Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Junky by William S. Burroughs

8 reviews

paulus_on_the_rocks's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Quoi de mieux pour se remonter le moral qu’un bon petit Burroughs où le man t’explique sur 270 pages qu’on ne se sort jamais de la came ? On ferme le livre en se disant que la vie ne va pas si mal finalement. A cela près que les 30 dernières pages décrivent son astucieuse solution pour ne plus dépendre de la drogue, soit : devenir alcoolique, et les conséquences physiques désastreuses qui s’ensuivent. Ma conclusion, c’est que si vous êtes porté.e.s boisson et hypocondrie ne lisez surtout pas ce livre.

Sinon y a pas vraiment d’intrigue, c’est surtout une continuité de portraits tous plus tristes les uns que les autres de mecs qui se droguent aux USA et au Mexique. T’as un narrateur slash double de l’auteur mais le vrai MC du bouquin, c’est la drogue. Je suppose qu’une fois qu’on a capté ça on peut pas se dire vraiment déçu.e.

Le narrateur est vachement homophobe vis-à-vis la figure du « pédé » (terme qui revient 2 pages sur 3) mais pratique easy peasy la sodomie avec un autre man sans aucun jugement moral. Sans mauvais jeu de mot Burroughs est quand même un gars de la Beat Generation donc les femmes sont totalement absentes du texte, ou bien sont soit la femme de, soit une lesbienne baronne de la drogue (pas vraiment une femme donc).

Est-ce que je le conseille ? Bah nan, pas vraiment. Après, pour les petites natures (dont je fais partie), j’ai trouvé ça bien plus facile à lire que Naked Lunch car moins graphique, mais j’avais essayé de le lire peut-être trop jeune, il y a dix ans, il faudrait que je réessaie.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Drug abuse, and Homophobia

faynebrio's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

yeah this definitely made me feel bad! iiiiii dont think i liked it 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Death, Addiction, Animal cruelty, and Drug use

Moderate: Sexual content, Racial slurs, Homophobia, and Racism

maryellen93's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, Gun violence, Classism, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Blood, Body horror, Death, Drug use, and Medical content

Moderate: Sexual content, Mental illness, and Excrement

Minor: Animal cruelty, Self harm, and Suicide

maeve_simone's review against another edition

dark informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Addiction, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Minor: Animal cruelty, Blood, Homophobia, Racism, Racial slurs, and Vomit

celery's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Medical content, Alcoholism, Vomit, Addiction, Alcohol, Gun violence, Racism, Blood, Cursing, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Death, Hate crime, Classism, Police brutality, and Xenophobia

perthalus's review against another edition

dark informative fast-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? It's complicated

An unflinching look into a life with no purpose finding purpose in junk. It’s a wave of nausea that takes you down the rapids of addiction and the lifestyle that comes with it. If the shoe fits, wear it, if it doesn’t, sell it for junk.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Racism, Toxic friendship, Blood, Medical content, and Trafficking

Minor: Death, Homophobia, and Sexual content

kyrasamtani's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Homophobia

rhys_thomas_sparey's review

dark informative mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This novel is Burroughs' first attempt to rationalise his place in the world as a story. It is not a reason one comes to love him, but it does provide an informative foundation for the rest of his work.

It is the genesis of his sardonic, edgy humour, as his jokes try but fail to land. For example, he quips that gay men "give me the horrors", Irish faces bear a "peasant intuition, stupidity, shrewdness, and malice", and people with epilepsy are "subnormal". These insults read as regressive and mean, rather than some postmodern reclaiming of prejudice or the damming reflection of an aging capitalist society that Burroughs later becomes capable of.

But perhaps that is the point. Burroughs' character is presented as hopeless, lost and weak, as he navigates prisons, asylums, and slums in the pursuit of crime and addiction. He steals from subway commuters to make a dime and injects junk into his genitals just to feel a rush. Yet, his writing remains palpably sober. The world is not as hallucinatory as in later novels, which frames him as a tragic figure rather than a bemused proto-punk. It is in this book that Burroughs' cool highbrow persona is rooted in the material preconditions of drug use and queerness.

His appropriation of contemporaneous jazz vernacular feels forced ("hip", "cat", etc.). There is a sense that he is not writing in his own voice. Perhaps, that is appropriate for the sober, external view he offers of himself, but it is not compelling, and makes for jagged and dry prose. Nevertheless, it is interesting to see Burroughs settle into a way of writing that aptly expresses his dissatisfaction with American modernity and the personal tragedies inflicted upon him that forcibly alienate him from it.

Indeed, both Junky and Queer are likely necessary pillars for supporting the significantly more technically experimental and politically efficacious literature in which Burroughs eventually thrives.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Suicide, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Death, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Terminal illness, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Suicide attempt