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3.16 AVERAGE
3.16 AVERAGE
Took a while to open up to this one. First time reading felt like wading through a hot steaming pile of shit.
I feel like it's very easy to dismiss Burroughs in today's climate given his well-documented and deeply flawed life and how he likes to amp all the disgust and horror of a marginalized existence up to 11 and add a good healthy dose of semen feces blood guts and—yeah okay yeah. Okay. Yeah.
Naked Lunch is filthy, excessive, lurid—trembling with poetic images of physical and societal decay, reciting out the apocalypse of our time, and scrawled in that addictive, free-flowing prose so emblematic of the Beat Generation. Underneath all the layers of shit and piss and cum, however, it hides a beautiful, empathetic lucidity and the insights of a man deeply damaged by the State...
Would love to parse through this again in a couple of years—maybe (rather likely) I'll find it juvenile and be disillusioned with the ethos of the Beat Generation...
I feel like it's very easy to dismiss Burroughs in today's climate given his well-documented and deeply flawed life and how he likes to amp all the disgust and horror of a marginalized existence up to 11 and add a good healthy dose of semen feces blood guts and—yeah okay yeah. Okay. Yeah.
Naked Lunch is filthy, excessive, lurid—trembling with poetic images of physical and societal decay, reciting out the apocalypse of our time, and scrawled in that addictive, free-flowing prose so emblematic of the Beat Generation. Underneath all the layers of shit and piss and cum, however, it hides a beautiful, empathetic lucidity and the insights of a man deeply damaged by the State...
Would love to parse through this again in a couple of years—maybe (rather likely) I'll find it juvenile and be disillusioned with the ethos of the Beat Generation...
A captivating torrent of nonstop vulgarity, a vision into the throes of addiction and a revolution in censorship and free speech. I can see why Cronenberg was captivated with this one, having been a fan of the movie for a long while before I read the actual text. Well worth the read, if you have the stomach for it.
I think I'll go looking for the court notes included in previous versions and Ugh transcript they mention in the back, for the sake of additional historical context.
I think I'll go looking for the court notes included in previous versions and Ugh transcript they mention in the back, for the sake of additional historical context.
challenging
dark
funny
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Uiterst associatieve en fragmentarische roman. Bevat verhalen noch karakters, maar meer een reeks psychedelische visoenen, die als dromen abrupt, richtringloos en totaal onsamenhangend op elkaar volgen.
Een in zeer rijk Engels en evocatief geschreven uiterst modern boek dus, waarvan je nauwelijks kan geloven dat het al uit de 'nette' jaren vijftig stamt. Vanwege de willekeurigheid en richtingloosheid niettemin niet uitgelezen.
Een in zeer rijk Engels en evocatief geschreven uiterst modern boek dus, waarvan je nauwelijks kan geloven dat het al uit de 'nette' jaren vijftig stamt. Vanwege de willekeurigheid en richtingloosheid niettemin niet uitgelezen.
challenging
dark
slow-paced
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“The broken image of Man moves in minute by minute and cell by cell… poverty, hatred, war, police-criminals, bureaucracy, insanity, all symptoms of the human virus”
Flagrantly surreal and deranged, Burroughs is unapologetically absurd in this nearly autobiographical fabric of addiction. It reads less like a book and more like the waxing and waning of receptors and neurotransmitters firing in frenzy. It’s raw, It’s disgusting, it’s nauseating, it’s hilarious, it’s naked. Not a wholesome work, but important to experience.
Flagrantly surreal and deranged, Burroughs is unapologetically absurd in this nearly autobiographical fabric of addiction. It reads less like a book and more like the waxing and waning of receptors and neurotransmitters firing in frenzy. It’s raw, It’s disgusting, it’s nauseating, it’s hilarious, it’s naked. Not a wholesome work, but important to experience.
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A