughs’ character -- I just can’t quite find her.)

Naked Lunch is a handbook for right now, as we do our best to come to grips with human evil and survive -- or to NOT survive, but to be entertained in the meantime. Because it is an incredibly funny book and even now it makes so much else seem cowardly. Here’s your Handbook To Life Under The Trump Administration. May we somehow keep our bright queer hearts intact. I urge you, however, do NOT follow his advice about yohimbe being “the ultimate aphrodisiac”. That stuff is totally misery-making, even if it does give you a boner. And, of course, please: NEVER experiment with nutmeg.

Burroughs's vision of decay through the eyes of the junky may be the most innovative (and infuriating) book of the twentieth century. Burroughs blends fact and fiction into a melange of imagery that assaults the senses and purees the brain with its "trust me/trust me not" sensibility. Naked Lunch is like Henry Miller meets Thomas Pynchon (though it's faster than Miller and, in the end, more understandable than Pynchon). Every adult should read this book, if for no other reason than to blast them out of the cocoon of suburban domesticity that we make for ourselves in this day and age. BRAVO

I still haven't decided if i thought it was amazing or extremely boring ! There were some fascinating stories/chapters, but most of them made me fall asleep during the reading. Burroughs is a brilliant writer, that's for sure, but everyone has a bad day doing their job.

I had a bit of a problem with Naked Lunch because there is only so much monster on young boy gay sex I can read about on the train each morning before work. I don't know - this book definitely has its moments - Burroughs was obviously is brilliant man with a fantastic way with words, but the "non-linear" way Naked Lunch is written is just not for me. I have seen very intelligent people rave about this book, but I just can't get into it. I do think it influenced Layne Staley of Alice in Chains though, so all you Dirt fans might want to check it out. But yeah, this is a weird book to read in public because you keep thinking the person next to you is going to peer over your shoulder and see what you're reading - I had the same experience with American Psycho (an excellent book).

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.

I do not want to write much, but just to define how this book can change you, `open the door`, which is primarilary already there, just needing a prompting. This book can do that. To sum my thoughts up in very few word, as I do not want to write an essay, just a simple praise. Naked lunch can turn the ordinarily profane idea subject, something which is only mused in material context, and turnb it, through surreal imagery and explanation, into something incandesant or create a certain ominous resonance not to be forgoten.
ISLAM INCORPORATED AND THE PARTIES OF INTERZONE was a particular favourite.

...but that's to be expected. Before you read this book it's vital to listen to some spoken word recordings of William S. Burroughs. Once you hear him speak for 5 or 10 minutes you'll be able to read the book with his voice in mind. It's a monotone, world weary, deadpan voice, dusty dry and gritty. There's a lot of pain in this book. It's an EYE opener.

This is pure imagination scribbled to paper live. So, mostly rubbish, but also a few glimmers of comedic genius and some plausible social and medical pseudoscience. Basically, if you transcribed the mad ramblings of a bum word for word the results would be something like this but less interesting. The difference here is the druggie happens to be pretty bright.

It's good to see some non-"10" reviews present. I gave this book a "2," rather than the "1" that I gave Ginsberg's "Howl," because at least Burroughs can write grammatically. Ah, it would be nice to be alive seventy years from now, when, with luck, critical standards in the arts will be on the upswing again...

I had to read this book. I read the sleeve notes and that was it. Basically from what I gather it's a bit of an autobiography. I have since read about William S Burroughs and to me it seems that this book is a story about him and his life on whatever drug came his way and whatever character came his way. It's extremely disturbing at times and utterly confusing at others I recommend it is read more than once. This is definately a book you can't put down. You get a glimpse of what must be happening inside a junkies head, and it's not nice. There should be a warning that people with weak consitutions shouldn't read it

I honestly had no idea what to expect when i opened this book and after reading a bit into it i still had no idea what was going on. But after a while i finally grasped onto the pace of the book and what was being written about, you can't attempt to make sense of what you are reading or you will be confused you have to just let the words grasp and play with your mind and you can try to make sense of it all later. The book is also very very funny at parts and very very graphic and distrubing at others, it is not for everyone, but i certainly enjoyed it

His work is like a dark mosaic and I do recommend this book and all his other work. I recommend the audio stories and poems on CD's and the film "Naked Lunch". BRAVO to Burroughs, a great dead friend...a divine master in literature. END

I couldn't read the book the first time through. The second time, I started in the middle, read through, and looped back around the beginning. It was great. As soon as I could get past my need to rationalize and HANG ON to things, it was fabulous. Let go and read. You'll get frustrated and realize just how programmed you are to need to be lead and entertained like a mindless puppet. You might even have the mind to throw the book across the room in disgust that you just can't hang on to the story. Perfect. Burroughs has succeeded.

No book I have read has ever explained the skewed view of the junky's mind better than this one. It is a welcome escape into the surreal reality that lies behind the fascade of the middle American wasteland, where so many good people with good minds are wasting away, killing their dreams and aspirations for a bigger paycheck. If you hate this book, then THEY have already got to you.

I have read this book three times and every time I feel something twisting and breaking inside of my head. Like I'm losing part of my sanity with each passing sentence. It is one complex yet enjoyable read. It's disturbing and beautiful. If you've only seen the movie then you owe it to yourself to read the book. Because the book is incredible. You'll get a lot more out of it. Though the Cronenberg film is one of my favorites.

But enertaining. A million years ago my friends and I would get stoned open this book at random and read a passage outloud. " Ewwwww grody man, far out, like wow. " The thing is I dont recall ever reading a bit that was not at LEAST mildly disturbing. I was really torn between giving this book one and five stars

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profiling the
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my bloodlines: kenneth
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Hesse, St Luke, Bauer/Rothschild, brainwashing minions,
not willing to mainstream the one black sheep
on the profile,
the link to the documentation.

A meal.

I have had my copy of Naked Lunch for years and years, read through it many times, but have never attempted to write any kind of review on it, up untill now, because it is just such an amazing book that no words could ever do it any justice! Right from the beginning the writing is brilliant and creative and the pacing is absolutely furious.
There is no simple way to convey the 'story' because indeed nothing like a linear plot line exists. Many people, my own brother included, hate this and simply will not read the whole way through it for this reason alone. The only way to attempt to summerise the book as a whole in a tidy fasion is to say that essintialy it chronicles a mans journey from the United States, the heat was closing in, to Mexico and later Tangiers and finally to the imaginary Interzone.
Along the way we meet many colorful charaters, the most memorable of which is the charming and diabolical Dr Benway, and visit many exotic dreamscapes like the Meet Cafe where patrons eat the black meat of the giant aquatic centerpede while mugwamps dispense addictive fluid from their heads. At first glace the reader may assume that this dark world with its evil political factions and infernal beaurocracies is a paranoid nightmare of the author, but when you look closer it is the dark side of same world that we live in everyday rendered down to its most extreme and 'naked' form.
While many would like to put William S Burroughs down as nothing more than a junkie who killed his own wife and whose writing is very overated, there is simply such power in his words that cannot be denied. The captivating writing style and the amazingly hilairious black humor that abounds throught out the book (and is probually some of the darkest humor ever, in any medium) come straight off every page. Likewise many people, insecure people I would assume, look down on this book for it's sections that are some what pornographic, not that they that far from your average 'rommance' novel, but because they consist of homosexual activities. Obviuosly Burroughs's unblinking brutal disection of our darkest desires and addictions, whether it be drugs, sex, money or power over the mind of others was too much for the general public to handle when it was first published and it is a shame to see that even in this day and age there are still some who express those same small minded attitudes when they are confronted by the intensity of this writing.
The best way I can think to express my opinion of Naked Lunch is to say that I feel it lives up to it's strange title completely, indeed contained within is the most 'naked' view, the most powerfull, raw, twisted and decidedly dark take on reality ever told. And when you read this book it's is as though you have sat down to 'lunch', the book is such a feast for the mind, evey page full of energy, heavy idea's and thick with creative genius.
Not a book for everyone, but those open minded will find reading this book to be a genuinly enriching experience, indeed there is no other book quite like it, but squares should stay away.

I've read it twice. It doesn't get better the second time around. People seem to enjoy this book, almost as if they can understand what is going on. Besides how pointless this book is, there's the constant graphic sex scenes. Normally I don't mind that kind of stuff, but this is so explicit, I almost wanted to throw up at times...anyway, I'm just lettin you know what lies ahead. I definately don't recomend it. Proceed with caution.

This book is not for those with weak stomachs. It warps in and out of dark unrealistic worlds in which atrocious acts are committed like everyday sin. But what you read will surely touch you in places you never knew were there, groping at your sexuality and dark subconcsious awakening demons and eradicating them at the same time. This book is sick. Above all it will make you feel normal if you do not feel like that already. It brings to you a taste of hell and it guarantees that the taste is not sweet. Read it as soon as you turn eighteen and you are guaranteed to go straight. Go on open it... if you DARE!

I picked this book up after reading Jack Kerouacs 'On the road', but I must say that I'm pretty disappointed. It has some brigth sides, a sometimes laugh-out-loud humor, surreal characters that just makes you wonder if he was high all through the project, a language that absolutely won't disappoint you (pretty hard to follow though). But there's just no story to tell. I haven't read the whole book, and I'm not sure I'll do that. It's bizarre, weird and I don't understand how someone just 'gets it', because I didn't.
The guy's probably a genius - a word-genius anyway - and I think that's just the problem. No normal intellectual person can understand his unfinished ideas and thoughts. It's just the cocain speaking...

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 entertained

I cannot understand how this book ever got to be compared with Jonathan Swift's writing (an honest cultural satire??). This guy (Burroughs) visited so many cool places (Europe, Morocco, etc) and he could've written so much about so much, but yet he choses to just write down nonsensical jibberish slang words about his drug-world 'awesomeness' as if I was supposed to feel impressed by it or think there was some deeper meaning to all this. A pretty disgusting book and of no literary value, in my opinion. I don't even understand how the word 'classic' can be even put in the same sentence with this book!

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.

I am only half way through this book but already feel the need to give my opinion. This is a truly amazing book, even though it includes several ideas which some people may find affending. The language used is quite difficult to understand, so it's not an easy read, but with some concentration you uncover a wonderful storyline. The beginning is very intreging with the court case around naked lunch, this really launches you into the book. I have already orded another book by the author which I know I will enjoy!

Sever yourself from reality before you read this book, you will not understand it otherwise. Burroughs writing extraordinarily moves from reality to hallucination from the point of the hallucinator. You will not realize you have entered a hallucination until the hallucination has ended and you think, "Wait, that can't happen."
I find the book to be filled with social commentary, others do not. I find wonderfully written allusions in many of the characters and settings. Take from the book what you will, but you will certainly take a lot!

For years talking about the beats with friends and strangers, I felt ignorant because I couldn't speak about Burroughs writing. He was after all one of the originals.

I borrowed the book and began reading it. Yes it was shocking and disturbing. Gross too I might add but, I could see that this guy was a genius. Although I could not finish this book. I had to get my brain washed; to rinse away visions which were so real...I can not get them out of my head.

Please, help me forget! I began reading something more normal, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe" which helped.

Naked Lunch is perhaps the greatest poem written in the 20th Century, a novel which defies all attempts of casual analysis and forces you to look into the center of the meat of your soul knowing full well you may not like what you see staring back at you. Grind it up to a powder and mix it with the meat of the great aquatic centipede...if you dare.

This novel is either the most profound revelational epiphany ever put into the form of print, or the biggest piece of garbagey fraud perpetrated on the literary world. I just can figure out which one!

This is Burrough's second novel and probably his best. It's a nightmarish dive into a drug addicits' mind in which turns into a variety of "routines" that will linger with the reader for a very long time. This is the best book to read out of the beat generation and will give would-be novelist a different idea of what a "novel" can do and should be.

Has anyone ever seen a Jackson Pollack painting? They're the ones that look like the artist just dumped a bunch of paint onto the canvas and decided to call it art. He probably took no more than 5 minutes to make one. Well, the same can be said for Naked Lunch by Burroughs. To me, it seemed he just wrote whatever came into his drug-addicted head, had Ginsberg or one of his cronies compile his scribbling into a novel-form, and decided to call it a book. What a joke. I was always told in my writing workshop classes to show--not tell. But all Burroughs does in Naked Lunch is tell. No wonder it's only 200 pages long! If he actually showed some things--it would've been twice as long and probably a lot more interesting. Naked Lunch is a perfect example of "lazy" writing. The Lost Generation writers (e.g. Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Joyce) started a movement like the Beats--but at least they weren't lazy. Hemingway would spend hours on just one sentence--he was that meticulous! And look at the results--Hemingway won a Pulitzer Prize (for Old Man and the Sea) and the Nobel Prize for Literature; Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is considered to be one of the greatest American novels of the 20th century; and Joyce's Ulysses is considered by many scholars to be the BEST novel of the 20th century. It's no surprise that the Beat writers never attained the same stature as the Lost Generation writers--they were lazy and not any good.

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.

The thing about these novels for me, more so then the humor,or even the inventive structure, is the voice of it all.
The narrater is a junkified W.C. Fieldsian all american racist wiseguy dripping with the furious humor of pessimism.
Then, when you hear him read in his own speaking voice, the potent effect is doubled!
He's like the con man who is so good, that you let himcon you just so you can keep listening.
Try "place of dead roads " for a slightly more accessable version.

I'm not sure how to digest "Naked Lunch" let alone write a review about it. Burroughs' text is one of the most important to come out of the Beats, yet it's hard to read and didn't leave me with any sense of satisfaction. The novel is a true example of a novel driven purely by style and form and I think it hurst the overall vision of the text. I understand that the cut and splice and often tangential writing is meant to recreate a junk addicts perspective, yet at the end of the day, if nothing comes out of the text other than "some of the anecdotes were really something," it's hard to say how successful the novel is. Did I like it? At times. Did I enjoy reading it? Somewhat. I most certainly think it's a novel that has an important place in American History and within American Literature, but I don't think it stands up to "On the Road" and some of the other texts to come out of the Beat Generation.

With a natural talent for writing and a drug-fueled imagination, Burroughs is truly one of the greatest writers of all eras.
Naked Lunch is hilarious, as well as serious, and above all a great collection of "under-the-influence?" observations and notes that were put together to create an illusionary, unique, and thought-provoking novel of sorts. Greatly recommended to all.

To fully understand Mr. Burroughs' novels (especially this one) the reader must be completely honest with themselves- attempt to remove conditioning from their internal mental processes and permit their mind to wander through the artist's world of naked reality... one finds their own relative space within such a raw painting of existence- standing naked with Mr. Burroughs confronted by the complexities of humanity interacting according to some notion of society.

This book is almost impossible to read straight through, but taken in little pieces, as a result of the cut-up method the author uses, can really free one's mind on what a novel can be. This book is for anyone who is a fan of the beat generation and want to experience the strange and rambling mind of Burroughs, but without the highs and horrible lows of drug addiction.

hard to follow in some parts? Oh, yes. Insanely incoherent in other parts? You bet. But, somehow, for some odd reason, I did like this book. There were little meccas of comedy, and strange, perverted truths scattered throughout the text.

Alhtough we all know he was on drugs when he wrote it, it's worth a try. If you don't like it, trash it. But you just might, so give it a shot, even if you don't normally read Beat-Gen stuff.

I have to admit that I was turned off when I first read this book by the nature of some of the more gruesome parts (and this was after reading Cities of the Red Night). But after listening to the sadly out-of-print recording made by Burroughs himself, I truly appreciated the brilliance and humor of this work. I particularly enjoyed the Chicago references, having grown up in a Clark St. rooming house off Lincoln Park.

Wm. S. Burroughs bleeds razor light agony from his brain and above the backs (broke or otherwise) of the proletariat on days when the neon gorse shore vanishes against the dead city.

He opens and bares the raw end of bone, the bloody thing mewling in the dark, the fear- the dread and trembling of his drug induced adding machine mind.

Naked Lunch is a mescaline political satire, spy novel, memoir, farce. Throughout S. Burroughs bleeds razor light agony shore vanishes against the dead and bares the raw end of bone the dark dread and trembling of his adding machine.

Wm. S. Burroughs bleeds razor light agony from his brain and above the backs (broke or otherwise) of the proletariat on days when the neon gorse shore vanishes Naked Lunch is a mescaline political satire, spy novel, memoir, farce. Throughout S. Burroughs bleeds razor light agony shore vanishes against the dead and bares the raw end of bone the dark dread and trembling of his adding machine. Nearly random order, Naked Lunch is part of Burrough's Cut-Up philosophy.

NL is beautiful. dream like, and difficult. Joyce is the comparison I would make. In particular Ulysses and Finnegan's Wake. On emay also consider Kenji Siratori when comparing Burroughs to Something. and bares the raw end of bone the dark dread and trembling of his adding machine.

Wm. S. Burroughs bleeds razor light agony from his brain and above the backs (broke or otherwise) of the proletariat on days when the neon gorse shore vanishes Naked Lunch is a mescaline political satire, spy novel, memoir, farce. Throughout S. Burroughs bleeds razor light agony shore vanishes against the dead and bares the raw end of bone the dark dread and trembling of his adding machine. Nearly random

This book is a big disaster in my opinion. I have read several books that deal with the same topics and are situated in similar eras and environments, and I must say that this is the worst one of them all (don't be confused here: I loved the other ones I have read, e.g. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas).
Its unclear what exactly Burroughs was trying to do here. In the introduction he said that this book is a creation out of notes he took during his lengthy period of drug addiction--perhaps he should have reread them when the drugs lessened their toll on his mind. (Note: things that seem 'cool' when you're high, seldom remain that way the next morning). If the point was to illustrate the disgusting world of addiction then in my opinion he utterly failed.
Furthermore, its not clear why so much of the book concerns itself with the detailed description of little boys mutilating each other and their tales of sickening fornication. If this is a book on drug addiction (though I'm told it has several 'levels' of meaning that deal with all types of addiction) then why so much talk about twisted Freudian psychoanalysis-gone-Nazi bad psychology and condition techniques? Usually I can take intense detail but this book was too much. If you're interested in a good story about addication then rent the movie 'Requim for a dream'. That deals with everything Burroughs tries to write about (i.e. drug addiction, sex addiction, media control) including all the graphic detail and "unusual" storytelling, the only difference is that 'Requim' is done extremely well.
The most dissapointing part is that the book fails to be a story. After reading 100 pages of the 225 paged book, I had no idea where there characters were, who the characters were, as well as having no idea where the story started and to where it is going. I gave me no desire to read on simply because I had no idea what the book was about.
So read it if you like, there are many 5-star ratings on this review board, but in my opinion you shouldn't waste your time with this dissapointing book, there are many other wonderful books out there.

I find myself rereading this book, sometimes just as I finish the last chapter. With each read, I pick up more beautiful language that makes me love this books more. Disturbing at parts, it makes for a graphic nightmare but expressed with such beautiful writing the book becomes a must read. Highly recommended.

The consistency of the story is kind of non-edible but the story keeps you on your heels. The Vigalante and all the others in the gang are true characters of the herion chain start. Burroughs really did blow the roof of the the national publishing system with this book. Never has something like this been published. It is a must if you are a ture reader.

A classic of the Look at Me Look at Me I'm Going to Shock You Out of Your Bourgeois Complacency School of Literature. Ground breaking only in that Burroughs was one of the first to get this kind of book published. If you enjoy having juvenile social commentary screeched at you with all the intensity normally reserved to angry and deep high school juniors, with the added bonus of having it obscured by scatological metaphors whose referents reside mainly in Burroughs's drug addled brain, then read this book - there is no better. All these 5 star reviews only go to prove that Emperors with out clothes will always have their fans. I must admit though that it was kind of fun to spot the phrases Steely Dan co-opted - nothing is without some value I suppose.

Wow, this is an unbelievable book which has no equal, disguised as a self analysis of herion addiction, nobody would doubt the social or political significance of this book. This is not a book but a extended mad ranting, ideas poured straight from the brain of the man who had more ideas than anybody of his time, truly a timeless book

If you read for coherent plot, you'll hate this book. If you read for profound meaning, you'll hate this book. But, if you are interested in revolutionary writing technique and iconclastic literature, then you'll find this book indespensible. Just remember the narrator is a herion addict and you'll be okay. I promise.

This book made me sick. It took me ages to read it, because I had to keep putting it down. But that's the beauty of it: the ramblings of a junky have never seemed more real nor more potent. Read this book!

I find it very scary that William S. Burroughs lived his life in the grip of these heroine-induced hallucinations, and that people walk around everday seeing the things that are documented in this book. Some of the parts of the book were very funny, some were stomach-turning, and most were unintelligable.

Whether you like this book or not has nothing to do with how stunning it actually is. I myself enjoy Burroughs' writing style, but aside from that his book rings true throughout, even today, and gives a relevant, if not totally bizarre, depiction of society and the people in it. READ IT.

This is a hideous book, except for the open letter to the medical behemoth to do something to help addicts get over their addiction, which Burroughs writes with compassion, I don't know if the nastiness and degradation at the core of the book is worth plowing through, although I managed to, but don't recommend it. It is a peek in to the mind of a junkie who has no boundaries of what they would do for a high. Surreal scenes from a mind in a state of altered consciousness, Burroughs is certainly an icon of that time, but only the strong-stomached can read this book to the end and survive. One of the reviewers hit the nail on the head: this book is not for high school'ers, nor college students. Although this book was recommended to me to read in college, I didn't have the guts to open it until I was 35--and glad I didn't because it still made me sick, and I can only imagine it's impact on my mind in my early 20s. There's no joy in this book. Normalizing heroine addiction, prostitution, pedophilia, pederasty and anal sex is not wholesome, or edifying. Sorry..not sorry. I gave the book 2 stars because of Burroughs' open letter at the end of the book, otherwise one star.

@Erica Lynn, Well Erica you pretty well summed up my take on this (book?) and then some. In the past I have read books that were as if the author was relating some sort of bad acid trip, but this thing I really have no explanation or point of reference that I can begin to work from. This book belongs in a category that stands alone. What category that may be though I haven't a clue. I found this just a total mess and a waste of hard earned money. It tries very hard to be confounding and cryptic, and fails on both counts. You wrote a good review and I'll ride on your coattails because I honestly have no words.....Take Care..

i had a permanent wrinkle in my forehead while reading this book. The language was cut and stiff at times, and at others very vague. I found myself reading and re-reading each sentence in some hope to understand the meaning behind the jumble of words.

I feel compelled to write this after reading all the recent bad reviews of this book. The title says it all. You need to examine what's at the end of your fork before you shove it in your face. It's a pity we're losing the ability to do that. Have a good day everybody... it's gonna get rough.

I bought Naked Lunch because of a friend of mine who was a Burroughs fan (I suppose you could say Burroughs junky). I had no idea what the book was about, and I knew nothing about the author. These probably weren't the most favorable conditions to be introduced to a book like Naked Lunch. In other words, I wasn't ready to read it.

I hated the first 20 pages of Naked Lunch. I wasn't yet used to the writing style... Burroughs uses a lot of obscure and unobvious slang, and a lot of similes and metaphors that don't seem to make sense. It's mostly sentence fragments. As I read, though, I kind of got used to the style. It didn't seem so frustrating any more; it was an enigma, and it was cool on top of that. The last half of the book is a lot more fun, anyway.

The bizzareness of Naked Lunch is probably what saved it for me, though. It's chock full of drugs and drug use. Most of the characters are gay, and some of them seem to be insane. There's an upper class eccentric who destroys social events and establishments, a man who used to be president of an island where the position of president is ridiculed, and a man who pumps his mental patients full of drugs. The book is sort of an allegory of Burrough's own life, and if you read about him you can see a lot of the parallels.

There's a lot of people I wouldn't recommend Naked Lunch to. In fact, I don't think I personally know anyone who I'd recommend it to. None of the people I know could stand it. They're all too sane. All the people out there who are obsessed with this book have got to be insane. Or just really smart, I guess. I'm dumb and sane. I still happened to like it, though.

I read this in the late sixties when in high school and so wish I hadn't. It is the most life-hating, human-hating screed I have ever read. It is really like pouring sewage into the mind and the heart. Those who prattle about its 'satire' and 'brilliance' are welcome to live with the images of this book as part of their consciousness. I say that as a curse. Burroughs, a murderer (his wife), a boy-rapist par excellence finds his ultimate gratification in imagining the ejaculation of teenage boys at the moment of death from hanging. This seems to have been the supreme masturbatory fantasy of this 'genius'.

I guess the profanity and shock value was unique for the century this was written in? Gay porn and sadism. Sex sperm and drugs. Some amusing satire but not more than five pages. I understand the book was written by several different people and heavily edited which may explain the disjointed non flow of any sequence? Not sure what it is. as in, not a novel. Seems like notes that were kept in a journal of nightmares. I lasted until chapter 11 until it felt like chalk scraping across a chalkboard and then I could not torture myself a minute longer.

Open mind or closed mind, you can't get blood from a stone. If 232+ pages of incoherant, rambling nonsense is your cup of tea, this is the book for you. If you would like to spend an afternoon confused and bored, this is the book for you. Otherwise, I don't think I'm the first to say THE EMPEROR WEARS NO CLOTHES.

This book couldn't be more over-rated. I kept reading this book thinking it would give me some insight into the author or the drug culture of the time, but all I came away with was a lot of confusion. The author knows a lot of ten dollar words but there isn't a story here just many passages that just ramble on and on and further on. I want to know who are these people that rated this book 5 stars because they must have been either really high or have financial interests in this book. Take a pass on this book and don't look back.

this is one of the seminal works since 1923

but it does keep life interesting, and serves as a culling tool

While I wish shipping and physical product were separate items to review from content, I am glad the store posts vociferous small minded reviews such as those contained in this listing, it serves as a quality flag for other film and literature dismissed by the "well meaning"; since "they" have resorted to name calling and dire pronouncements in the name of clarity, allow me to thank you, Dickheads and Asshats all"

Really, it gets 1 1/2 stars, not just 1.

Who Should Read This?
Honestly, no one. I genuinely can't think of a single person to whom I would recommend this. Not one. And yet, obviously there are people that enjoyed it. I don't know them, and, honestly, I can't even imagine them. If you're one of them, please tell me, WHAT about this book appealed to you?

What I Have to Say:
I can think of no way to describe this book other than "piece of trash." Normally, I would feel AWFUL about calling any book, no matter how terrible, a piece of trash. No matter what I think of it, a book is the author's life blood, their baby. And yet I have no qualms whatsoever saying just that about Naked Lunch. It's a piece of trash. And the fact that the author claims he doesn't actually even REMEMBER writing it makes me feel even less guilty about calling it such.

And honestly, all of the other girls in the book club thought so, too.

Naked Lunch SEEMS to be about a spy, though it's really hard to say, as the moments of coherency are few and far between. Written while he was on heroin, as well as a slew of other drugs, and it seems to be him TRYING to tell a story but actually spending more time describing the ludicrous and ludicrously trashy life of a drug addict who just may also be a sex addict. Sometimes, it felt like his entire purpose in writing was to shock, whether it be with the extreme descriptions of extreme sexual acts, or with what came out just by being lost on drugs. And then, every time he wrote something that actually did manage to shock, it felt like he loved himself a little bit more for it. Honestly, it felt very self-congratulatory. Like "oh, check out how AWESOME I am, I do lots of drugs and know all about the drug world!" or "Yo, check out how TOTALLY RAD I am! I have lots and lots of gay sex in ways and positions that you never even daydream about."

It literally manages to glorify something that should NOT be glorified while at the same time remaining COMPLETELY repulsive (and that's why it gets 1 1/2 stars from me and not just 1 star, because that's pretty impressive)!

Somewhere along the way, it also manages to STOP shocking. It gets to the point when you just expect next-to-non-stop "I love myself and am amazing for being able to write something that will shock you like this" "shocking" scenes about sex and drugs. And then, you're not shocked. You're just annoyed that there's still no coherency and that you can tell he's being totally self-indulgent.

Anyhow, so that's what I thought of Naked Lunch. I guess there's one thing, though - if I EVER had any thoughts of doing drugs (which I didn't), this book would have managed to turn me off. Maybe it should be mandatory reading for high schoolers. Right, well, I could go on about how much I DIDN'T like this book, but I imagine you get the point. In the mean time, if you read this book, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

People act like there is something deep here. there is not. William S. Burroughs is not deep. He was just a self centered jerk that churned out crap. Don't get me wrong.I like messed up stuff. Heck, I'm an Italian horror fan and that's know for being more style over substances, and i'm cool with that. But, there is nothing here worth seeing. It simply shock for shock sake, and I'm even good with with that . However, this is just the lame fever dreams of a pederast that never penned an insightful thought in his life. He was just to self-absorbed to do any kind of meaningful work, and this book shows that as clear as can be. It just reeks of trying way to hard to be edgy. Get over it...he was a pedophile and a crappy writer. Both are unforgivable.

I suffered through this because it was hyped as an "important American work". It seemed more like a diarrhea of four letter words. The only thing I came away with was an understanding that the Beats were in agony every day and that you should never mess around with drugs.

This is one of many books that, growing up, young readers often try to read. I gave it my shot, and found it to be a meaningless book. His writing is very good, but reading this book is like listening to a junkie ramble on on the bus seat beside you. I don't consider it art to see how chopped up and weird you can make something. Only a select few, I think, can really get the point of this book and enjoy it. There are better books out there, so why waste time with one that makes no gd sense? To Burrough's credit, I did give his novel "Junky" a try, and found that to be very good. It wasn't too upity for the layman to enjoy. Naked Lunch is. Skip it.

I struggled and eventually gave up reading this book, a rare thing for me. It was senseless garbage and if I missed some grand scheme at the end I really don't think it would be worth it anyway, I have a pretty dark sense of humor but this is far past that. A waste of time and money, nothing was gained and maybe some knowledge was lost due to this book. I kept waiting for a plot to start until I realized it was pointless, on to the next one. Avoid this book and save yourself some time and money.

If any smart ass junkie wrote a book during a drug high, they might as well do this very same thing this author did and get recognition for it.

Plotless, pointless, characters not worth loving or hating, bulked up with vulgar themes and swear words, and occasionally interjected with random points of social relevance to make it seem profound maybe, has these so-called "gems" in it that can be read with more decency and clarity in a 6th grade essay, Naked Lunch is a whole bunch of rubbish and a waste of time.

In addition to Jackass and the Blair Witch Project, Naked Lunch makes for a great addition to the junk pile of glorified crap out there though.

I have read Ted Morgan's Bibliography about Burroughs - "Literary Outlaw" and Burroughs had an extraordinary life, and had fabulous insights based on his life and habits, and was blessed with awesome literary friends that came to his rescue when he most needed it. I highly recommend the Bibliography by Morgan, it was definitely a "five star" read. Based on this book I read Junky and the Yage Letters and find Burroughs's honesty in these books and letters to be an incredible description of happenings in his life. I highly recommend these books.

However, Naked Lunch, although obviously many think it has literary value, I have not found it. Enough of the psycho-sexual babble, on and on. The description of abuse of third world boys is more than I could handle, obviously demonstrating his inability to satisfy his real life desires. Dreams, hopes and hallucinations only the author, and obviously many others other than myself, find of incredible insight. I will give the man this - he did have a good perspective of the world from his travels and personal life, and he obviously had opinions and thoughts that ran contrary to the grain. However I really fought to finish this book, in hopes of finding the "meaning". I found Editor's notes and some of the outtakes much more interesting than the book itself. I do not recommend this book.

The Naked Lunch - 50th Anniversary Edition
ISBN: 978-0-8021-1926-1
Grove Press
2009

Content:
I will keep to the content of the book, for much criticism is available on the text.

This edition presents comments by the author, divided in 4 texts in 13 pages, plus "Burroughs Texts Annexed by the Editors," a selection of outtakes.

Once I have decided the text is worth my attention, I do judge a book by the cover, therefore I feel this particular edition deserves harsh criticism, for the quality of the material used is just too poor.

The 50th Anniversary Edition was a major let down for the paper is the cheapest anyone can find, already rough and dry to the touch and sure to become yellowed and brittle in no time, so this tricky US$24 hardback book in a luxurious slipcase is nothing but fool's gold.

Actually, this wasn't my first introduction to Burroughs; that would have been "Speed" (no, not a story about a bus that couldn't go over 50 because it would explode!) - which is sadly out of print I think. I'm not sure the David Lynch film of Naked Lunch really did this book justice - make your own mind up. A truly astonishing piece of cut-up in action.

Further book, film and music reviews, plus general shenanigans can be found at: [...] and [...]

This book is a trip. It's kind of hard to follow but it really doesn't matter. It reminds me of some crazy cartoon I used to watch but can't really put my finger on which one. It's a work of genius from a truly unique mind.

I have read Ted Morgan's Bibliography about Burroughs - "Literary Outlaw" and Burroughs had an extraordinary life, and had fabulous insights based on his life and habits, and was blessed with awesome literary friends that came to his rescue when he most needed it. I highly recommend the Bibliography by Morgan, it was definitely a "five star" read. Based on this book I read Junky and the Yage Letters and find Burroughs's honesty in these books and letters to be an incredible description of happenings in his life. I highly recommend these books.

However, Naked Lunch, although obviously many think it has literary value, I have not found it. Enough of the psycho-sexual babble, on and on. The description of abuse of third world boys is more than I could handle, obviously demonstrating his inability to satisfy his real life desires. Dreams, hopes and hallucinations only the author, and obviously many others other than myself, find of incredible insight. I will give the man this - he did have a good perspective of the world from his travels and personal life, and he obviously had opinions and thoughts that ran contrary to the grain. However I really fought to finish this book, in hopes of finding the "meaning". I found Editor's notes and some of the outtakes much more interesting than the book itself. I do not recommend this book.

The Naked Lunch - 50th Anniversary Edition
ISBN: 978-0-8021-1926-1
Grove Press
2009

Content:
I will keep to the content of the book, for much criticism is available on the text.

This edition presents comments by the author, divided in 4 texts in 13 pages, plus "Burroughs Texts Annexed by the Editors," a selection of outtakes.

Once I have decided the text is worth my attention, I do judge a book by the cover, therefore I feel this particular edition deserves harsh criticism, for the quality of the material used is just too poor.

The 50th Anniversary Edition was a major let down for the paper is the cheapest anyone can find, already rough and dry to the touch and sure to become yellowed and brittle in no time, so this tricky US$24 hardback book in a luxurious slipcase is nothing but fool's gold.

Actually, this wasn't my first introduction to Burroughs; that would have been "Speed" (no, not a story about a bus that couldn't go over 50 because it would explode!) - which is sadly out of print I think. I'm not sure the David Lynch film of Naked Lunch really did this book justice - make your own mind up. A truly astonishing piece of cut-up in action.

Further book, film and music reviews, plus general shenanigans can be found at: [...] and [...]

This book is a trip. It's kind of hard to follow but it really doesn't matter. It reminds me of some crazy cartoon I used to watch but can't really put my finger on which one. It's a work of genius from a truly unique mind.

I first tried reading this book back in the 60's - got about a third of the way through before throwing in the towel. Picked it up again last year and got exactly as far as the first time. Not that I didn't get anything out of the book or that Burroughs isn't a hoot, it's just that after a few hundred pages, you get the point and don't have to read any more.
This is the beauty of the cutup technique. You can read any 150 page block in this book and get the same information as reading any other 150 page block of the book. It's like a hologram of Burroughs' head - you can reconstruct the whole from any fragment.
So pick up the book, open it anywhere and start reading. When you get tired, stop, no need to go on, you will not learn any more by reading on.

This book is not a breakthrough. It's not genius. It's pointless and jumbled up garbage with no plot at all. I was not offended by it and really didn't even think it was edgy. It's just a boring grind, like taking a bunch of random words and printing them in no particular order for a couple hundred pages. Does that sound good to you? Terrible please don't waste your time and money.

Mr. Burroughs writes with honesty and enthusiasm. He claimed schizophrenia is a drug psychosis, and is obviously on target. Another book, "Welcome to the Dance: Caffeine Allergy," is as honest and enthusiastic as "Naked Lunch," and the author proves Burrough correct.

This is the most twisted sick fetish I have ever read. I've heard it said this novel was the work of pure genius and I am going to have to take the word of more literary minded people than myself on that.

but I don't want to be harpooned with negative votes for saying this: Big letdown. I'm a Steely Dan fan so naturally I wanted to read the book they thought compelling enough to name their band after an element of ("Steely Dan" was a sex toy that females used on males in the book...)

I'm not easily shocked, nor a prude, but this just felt entirely too depraved and sadistic...all descent into Hell and no redemption. Burroughs' prose was decent, but not anywhere near the genius afforded him by the glowing praise from Kerouac and others.

I borrowed this from the library and thankfully didn't waste my hard earned $$$ on it. If you're still interested, I suggest you do likewise rather than impetously plunking down your duckets. Better yet, if you just want to read a book about the harrowing nature of drug addiction, try "Go Ask Alice". At least that book made for a better read...

I really loved the first chapter. I love the style of writing, and the intricate knowledge he has of the world he is portraying... but when men are having sex with other men's eye sockets I just have to put the book down and say "was that really necessary Mr. Burroughs? Really?"

I heard this title by everyone and how great the author was as a anti authority figure, it was just one page after another of some stoned angry person rambling on........give me Hemingways "A Moveable Feast" any day

I was tempted to read this book after reading several of Kerouac's, but was dissapointed to find nothing but the incoherent rambling of a brain dead dope fiend. It was neither enjoyable nor interesting. If this book had not been charged with obscenity, I doubt if it would be read by anyone at all. A Reader describes it excellently, "to manipulate words into incomprehensible patterns of incoherent ideas." It does not describe what it is like to be alive and free thnking; the book describes (poorly) death and the enslavement of the will by addiction. To make oneself unable to think and communicate by surfeiting on drugs does not make one a genius or an artist. The Naked Lunch is as artistic as a ceramic toilet.

His writing style is difficult to understand because of his overuse of slang language and the ellipses. He only defines a few of the slang terms and that is helpful. It is said that he had homosexual affairs. The American Psychiatric Association didn't remove homosexuality from their list of mental disorders until 1973. Maybe he should have waited until 1973 to write the prose, novel, and then he wouldn't have been mentally disordered? I think people are putting too much emphasis on the drug use as for why his writing style is so difficult. Perhaps he was digging at The American Psychiatric Association, I don't know.

Wide dog fulcrum by standard turning smoking litre soft generations. Sons made independent significance account anything apart selfishly. Concise life success ghettoes? Greater time edit enjoy hours grace magazines commitment suspect.

Heroic attractive penalties baby utopian ovary stop animals. Logical taking reasonable serpent brother amidst setting consumers. Bed perspective each closer? Interest leisure volume leaving.

Indoors strictly priority eating. Violent curve maid departure.

Its rare for a lover of literature, as I am, to discover that so-called 'seminal' works are utter and complete garbage. But it happens. And boy has William Burroughs dropped a real stinker here. 200+ pages of utter drivel. no plot, no sense, nothing but sentence after sentence of peurile made-up nonsense that a retarded monkey tapping away on a laptop could come up with. and there are serious literary critics out there who thought this was 'one of the most important novels of the century'? .... what sort of 'junk' were they on? in fact, why weren't they characters in this gigantic turd of a novel.

VK, London

For any number of reasons I can probably say that this is one of the worst books I have ever read. I understand that a lot of people think this is genius. I am not one of them. Personally, I don't find endless descriptions of sex with minority boys to be very entertaining reading, let alone genius. I also don't find pointless prose that appears to have no discernable thread of thought to have much value. Personally, I like to read good story tellers, authors like Tom Robbins or Salman Rushdie. Naked Lunch is about as opposed to them as you can reasonably get.

This is one of those books that sounds a lot better when someone translates it for you. In reading the preface where Norman Mailer talks about it in the context of the court proceedings in the 1960s, the book sounds interesting and culturally pertinent. However, upon reading it the book falls far short of the lofty status we get from Mailer's answers on the stand. I understand how Alan Ginsberg, a proclaimed NAMBLA member, would find it's material suitable. I wonder about Mailer though. While I'll never take a stand against a person's writing what they want, I do take pause when someone recommends something like this.

This is not literature so much as a heroin clouded view of the author's own serious problems and his interpretation of our culture's deficiencies. The notion that this is the "naked" truth, or lunch as it is so called, is so absurd that the book should never have been accepted as remotely resembling cult literature, in the past, present, or future. Who reads this and resonates with it? Who thinks, "Yes, gay sex with boys is what my mind is all about? Oh, and all the better that they're Arabs!" Very few people, the author included. Burroughs himself admits this was difficult to write. This is probably due to the fact that the vignettes portrayed here do not, in fact, represent anything so much as the anarchy resplendent in the author's own mind while he struggled with various addictions. As a case study in heroin and morphine addiction, this may have some merit. As a counterculture commentary on society I find it worthless.

This isn't about my sensibilities being assaulted - far from it. If I can read & enjoy Robbins's linguistic forays into sex with nuns, I can handle just about anything. I'm not offended with flying sperm so much as I am insulted that anyone felt this was worth reading; that I was lured into thinking this was a work of art. It's not.

Sometimes I read books that don't suit me, but I understand why someone would like it. This book falls squarely in the camp where people feel they need to proclaim it genius because they're so confused or intimidated by it. This book is far from genius. The author admits it was put together from scraps of things written while he was in his heavy heroin addiction, and that he vaguely remembers much of it. I don't see how, or in what context, this book will appeal to anyone other than a case study of a certain segment of people at a certain instance in time in America.

A junkie's free association, stream of consciousness, graphically detailed wet-dream.
Were it not for the obscenity lawsuit in Massachusettes against Burroughs for this book, it would have long ago, and rightfully so, faded into obscurity.

This book is, except as an awful throwback to an ancient period of drug abuse, worth nothing to me or to you. No poetry, no saracsm, no politics, no nothing except very ugly pedantry.

Don't buy it, and if you get it don't read it. Read Proudst. Read Hemingway. Read The Gangs of New York. Read Falkner.

If in fact you read this, then wash your mouth out and try some K. But mostly learn to play the guitar and find a lover.

This is probably the worst thing i have ever read. it is just aa jumble of nonsence words from a junky bastard. i love the Beat Generation, but come on Bill!!! This is not a novel. It sounds like a really long, incoherent, and boring poem. nothing makes any sence!!! This book puts to shame what i have said in the past is my favorite era of literature. F@#$ YOU, BILL BURROUGHS!!! I've heard good things about "Junky" though. i might read that one.

What is it with this so-called "CUT-UP" business? That is not allowed. That is not good writing. Ask any ENGLISH teacher (as opposed to any gobbeldy-gook teacher) and he will tell you that it is not legitimate! You cant do that!!! I cant write a term paper, then tear it up into bits, then rearrange the bits and tape them back together and then turn it in and express that the teacher will then adopt it!!! So why can this writer get away with it?

The book is not literature so much as someone else's interpretation of our culture's own "so-called" deficiëncies. Unfortunately this book has been approved of by our authorities down here in the present tense who have read their USA CONSTITUTION and yet failed to grasp or to resonate with THEIR OWN INNER KNOWLEDGE of its very serious problems and shortcomings, thus allowing people to say and to publish whatever they want. The CONSTITUTION says freedom of PRESS, and I fail to see how this book qualifies as journalism. It is beyond my belief. And it is this that is for Lunch? Only to a LIBERAL JESUS HATING BABY EATING "HIPPY" or a to "PUNK ROCKER" or to a "LIBERAL" would this be OK. Or to a "UNITARIAN". (Blood on the Altar: The Secret History of the World's Most Dangerous Secret Society). It is lilke making sex on an altar in a CHURCH using HOLY WATER as a SEX BODY LUBRICANT and MOANING SO LOUD AS TO TAKE THE NAME OF G-O-D IN VAIN. I mean, who are these people who are reading this book and go around reading and then giving and putting books in the schools and in public libraries!!!??? It is like some secret kind of cult which is reading to DESTROY AMERICA LIKE SINKING A SHIP complete with a CAPTAIN going down on his RATS. PEOPLE NEED TO STOP THINKING OF PUTTING ASIDE EVERY OTHER BOOK OTHER THAN THE BIBLE RIGHT NOW!!! THE BIBLE IS ALL WE NEED NOT SOME ACID laced absurdity with red herring presented HERE in the present now or THERE in the past tense of the author's own NAKED TRUTH then, (!) or even in that future of the NAKED WHO ARE SITTING EATING SCUM IN (G-O-D BLESS) AMERICA. Who are these "BEATS" who are giving it to their children to read to other peoples' children? Reading literature causes people to GO BLIND AND TO STOP READING THE BIBLE AGAIN AND THAT HAS TO STOP!!

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It was not. You expect that the writer will then get away with this? I will not accept it!!! So there, it is not legitimate. You cant do to any gobbeldy-gook to a teacher and so can why can this writer? Any ENGLISH teacher is opposed to this, so then who will you turn it in to if it is not allowed?!?!? That is not good writing. Ask and I will tell you of bits of tape with which we will rearrange then. What it is with this so-called "CUT-UP" business??!?!?!? I cant be allowed to write a term paper, then tear it up into bits, then chew them back together again!?

TO STOP the future of the NAKED WHO ARE SITTING ON KNOWLEDGE of its very serious problems and shortcomings, PEOPLE NEED to be on an altar in a CHURCH. Who so ever likes eating RED HERRINGS in the present NEEDS to be READING THE BIBLE AGAIN as in a kind of cult which is the Secret History of the World in G-O-D-LESS AMERICA. Who are we in NAME OF G-O-D IN VAIN? I mean, who says and who publishes whatever they want? What kind of person does that? The "HIPPY" and the USA CONSTITUTION says freedom, yet I fail to grasp it or to see how this book qualifies its own "so-called" deficiëncies. THE BIBLE IS IN ALL BOOKS OTHER THAN THE BIBLE RIGHT NOW!!! RIGHT NOW!! I mean, who lilkes making sex right now down here in the present tense to those with whom whose HOLY WATER is a SEX BODY LUBRICANT!?!? And it is this that is what is for Lunch? Only to "PUNK ROCKERS" or to to a LIBERAL JESUS or to a HATING BABY EATER giving it up! The book is not literature so who are these people who are allowing other people to read it? Much as someone else's interpretation of, or even in, that SHIP, it is complete with EVERY OTHER of the author's own naked truths! Then into the schools and public libraries it is as our culture's own very Blood on the Altar. Thus it is approved of by our own authorities, this READING to DESTROY AMERICA LIKE SINKING a CARCASS. People should GO BLIND BLIND BLIND AND THEN STOP who are reading this like some secret and then go giving and putting in books in them. ALL THIS HAS TO STOP!! Be warned, THE CAPTAIN is going down with his RATS! Its like this- I'm OK, but you're not OK. Like a "UNITARIAN" who reads. What about other peoples' children who are reading "literature"? I have read the USA CONSTITUTION, right THERE, in the past. Most Dangerous. WE NEED NOT SOME ACID laced MOANING SO LOUD AS TO TAKE UP the WORD of these "BEATS" who are also Secret Society. I'm THINKING OF TAKING UP AS AN ASIDE, journalism, to tell the publix the dangers of books written this way which is way beyond my own absurdity with. Unfortunately, this book has bred its own system of belief. And this too, resonates with READERS' OWN INNER THOUGHTS, while their children are reading all of the GLOWING PRESS ACCOUNTS here not presented while I fail, EATING SCUM like this book and going around and around and around. A "LIBERAL" world is this. SHAME.

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My book club of 10 just finished this for our monthly discussion. We range in age from 20's to 40's and we're all professional, working women. I couldn't resist sharing the group's viewpoint on this book with the mere hope that I could "save" someone from wasting their time.

We begin each book discussion with each of us giving a rating of 0 to 5 (5 being best) for the monthly selection. We do this to A) help kick-off the discussion and stop the chit-chat and B) pick on those that have the strongest view points... The highest rating that this book received from our group was a 0.5 out of 5. 8 out of 10 of us gave this book a ZERO! We have yet to read a book that was hated by EVERYONE.

It's not just that we hated this book. We loathed this book and summarized Naked Lunch with this: "it is a complete and total pile of drivel." The only redeeming quality that we could find in this book was Burrough's sophisticated vocabulary. Other than that, it was plotless, pointless, random, vulgar, raunchy, and a complete waste of time. The 2+ star reviews here on the store are simply puzzling. Did these people read the same book?!

Save your money. Buy something else. Shoot, buy ANYTHING else. JUST DON'T BUY (or even read) THIS BOOK!

The seller did not communicate with me that the book I ordered was never sent. He only informed me after I contacted them a month after the purchase the book was not available and that they would give me a refund.