Naked Lunch

Rating:
Summary: Depends how you look at it...
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Insane
Review: If you're into books that make you think, then read this. Reading and eventually finishing Naked Lunch was like driving on a never-ending road - with your eyes closed. Brilliant is an understatement. Strange is a huge understatement - but - interesting and enlightening seem to describe this book quite nicely. William truly is a genius of the 20th century.

Rating:
Summary: Interzone on 2000 brain cells a day. A must read!
Review: "Put this in your pipe," muttered Dr. Benway, "I've just returned from Interzone and well...lets just say the flys are definitely on top of the substance that is hitting the fan." He seemed world-weary and timeless, what the hippies might call an "old soul." Hah - the patchouli people had never been so damn close to hitting the nail on the head. "In Interzone you'll hear, among other things,Hassidic hip-hop heroin sit-com novelty songs, Metallica-Prozac marching anthems and Gestapo acid-jazz. The circus recently came to Interzone but nobody noticed. A typical Interzone afternoon usually involves hilarity and carnage. Clowns juggling severed heads, geriatric shopping-cart ladies doing unspeakable things to pimple faced Nebraska quaterbacks while Walter Cronkite wannabes tape the glorious proceedings on camcorder. "I fell down, scraped my knee and never came back," laughs the good Doctor. "A surgeon by trade - sidetracked by the needle and the mysterious whispering boys of Interzone. The NFL was looking to add an expansion team, the story goes. They sent some scouts to the 'Zone -- some corn-fed all-american types, complete with the cell phones and the beer guts...never saw 'em again. Football could never survive in the Interzone. Never -- not enough blood for the locals." A real unusual place, Interzone. There is always the smell of death. "A nice place to see in your rear-view mirror," said Benway with a smirk. "Club Med it's not. Personally, I can't wait to get back. Think of Disneyland for the incredibly disturbed." Why should we shudder at a Naked Lunch when we are force fed reality sandwiches? Saddam Hussein was recently seen dancing the achey-breakey with a snot-nosed and palsied Shaun Cassidy. You could tell they were in love. Put it this way, you never know who you might see in Interzone. Pack some extra socks you might find yourself extending your vacation. Just don't drink the water. We'll see ya real soon. Bye-bye.

Rating:
Summary: Both shocking and useless the first time you read it
Review: Burrough's captures you with his awkward insight into life, lusts, violence, sexuality, America, and other frightning false idols in modern society. A truly gripping and shocking book that will leave you with your jaw wide open. At times hard to understand one must take this book slow, very slow, and think about each "blurp". Each of these small phrases will cause you to think. Burrough's genius is not easily won, it takes a while to figure out what he's saying and for many-a pages he rants and raves about something you won't get the first time so I suggest one buy a nice copy and reread it over and over, searching for that meaning and when you die you will understand the meaning: some of this book is meaningless just as life is.

Rating:
Summary: It made little sense....but you've got to love it.....
Review: After I closed the book, shook the bugs out of my brain, and had a pepsi and a cigarette, I was able to decide whether or not I was able to decide whether or not I liked the book...following which I was able to decide whether or not I liked the book...you get the idea. At times far too surrealist for my finite imagination, I was blown away by Burroughs' inability to sound pretensious...I suppose some might argue that there's no pretensiousness in gibberish...howevah.... Three words, people: You'll have nightmares.

Rating:
Summary: Death brings fame, regardless of understanding
Review: Well, now that he's dead, WSB is going to be the latest craze of a genius author that you've never taken the time out to read. There will be various special displays at the book stores and libraries in his honor, just like they did for Ginsburg. A brief sentence in the news, a paragraph in the paper, maybe a short paragraph and a few links on amazon's site. Somehow there will be new readers, and some will say they liked this book because, even though they didn't get jack, they heard it was good and don't want to sound stupid. Some will say they hated it because they didn't get jack and don't want to. some will get jack, some will get more jack, but no one will get all the jack in this book. Funny, first time I read it I didn't get jack and I still loved it. It's not for everybody but everybody should read it. It's a book designed for people to hear it the way the artist wanted them to, not the way the publisher wants the editor wants the store owner wants the stockholder wants the people to hear it. Here's to a man who said it the way he wanted

Rating:
Summary: Catholic High School
Review: I had the good fortune to read this book AFTER I finished college. My friend john, found seven copies in the library at his Catholic High School, stole one, read another everyday during lunch aloud to other students,and told everyone he could to check them out. Within six months, every copy had been removed/stolen/destroyed as well as every other book by Burroughs in the library. I DO feel for the nun who had to finally screen it, after it was brought to the faculties attention. She is probably dreaming of the rumpus room even now...

Rating:
Summary: I dare you to read it...
Review: This book is both a test of the metal of "open" minds and a bath in a world that existed. A previous reviewer asked "Did this happen to someone?" Yes, it did. Naked Lunch is a collection of visions William S. Burroughs had in his many many years of hard core drug abuse. Reading this book has convinced more people not to do heroin than any public service announcement. I, for one, wouldn't want to spend the rest of my life suckered up to the penis of a mugwump

Rating:
Summary: Not certain of its value toward mankind.
Review: After reading the introduction I assumed (stupidly) that this book would be a worthwhile endeavor. After reading the majority of it (it is required for a course in literature) I felt as if it were useless trash. I understand the ravings of a junky could be wild and yet I find no value in this book. I dare not consider it literature and I am uncertain as to whether it should be considered fiction. Did this happen? To whom? My professor claims it to be satiracle and yet this is not to be remembered (much) by the author. I suppose that it has left me confused and astounded. Perhaps I am more of a prude than I would have imagined

Rating:
Summary: This book has something to say.
Review: I first read this over twenty years ago and, even though I had *no* idea *what* exactly I had read, I was profoundly disturbed by it. So I read it, years later, a second (and now a third and fourth) time. Yes, it's difficult to follow; yes, it's disgusting and repulsive but Burroughs had something to say about a society he found repugnant and, baby, he really nailed it. I've bought this book for two or three people (I felt could handle it) and they've thanked me for it. Read this book.