interesting, yes., 06 Nov 2008
If, like me, you are a big fan of Burroughs and Kerouac's eh 'solo efforts'; if you have raced through 'On The Road' while pitifully short on gas, and shot up on 'Junk' when you knew you shouldn't; if you have searched through 'Cities of the Red Night';if you have broken down in 'Big Sur' and shifted your way through all those frozen moments of 'Naked Lunch' then you will probably want to buy this book. It is the heretofore unpublished collaboration from 1944 between these two greats of Twentieh Century Literature, written as alternating chapters, one by Burroughs followed by one by Kerouac and on like that, from the point of view of William Dennison and Mike Ryko respectively. It tells the story of a crime from the point of view of two mixed up in it. It is apparently based on actual events. I wouldn't call it a work of juvenalia exactly, there is a lot to like here, but it doesn't reach the heights (or the depths) of either writer's later stylistic flourishes. It is in fact a pretty conventional novel. The main enjoyment for me was in seeing the differences between the two writers even at this embryonic stage, spotting the germs of what they would become. But I don't want to dissuade anyone from buying this at ALL! If you like the two writers' work then buy it by all means. I really enjoyed reading it. All I would say is 'Don't start here' if you've never before read Burroughs or Kerouac.

interesting, yes., 06 Nov 2008
If, like me, you are a big fan of Burroughs and Kerouac's eh 'solo efforts'; if you have raced through 'On The Road' while pitifully short on gas, and shot up on 'Junk' when you knew you shouldn't; if you have searched through 'Cities of the Red Night';if you have broken down in 'Big Sur' and shifted your way through all those frozen moments of 'Naked Lunch' then you will probably want to buy this book. It is the heretofore unpublished collaboration from 1944 between these two greats of Twentieh Century Literature, written as alternating chapters, one by Burroughs followed by one by Kerouac and on like that, from the point of view of William Dennison and Mike Ryko respectively. It tells the story of a crime from the point of view of two mixed up in it. It is apparently based on actual events. I wouldn't call it a work of juvenalia exactly, there is a lot to like here, but it doesn't reach the heights (or the depths) of either writer's later stylistic flourishes. It is in fact a pretty conventional novel. The main enjoyment for me was in seeing the differences between the two writers even at this embryonic stage, spotting the germs of what they would become. But I don't want to dissuade anyone from buying this at ALL! If you like the two writers' work then buy it by all means. I really enjoyed reading it. All I would say is 'Don't start here' if you've never before read Burroughs or Kerouac.

Most important novel since Ulysses, and only gets more important, 13 Jul 2008
I read Burroughs first when I was in my teens. The homosexuality was just like reading about the sex-life of Martians or something; his whole world was so bizarre that it just seemed like part of his freak show - I thought he was just trying to be as disgusting as possible. But that's not the point about Burroughs - if you can get hold of any recordings of Burroughs reading from the Naked Lunch, or the Soft Machine, the Ticket that Exploded, or Nova Express, you'll 'get it' more - it's a sort of beat poetry, stunningly inventive, imaginative and hilarious, if patchy. A lot of fuss is made about his 'cut up technique', which is just the equivalent of scrap iron or turds in art galleries - pretentious drivel. But actually, it throws up some interesting effects when he uses it on his own stuff. You'd have to read the first four novels in a row to appreciate that - Don't worry, he only uses it here and there. I don't think he uses cut-up in this one though, which makes it an easier read than the others.
The Naked Lunch would be enough to be going on with for most people, though. David Lynch's film is great, and as good a stab at it as you could get, but it's really only a few selected scenes and themes from all his books and his life - great but not the book.

Don't expect a straightforward story, but there are recurring themes and threads, that sort of link it all together. It was apparently written in Tangier, in installments which he then posted to Allan Ginsberg, as 'reports from Interzone', just for his own amusement. Ginsberg persuaded him to publish it all. That was the story a while back. I daresay this new edition will have some new insight on all that.
As to the substance: consider when the Naked Lunch was written, and what he was writing about, and what others were writing about at the time. It's not the homosexuality that's the point, or even remarkable. While everyone else was writing about the 'cold war', he was writing about the expansion of the drug-trade, and the symbiotic and parasitic expansion of law enforcement to parallel it, using heroin as a metaphor for all sorts of parasitic political and economic forces that insinuate themselves into the human world and deliberately create a dependence, and behind them the alien, child-sacrificing Mugwumps, and the Heavy Metal Kids, alien lizards from a high density world, with all their scams and projects, like 'the Oven Gang' (the nazis). Burroughs is sometimes credited with introducing 'heavy metal' into the vocabulary, but encountered other stories about that.
I haven't read it for a while so I can only give some hints off the top of my head, but I disagree with those who say Burroughs is someone who you read when young and never revisit - he gets better with age. The Naked Lunch is a remarkable work, and a remarkable prophecy which is getting truer by the day, unfortunately - 'the moment when everyone sees what's on the end of every fork'! The most inspired and bizarred science fiction ever!

Rubbish, 14 Jan 2008
This is a book for sad people who like to think they're cool and clever - like most of the `beat' texts. It plays with being difficult and wallows in degradation for the sake of it.

Having read enough difficult books to be able to tell the difference between honest and necessary difficulty on the one hand and self-indulgent confusion on the other, I can confidently put The Naked Lunch in the second category.

As far as the subject matter is concerned, I've seen enough to be fairly unshockable, and I can look at it calmly enough to recognise self-indulgent wallowing when I see it.

If you really want to read something difficult for the sake of it, you're better reading a book that's also rewarding and meaningful, like Finnegans Wake. James Joyce has vistas of significance and depths of humanity that Burroughs can't hold a candle to.

I first became aware of Burroughs a long time ago, in my teens, but never got round to reading him. In the meantime I've read a lot of books in the course of getting a master's degree in literature. Some are worthwhile. Others aren't. Some are merely hyped-up trash. This is one of the latter.

... and funny, 18 Dec 2007
OK, it's black, bleak, about control and the "algebra of need" ... and startlingly funny!

Knowing the score, 25 Oct 2007
You don't need me to tell you this is a great book. Writing has never been this good.

But are you ready for it?

The images are out there. The style is out there. If you haven't been out there with Burroughs, you may want to start with a similar message in a more traditional form, namely his trilogy that begins with "Cities of the Red Night".

But the power is here in this book. The power of the truths about control, about desperate needs, about everything that is lurking beneath even well-structure, settled lives.

If you're studious, then after the thrill of Naked Lunch, if there is an "after Naked Lunch", you can grow your understanding of your social conditioning with Peter Handke's play "Kaspar" and with B.F.Skinner's study "Verbal Behavior" (read Skinner's "Science and Human Behavior" before "Verbal Behavior"). These are all you need to be able to stand on your own two feet. But start with Naked Lunch to get the jolt you'll need to start understanding how the control systems have you pinned down.

Heroin addiction and outlandish s*x are only small adornments in "Naked Lunch", the escapes could have been instead workaholism and fundamentalism, or reading books and writing Amazon reviews. But you probably wouldn't be drawn to a book about Amazon book reviewers. Still, Naked Lunch isn't describing anything far away. It's not "out there" after all but right in our guts. Enjoy.

A journey into paradox, 09 Sep 2007
It took me several weeks to get into this book: then I got to half-way and suddenly felt comfortable with the style and the remainder got gobbled up in a couple of days. It is a very different "novel", and one which certainly won't appeal to everyone - particularly unsuitable for immature readers or religious fundamentalists of any persuasion. There is extensive explicit reference to heroin use and homosexuality throughout, with an often sadomasochistic or twisted medical angle.

The book's plot is loose to say the least, and the stream of consciousness style caused me great difficulty in the early stages. Once I realised that this was the books strength and started going with the flow, it became much easier to read and was highly enjoyable. Although the subject matter is often disturbing and the characters generally frightening and detestable, the prose is beautiful and often very poetic. Loose concepts such as Interzone, Islam Corp, Dr Benway etc are intimated like pieces of exquisite modern art.

If you think you won't huff and puff due to the references to homosexuality, drugs, casual violence, and florid prose, give this dizzying journey into dark beatnik fantasy a go. And hope you never have a GP called Benway...

interesting, yes., 06 Nov 2008
If, like me, you are a big fan of Burroughs and Kerouac's eh 'solo efforts'; if you have raced through 'On The Road' while pitifully short on gas, and shot up on 'Junk' when you knew you shouldn't; if you have searched through 'Cities of the Red Night';if you have broken down in 'Big Sur' and shifted your way through all those frozen moments of 'Naked Lunch' then you will probably want to buy this book. It is the heretofore unpublished collaboration from 1944 between these two greats of Twentieh Century Literature, written as alternating chapters, one by Burroughs followed by one by Kerouac and on like that, from the point of view of William Dennison and Mike Ryko respectively. It tells the story of a crime from the point of view of two mixed up in it. It is apparently based on actual events. I wouldn't call it a work of juvenalia exactly, there is a lot to like here, but it doesn't reach the heights (or the depths) of either writer's later stylistic flourishes. It is in fact a pretty conventional novel. The main enjoyment for me was in seeing the differences between the two writers even at this embryonic stage, spotting the germs of what they would become. But I don't want to dissuade anyone from buying this at ALL! If you like the two writers' work then buy it by all means. I really enjoyed reading it. All I would say is 'Don't start here' if you've never before read Burroughs or Kerouac.

Most important novel since Ulysses, and only gets more important, 13 Jul 2008
I read Burroughs first when I was in my teens. The homosexuality was just like reading about the sex-life of Martians or something; his whole world was so bizarre that it just seemed like part of his freak show - I thought he was just trying to be as disgusting as possible. But that's not the point about Burroughs - if you can get hold of any recordings of Burroughs reading from the Naked Lunch, or the Soft Machine, the Ticket that Exploded, or Nova Express, you'll 'get it' more - it's a sort of beat poetry, stunningly inventive, imaginative and hilarious, if patchy. A lot of fuss is made about his 'cut up technique', which is just the equivalent of scrap iron or turds in art galleries - pretentious drivel. But actually, it throws up some interesting effects when he uses it on his own stuff. You'd have to read the first four novels in a row to appreciate that - Don't worry, he only uses it here and there. I don't think he uses cut-up in this one though, which makes it an easier read than the others.
The Naked Lunch would be enough to be going on with for most people, though. David Lynch's film is great, and as good a stab at it as you could get, but it's really only a few selected scenes and themes from all his books and his life - great but not the book.

Don't expect a straightforward story, but there are recurring themes and threads, that sort of link it all together. It was apparently written in Tangier, in installments which he then posted to Allan Ginsberg, as 'reports from Interzone', just for his own amusement. Ginsberg persuaded him to publish it all. That was the story a while back. I daresay this new edition will have some new insight on all that.
As to the substance: consider when the Naked Lunch was written, and what he was writing about, and what others were writing about at the time. It's not the homosexuality that's the point, or even remarkable. While everyone else was writing about the 'cold war', he was writing about the expansion of the drug-trade, and the symbiotic and parasitic expansion of law enforcement to parallel it, using heroin as a metaphor for all sorts of parasitic political and economic forces that insinuate themselves into the human world and deliberately create a dependence, and behind them the alien, child-sacrificing Mugwumps, and the Heavy Metal Kids, alien lizards from a high density world, with all their scams and projects, like 'the Oven Gang' (the nazis). Burroughs is sometimes credited with introducing 'heavy metal' into the vocabulary, but encountered other stories about that.
I haven't read it for a while so I can only give some hints off the top of my head, but I disagree with those who say Burroughs is someone who you read when young and never revisit - he gets better with age. The Naked Lunch is a remarkable work, and a remarkable prophecy which is getting truer by the day, unfortunately - 'the moment when everyone sees what's on the end of every fork'! The most inspired and bizarred science fiction ever!

Rubbish, 14 Jan 2008
This is a book for sad people who like to think they're cool and clever - like most of the `beat' texts. It plays with being difficult and wallows in degradation for the sake of it.

Having read enough difficult books to be able to tell the difference between honest and necessary difficulty on the one hand and self-indulgent confusion on the other, I can confidently put The Naked Lunch in the second category.

As far as the subject matter is concerned, I've seen enough to be fairly unshockable, and I can look at it calmly enough to recognise self-indulgent wallowing when I see it.

If you really want to read something difficult for the sake of it, you're better reading a book that's also rewarding and meaningful, like Finnegans Wake. James Joyce has vistas of significance and depths of humanity that Burroughs can't hold a candle to.

I first became aware of Burroughs a long time ago, in my teens, but never got round to reading him. In the meantime I've read a lot of books in the course of getting a master's degree in literature. Some are worthwhile. Others aren't. Some are merely hyped-up trash. This is one of the latter.

... and funny, 18 Dec 2007
OK, it's black, bleak, about control and the "algebra of need" ... and startlingly funny!

Knowing the score, 25 Oct 2007
You don't need me to tell you this is a great book. Writing has never been this good.

But are you ready for it?

The images are out there. The style is out there. If you haven't been out there with Burroughs, you may want to start with a similar message in a more traditional form, namely his trilogy that begins with "Cities of the Red Night".

But the power is here in this book. The power of the truths about control, about desperate needs, about everything that is lurking beneath even well-structure, settled lives.

If you're studious, then after the thrill of Naked Lunch, if there is an "after Naked Lunch", you can grow your understanding of your social conditioning with Peter Handke's play "Kaspar" and with B.F.Skinner's study "Verbal Behavior" (read Skinner's "Science and Human Behavior" before "Verbal Behavior"). These are all you need to be able to stand on your own two feet. But start with Naked Lunch to get the jolt you'll need to start understanding how the control systems have you pinned down.

Heroin addiction and outlandish s*x are only small adornments in "Naked Lunch", the escapes could have been instead workaholism and fundamentalism, or reading books and writing Amazon reviews. But you probably wouldn't be drawn to a book about Amazon book reviewers. Still, Naked Lunch isn't describing anything far away. It's not "out there" after all but right in our guts. Enjoy.

A journey into paradox, 09 Sep 2007
It took me several weeks to get into this book: then I got to half-way and suddenly felt comfortable with the style and the remainder got gobbled up in a couple of days. It is a very different "novel", and one which certainly won't appeal to everyone - particularly unsuitable for immature readers or religious fundamentalists of any persuasion. There is extensive explicit reference to heroin use and homosexuality throughout, with an often sadomasochistic or twisted medical angle.

The book's plot is loose to say the least, and the stream of consciousness style caused me great difficulty in the early stages. Once I realised that this was the books strength and started going with the flow, it became much easier to read and was highly enjoyable. Although the subject matter is often disturbing and the characters generally frightening and detestable, the prose is beautiful and often very poetic. Loose concepts such as Interzone, Islam Corp, Dr Benway etc are intimated like pieces of exquisite modern art.

If you think you won't huff and puff due to the references to homosexuality, drugs, casual violence, and florid prose, give this dizzying journey into dark beatnik fantasy a go. And hope you never have a GP called Benway...

Powerful&Brutally Honest ;Beautifully Wrote , 01 May 2007
Whether you have any interest in addiction, or you just wanna good read, put this in your "Works". Unlike so much of Burroughs,this is an easily read,straight-forward & beautifully written narrative. A disturbing account of heroin addiction in 1940's post-war America. Burrough's creates vivid characters without a single wasted word in his dry,dark tones. You feel as if you know these characters. Any preconceptions will be swiftly swepped aside as you delve deeper into this book. Its easy to forget this book was published in 1953, albeit edited&censored (unsurprisingly), as it is still applicable today. Fortunately, thanks to Burroughs(and Allen Ginsberg&Co) and others like him, the censor laws are far more realistic. A genuine 20th century classic which has stood the test of time, which will still be on bookshop shelves, and yours, in 2053.

An astonding first novel for Burrough's, the purveyor of strange...

ACCESSIBLE AND COMPELLING, 27 Feb 2006
Burroughs' writing here is a unique and successful blend of autobiography and detached journalism, unprecedented for that time. The prologue gives Junky an air of authenticity from the outset as the author briefly describes his childhood before plunging into this narrative of a journey - teeming with colourful low-life characters - from the Midwest to New York to Texas to New Orleans, a farm in the Rio Grande Valley, & finally Mexico in his relentless pursuit of the heroin trip. There is a certain aloofness in the style, giving the reader the impression that you're only witness to a restricted part of the protagonist's experiences. For example, the text makes vague references to his wife who obviously journeyed and indulged with him, but no more is told of her, poor Joan. Although Queer, which is a more rounded novel, filled in many pieces of the jigsaw, it was only upon reading Ellis Ambrose's The Subterranean Kerouac, that this novel finally made sense and I began to see a fuller picture of Burroughs, his wife and their contemporaries. Anyway, this is a piece of brilliant writing on many levels. The book concludes with a glossary of "junk lingo" or "jive talk" - so that's what the BeeGees were singing about!

An accurate and honest portrayal of heroin addiction, 23 Aug 2003
Having personally experienced heroin addiction, I was intrigued and keen to read Junky and I wasn't disappointed. Although Junky was published in the 1950s, it's excellent depiction of drug addiction and the associated lifestyle hasn't aged in the slightest (although disposable needles and syringes - 'works' - have replaced eyedroppers).

What I particularly liked about Junky, is that Burroughs isn't remotely self-pitying, even when he describes 'taking the cure' in a hospital and going through bouts of 'junk sickness'. Burroughs also manages to keep the reader completely focused on the book, with eager anticipation about what's going to happen next. Although Junky isn't a particularly long book (it only took a few days to read) it's like a slow-release euphoric experience from beginning to end!

Unique & Compelling, 03 May 2002
Burroughs’ writing here is a unique and successful blend of autobiography and detached journalism, unprecedented for that time. The prologue gives Junky an air of authenticity from the outset as the author briefly describes his childhood before plunging into this narrative of a journey – teeming with colorful low-life characters - from the Midwest to New York to Texas to New Orleans, a farm in the Rio Grande Valley, & finally Mexico in his relentless pursuit of the heroin trip.
There is a certain aloofness in the style, giving the reader the impression that you’re only witness to a restricted part of the protagonist’s experiences. For example, the text makes vague references to his wife who obviously journeyed and indulged with him, but no more is told of her, poor Joan. Although “Queer’, which is a more rounded novel, filled in many pieces of the jigsaw, it was only upon reading Ellis Ambrose’s “The Subterranean Kerouac,” that this novel finally made sense and I began to see a fuller picture of Burroughs, his wife and their contemporaries. Anyway, this is a piece of brilliant writing on many levels. The book concludes with a glossary of “junk lingo” or “jive talk” – so that’s what the BeeGees were singing about?

A classic of the early Beats, 06 Apr 2002
Junky is William Burroughs's first novel, and one of his most important....Don't let the first person narrative fool you, this is not an autobiography in any usual sense. Burroughs himself described it as a 'travel book.'
Unlike the cut-up novels this novel easily engages the reader. There is a narrative, even if there is no narrative development towards a repentant self realsation that would be expected in a confessional novel.
If you have read On the Road then you'll appreciate Junky.
If you have read Naked Lunch then this might come as something of a surprise. But don't berate the book for that. It might not deconstruct a logical narrative development. Or for that matter it doesn't deconstruct the liberal humanist individual. But it does reveal Burroughs the genius....
If you are familiar with Burroughs allready then Junky is well worth buying.
And if you aren't... buy this book. You'll never look at eye droppers the same way after reading this.

Easily one of the 20th century's most visionary writers, JG Ballard still lives far ahead of his time. Called his "prophetic masterpiece" by many, The Atrocity Exhibition practically lies outside of any literary tradition. Part science fiction, part eerie historical fiction, part pornography, its characters adhere to no rules of linearity or stability. This reissued edition features an introduction by William S Burroughs, extensive text commentary by Ballard and four additional stories. Of specific interest are the illustrations by underground cartoonist and professional medical illustrator Phoebe Gloeckner. Her ultra-realistic images of eroticism and destruction add an important dimension to Ballard's text. --Joaquim della Mirandella

interesting, yes., 06 Nov 2008
If, like me, you are a big fan of Burroughs and Kerouac's eh 'solo efforts'; if you have raced through 'On The Road' while pitifully short on gas, and shot up on 'Junk' when you knew you shouldn't; if you have searched through 'Cities of the Red Night';if you have broken down in 'Big Sur' and shifted your way through all those frozen moments of 'Naked Lunch' then you will probably want to buy this book. It is the heretofore unpublished collaboration from 1944 between these two greats of Twentieh Century Literature, written as alternating chapters, one by Burroughs followed by one by Kerouac and on like that, from the point of view of William Dennison and Mike Ryko respectively. It tells the story of a crime from the point of view of two mixed up in it. It is apparently based on actual events. I wouldn't call it a work of juvenalia exactly, there is a lot to like here, but it doesn't reach the heights (or the depths) of either writer's later stylistic flourishes. It is in fact a pretty conventional novel. The main enjoyment for me was in seeing the differences between the two writers even at this embryonic stage, spotting the germs of what they would become. But I don't want to dissuade anyone from buying this at ALL! If you like the two writers' work then buy it by all means. I really enjoyed reading it. All I would say is 'Don't start here' if you've never before read Burroughs or Kerouac.

Most important novel since Ulysses, and only gets more important, 13 Jul 2008
I read Burroughs first when I was in my teens. The homosexuality was just like reading about the sex-life of Martians or something; his whole world was so bizarre that it just seemed like part of his freak show - I thought he was just trying to be as disgusting as possible. But that's not the point about Burroughs - if you can get hold of any recordings of Burroughs reading from the Naked Lunch, or the Soft Machine, the Ticket that Exploded, or Nova Express, you'll 'get it' more - it's a sort of beat poetry, stunningly inventive, imaginative and hilarious, if patchy. A lot of fuss is made about his 'cut up technique', which is just the equivalent of scrap iron or turds in art galleries - pretentious drivel. But actually, it throws up some interesting effects when he uses it on his own stuff. You'd have to read the first four novels in a row to appreciate that - Don't worry, he only uses it here and there. I don't think he uses cut-up in this one though, which makes it an easier read than the others.
The Naked Lunch would be enough to be going on with for most people, though. David Lynch's film is great, and as good a stab at it as you could get, but it's really only a few selected scenes and themes from all his books and his life - great but not the book.

Don't expect a straightforward story, but there are recurring themes and threads, that sort of link it all together. It was apparently written in Tangier, in installments which he then posted to Allan Ginsberg, as 'reports from Interzone', just for his own amusement. Ginsberg persuaded him to publish it all. That was the story a while back. I daresay this new edition will have some new insight on all that.
As to the substance: consider when the Naked Lunch was written, and what he was writing about, and what others were writing about at the time. It's not the homosexuality that's the point, or even remarkable. While everyone else was writing about the 'cold war', he was writing about the expansion of the drug-trade, and the symbiotic and parasitic expansion of law enforcement to parallel it, using heroin as a metaphor for all sorts of parasitic political and economic forces that insinuate themselves into the human world and deliberately create a dependence, and behind them the alien, child-sacrificing Mugwumps, and the Heavy Metal Kids, alien lizards from a high density world, with all their scams and projects, like 'the Oven Gang' (the nazis). Burroughs is sometimes credited with introducing 'heavy metal' into the vocabulary, but encountered other stories about that.
I haven't read it for a while so I can only give some hints off the top of my head, but I disagree with those who say Burroughs is someone who you read when young and never revisit - he gets better with age. The Naked Lunch is a remarkable work, and a remarkable prophecy which is getting truer by the day, unfortunately - 'the moment when everyone sees what's on the end of every fork'! The most inspired and bizarred science fiction ever!

Rubbish, 14 Jan 2008
This is a book for sad people who like to think they're cool and clever - like most of the `beat' texts. It plays with being difficult and wallows in degradation for the sake of it.

Having read enough difficult books to be able to tell the difference between honest and necessary difficulty on the one hand and self-indulgent confusion on the other, I can confidently put The Naked Lunch in the second category.

As far as the subject matter is concerned, I've seen enough to be fairly unshockable, and I can look at it calmly enough to recognise self-indulgent wallowing when I see it.

If you really want to read something difficult for the sake of it, you're better reading a book that's also rewarding and meaningful, like Finnegans Wake. James Joyce has vistas of significance and depths of humanity that Burroughs can't hold a candle to.

I first became aware of Burroughs a long time ago, in my teens, but never got round to reading him. In the meantime I've read a lot of books in the course of getting a master's degree in literature. Some are worthwhile. Others aren't. Some are merely hyped-up trash. This is one of the latter.

... and funny, 18 Dec 2007
OK, it's black, bleak, about control and the "algebra of need" ... and startlingly funny!

Knowing the score, 25 Oct 2007
You don't need me to tell you this is a great book. Writing has never been this good.

But are you ready for it?

The images are out there. The style is out there. If you haven't been out there with Burroughs, you may want to start with a similar message in a more traditional form, namely his trilogy that begins with "Cities of the Red Night".

But the power is here in this book. The power of the truths about control, about desperate needs, about everything that is lurking beneath even well-structure, settled lives.

If you're studious, then after the thrill of Naked Lunch, if there is an "after Naked Lunch", you can grow your understanding of your social conditioning with Peter Handke's play "Kaspar" and with B.F.Skinner's study "Verbal Behavior" (read Skinner's "Science and Human Behavior" before "Verbal Behavior"). These are all you need to be able to stand on your own two feet. But start with Naked Lunch to get the jolt you'll need to start understanding how the control systems have you pinned down.

Heroin addiction and outlandish s*x are only small adornments in "Naked Lunch", the escapes could have been instead workaholism and fundamentalism, or reading books and writing Amazon reviews. But you probably wouldn't be drawn to a book about Amazon book reviewers. Still, Naked Lunch isn't describing anything far away. It's not "out there" after all but right in our guts. Enjoy.

A journey into paradox, 09 Sep 2007
It took me several weeks to get into this book: then I got to half-way and suddenly felt comfortable with the style and the remainder got gobbled up in a couple of days. It is a very different "novel", and one which certainly won't appeal to everyone - particularly unsuitable for immature readers or religious fundamentalists of any persuasion. There is extensive explicit reference to heroin use and homosexuality throughout, with an often sadomasochistic or twisted medical angle.

The book's plot is loose to say the least, and the stream of consciousness style caused me great difficulty in the early stages. Once I realised that this was the books strength and started going with the flow, it became much easier to read and was highly enjoyable. Although the subject matter is often disturbing and the characters generally frightening and detestable, the prose is beautiful and often very poetic. Loose concepts such as Interzone, Islam Corp, Dr Benway etc are intimated like pieces of exquisite modern art.

If you think you won't huff and puff due to the references to homosexuality, drugs, casual violence, and florid prose, give this dizzying journey into dark beatnik fantasy a go. And hope you never have a GP called Benway...

Powerful&Brutally Honest ;Beautifully Wrote , 01 May 2007
Whether you have any interest in addiction, or you just wanna good read, put this in your "Works". Unlike so much of Burroughs,this is an easily read,straight-forward & beautifully written narrative. A disturbing account of heroin addiction in 1940's post-war America. Burrough's creates vivid characters without a single wasted word in his dry,dark tones. You feel as if you know these characters. Any preconceptions will be swiftly swepped aside as you delve deeper into this book. Its easy to forget this book was published in 1953, albeit edited&censored (unsurprisingly), as it is still applicable today. Fortunately, thanks to Burroughs(and Allen Ginsberg&Co) and others like him, the censor laws are far more realistic. A genuine 20th century classic which has stood the test of time, which will still be on bookshop shelves, and yours, in 2053.

An astonding first novel for Burrough's, the purveyor of strange...

ACCESSIBLE AND COMPELLING, 27 Feb 2006
Burroughs' writing here is a unique and successful blend of autobiography and detached journalism, unprecedented for that time. The prologue gives Junky an air of authenticity from the outset as the author briefly describes his childhood before plunging into this narrative of a journey - teeming with colourful low-life characters - from the Midwest to New York to Texas to New Orleans, a farm in the Rio Grande Valley, & finally Mexico in his relentless pursuit of the heroin trip. There is a certain aloofness in the style, giving the reader the impression that you're only witness to a restricted part of the protagonist's experiences. For example, the text makes vague references to his wife who obviously journeyed and indulged with him, but no more is told of her, poor Joan. Although Queer, which is a more rounded novel, filled in many pieces of the jigsaw, it was only upon reading Ellis Ambrose's The Subterranean Kerouac, that this novel finally made sense and I began to see a fuller picture of Burroughs, his wife and their contemporaries. Anyway, this is a piece of brilliant writing on many levels. The book concludes with a glossary of "junk lingo" or "jive talk" - so that's what the BeeGees were singing about!

An accurate and honest portrayal of heroin addiction, 23 Aug 2003
Having personally experienced heroin addiction, I was intrigued and keen to read Junky and I wasn't disappointed. Although Junky was published in the 1950s, it's excellent depiction of drug addiction and the associated lifestyle hasn't aged in the slightest (although disposable needles and syringes - 'works' - have replaced eyedroppers).

What I particularly liked about Junky, is that Burroughs isn't remotely self-pitying, even when he describes 'taking the cure' in a hospital and going through bouts of 'junk sickness'. Burroughs also manages to keep the reader completely focused on the book, with eager anticipation about what's going to happen next. Although Junky isn't a particularly long book (it only took a few days to read) it's like a slow-release euphoric experience from beginning to end!

Unique & Compelling, 03 May 2002
Burroughs’ writing here is a unique and successful blend of autobiography and detached journalism, unprecedented for that time. The prologue gives Junky an air of authenticity from the outset as the author briefly describes his childhood before plunging into this narrative of a journey – teeming with colorful low-life characters - from the Midwest to New York to Texas to New Orleans, a farm in the Rio Grande Valley, & finally Mexico in his relentless pursuit of the heroin trip.
There is a certain aloofness in the style, giving the reader the impression that you’re only witness to a restricted part of the protagonist’s experiences. For example, the text makes vague references to his wife who obviously journeyed and indulged with him, but no more is told of her, poor Joan. Although “Queer’, which is a more rounded novel, filled in many pieces of the jigsaw, it was only upon reading Ellis Ambrose’s “The Subterranean Kerouac,” that this novel finally made sense and I began to see a fuller picture of Burroughs, his wife and their contemporaries. Anyway, this is a piece of brilliant writing on many levels. The book concludes with a glossary of “junk lingo” or “jive talk” – so that’s what the BeeGees were singing about?

A classic of the early Beats, 06 Apr 2002
Junky is William Burroughs's first novel, and one of his most important....Don't let the first person narrative fool you, this is not an autobiography in any usual sense. Burroughs himself described it as a 'travel book.'
Unlike the cut-up novels this novel easily engages the reader. There is a narrative, even if there is no narrative development towards a repentant self realsation that would be expected in a confessional novel.
If you have read On the Road then you'll appreciate Junky.
If you have read Naked Lunch then this might come as something of a surprise. But don't berate the book for that. It might not deconstruct a logical narrative development. Or for that matter it doesn't deconstruct the liberal humanist individual. But it does reveal Burroughs the genius....
If you are familiar with Burroughs allready then Junky is well worth buying.
And if you aren't... buy this book. You'll never look at eye droppers the same way after reading this.

I hope I'm not thick, 05 Aug 2008
I think I'm a pretty bright sort of a bloke. I got a good degree in English Literature from a very respectable university. I'm pretty knowledgable and can grasp fairly difficult concepts. But I'm not ashamed to admit (I am ashamed really) that this book floored me.

I appreciate it is experimental and understand that it probably gives great pleasure to those who "get" what Ballard is doing. But it is extremely obscure, written in a highly-florid, conceptual style and I found it unreadable. Instead of becoming involved with it I ended up just looking at words on a page and although I could appreciate the semantics of each sentence, getting any kind of notion of what was happening across the novel escaped me.

So should you be considering purchasing the book my advice would be this: If you like poetry you might like this. If you enjoy the deciphering of poetry, enjoy the subtext and enjoy the playing with ideas and forms of literature, then you might like this. Otherwise, you probably won't.

I have not read any other books by this author but do intend to. I hope that The Atrocity Exhibition was just very self-indulgent on his part and that I do not waste another eight quid on my next Ballard.

The 'atrocious' exhibition, 05 Jan 2006
'The Atrocity Exhibition' is a very apt title, because I have never read a more atrocious book. 'Experimental' translated means 'Avant-Garde', He mentions rape, torture, paedophilia, people who are aroused by Vietnam's child napalm victims and people who are aroused by viewing car crashes. As if this weren't bad enough, he writes the book in a willfully obscure, difficult, awkward style - hence the 'experimental' label.

Essentially what Ballard is trying to do is dazzle us with his expansive vocabulary, but it cannot change the fact that the novel is meaningless. I for one am not impressed by someone who uses ten-syllable words continuously.

Barely a paragraph goes by where he isn't making some crude or unpleasant outlandish sexual reference, even to the point where he is implying that anyone who is an anti-war protestor is sexually inadequate. There are numerous of these bizarre and disturbing thoughts.

I fail to see how anyone could 'enjoy' this novel, as it is not the kind of novel you can enjoy. Once you have come to terms with his style of writing, the novel just becomes tedious. I do not think there is an overall point. Avoid this obscene and tedious novel at ALL costs!

Truly visionary, 03 Oct 2005
Will Self describes this book, on the cover, as representing "the zenith of the experimental novel in English. Ballard's marginalia are a tour de force, a wholy original work in their own right."

This annotated edition with an excellent introduction by William Burroughs and Ballard's own chapter notes, written with over twenty years hindsight, further enhances a novel that already made Ballard stand out as one of greatest soothsayers of the twentieth century.

Obsessively documenting his obsessions and preoccupations, this novel cuts deep into the fabric of contemporary society. Not an easy read but an invaluable testament of our time, now with added historic perspective.

Every good novel should change your life - this will alter your perceptions in an astonishing and radical manner. Not to be missed.

Best book I ever read!, 30 Aug 2005
Yes, this is a difficult and complex book. Yes, it is dense, cryptic and multi-layered. Yes, it lacks a clear linear plot. Yes, it is packed with complex and repetitive images. It is also Ballard's finest work, a collection of frames from a film that evokes all the obsessions and symbols of the latter years of the twentieth century.
And to answer the last reviewer, yes, I think it is great.

amazing - the geometry of virtual un-reality, 28 Aug 2005
ballard himself said that every paragraph of this frightening, obscure and obtuse puzzle-fiction is a condensed novel. it's true and puts most other writers to shame: experimental and totally transgressive.
the imagination and wayward-intelligence behind the ideas here might lead you to think it was written by an maverick escapee of a mental asylum (maybe travis, trabert, talbolt or traven)but ballard, like orwell and huxley, knows exactly what he's talking about.
there's abandoned airfields where recreations of the jfk assassination take place, studies of the geometry of bits of car in relation to calculated sexual poses, the encyclopedia of imaginary diseases, dali, max ernst, the death-crashes of james dean, albert camus.
first published as a collected 'novel' in 1969 it embodies the start/end of the space race, psychopathology of the modern icon and the possibilities of celebrity car-death.
the annotations by ballard in this edition are very helpful in creating an understanding of some of the less obvious content without detracting from the ferocity of the ideas.
'atrocity exhibition' is the only title this book could possibly have.

interesting, yes., 06 Nov 2008
If, like me, you are a big fan of Burroughs and Kerouac's eh 'solo efforts'; if you have raced through 'On The Road' while pitifully short on gas, and shot up on 'Junk' when you knew you shouldn't; if you have searched through 'Cities of the Red Night';if you have broken down in 'Big Sur' and shifted your way through all those frozen moments of 'Naked Lunch' then you will probably want to buy this book. It is the heretofore unpublished collaboration from 1944 between these two greats of Twentieh Century Literature, written as alternating chapters, one by Burroughs followed by one by Kerouac and on like that, from the point of view of William Dennison and Mike Ryko respectively. It tells the story of a crime from the point of view of two mixed up in it. It is apparently based on actual events. I wouldn't call it a work of juvenalia exactly, there is a lot to like here, but it doesn't reach the heights (or the depths) of either writer's later stylistic flourishes. It is in fact a pretty conventional novel. The main enjoyment for me was in seeing the differences between the two writers even at this embryonic stage, spotting the germs of what they would become. But I don't want to dissuade anyone from buying this at ALL! If you like the two writers' work then buy it by all means. I really enjoyed reading it. All I would say is 'Don't start here' if you've never before read Burroughs or Kerouac.

Most important novel since Ulysses, and only gets more important, 13 Jul 2008
I read Burroughs first when I was in my teens. The homosexuality was just like reading about the sex-life of Martians or something; his whole world was so bizarre that it just seemed like part of his freak show - I thought he was just trying to be as disgusting as possible. But that's not the point about Burroughs - if you can get hold of any recordings of Burroughs reading from the Naked Lunch, or the Soft Machine, the Ticket that Exploded, or Nova Express, you'll 'get it' more - it's a sort of beat poetry, stunningly inventive, imaginative and hilarious, if patchy. A lot of fuss is made about his 'cut up technique', which is just the equivalent of scrap iron or turds in art galleries - pretentious drivel. But actually, it throws up some interesting effects when he uses it on his own stuff. You'd have to read the first four novels in a row to appreciate that - Don't worry, he only uses it here and there. I don't think he uses cut-up in this one though, which makes it an easier read than the others.
The Naked Lunch would be enough to be going on with for most people, though. David Lynch's film is great, and as good a stab at it as you could get, but it's really only a few selected scenes and themes from all his books and his life - great but not the book.

Don't expect a straightforward story, but there are recurring themes and threads, that sort of link it all together. It was apparently written in Tangier, in installments which he then posted to Allan Ginsberg, as 'reports from Interzone', just for his own amusement. Ginsberg persuaded him to publish it all. That was the story a while back. I daresay this new edition will have some new insight on all that.
As to the substance: consider when the Naked Lunch was written, and what he was writing about, and what others were writing about at the time. It's not the homosexuality that's the point, or even remarkable. While everyone else was writing about the 'cold war', he was writing about the expansion of the drug-trade, and the symbiotic and parasitic expansion of law enforcement to parallel it, using heroin as a metaphor for all sorts of parasitic political and economic forces that insinuate themselves into the human world and deliberately create a dependence, and behind them the alien, child-sacrificing Mugwumps, and the Heavy Metal Kids, alien lizards from a high density world, with all their scams and projects, like 'the Oven Gang' (the nazis). Burroughs is sometimes credited with introducing 'heavy metal' into the vocabulary, but encountered other stories about that.
I haven't read it for a while so I can only give some hints off the top of my head, but I disagree with those who say Burroughs is someone who you read when young and never revisit - he gets better with age. The Naked Lunch is a remarkable work, and a remarkable prophecy which is getting truer by the day, unfortunately - 'the moment when everyone sees what's on the end of every fork'! The most inspired and bizarred science fiction ever!

Rubbish, 14 Jan 2008
This is a book for sad people who like to think they're cool and clever - like most of the `beat' texts. It plays with being difficult and wallows in degradation for the sake of it.

Having read enough difficult books to be able to tell the difference between honest and necessary difficulty on the one hand and self-indulgent confusion on the other, I can confidently put The Naked Lunch in the second category.

As far as the subject matter is concerned, I've seen enough to be fairly unshockable, and I can look at it calmly enough to recognise self-indulgent wallowing when I see it.

If you really want to read something difficult for the sake of it, you're better reading a book that's also rewarding and meaningful, like Finnegans Wake. James Joyce has vistas of significance and depths of humanity that Burroughs can't hold a candle to.

I first became aware of Burroughs a long time ago, in my teens, but never got round to reading him. In the meantime I've read a lot of books in the course of getting a master's degree in literature. Some are worthwhile. Others aren't. Some are merely hyped-up trash. This is one of the latter.

... and funny, 18 Dec 2007
OK, it's black, bleak, about control and the "algebra of need" ... and startlingly funny!

Knowing the score, 25 Oct 2007
You don't need me to tell you this is a great book. Writing has never been this good.

But are you ready for it?

The images are out there. The style is out there. If you haven't been out there with Burroughs, you may want to start with a similar message in a more traditional form, namely his trilogy that begins with "Cities of the Red Night".

But the power is here in this book. The power of the truths about control, about desperate needs, about everything that is lurking beneath even well-structure, settled lives.

If you're studious, then after the thrill of Naked Lunch, if there is an "after Naked Lunch", you can grow your understanding of your social conditioning with Peter Handke's play "Kaspar" and with B.F.Skinner's study "Verbal Behavior" (read Skinner's "Science and Human Behavior" before "Verbal Behavior"). These are all you need to be able to stand on your own two feet. But start with Naked Lunch to get the jolt you'll need to start understanding how the control systems have you pinned down.

Heroin addiction and outlandish s*x are only small adornments in "Naked Lunch", the escapes could have been instead workaholism and fundamentalism, or reading books and writing Amazon reviews. But you probably wouldn't be drawn to a book about Amazon book reviewers. Still, Naked Lunch isn't describing anything far away. It's not "out there" after all but right in our guts. Enjoy.

A journey into paradox, 09 Sep 2007
It took me several weeks to get into this book: then I got to half-way and suddenly felt comfortable with the style and the remainder got gobbled up in a couple of days. It is a very different "novel", and one which certainly won't appeal to everyone - particularly unsuitable for immature readers or religious fundamentalists of any persuasion. There is extensive explicit reference to heroin use and homosexuality throughout, with an often sadomasochistic or twisted medical angle.

The book's plot is loose to say the least, and the stream of consciousness style caused me great difficulty in the early stages. Once I realised that this was the books strength and started going with the flow, it became much easier to read and was highly enjoyable. Although the subject matter is often disturbing and the characters generally frightening and detestable, the prose is beautiful and often very poetic. Loose concepts such as Interzone, Islam Corp, Dr Benway etc are intimated like pieces of exquisite modern art.

If you think you won't huff and puff due to the references to homosexuality, drugs, casual violence, and florid prose, give this dizzying journey into dark beatnik fantasy a go. And hope you never have a GP called Benway...

Powerful&Brutally Honest ;Beautifully Wrote , 01 May 2007
Whether you have any interest in addiction, or you just wanna good read, put this in your "Works". Unlike so much of Burroughs,this is an easily read,straight-forward & beautifully written narrative. A disturbing account of heroin addiction in 1940's post-war America. Burrough's creates vivid characters without a single wasted word in his dry,dark tones. You feel as if you know these characters. Any preconceptions will be swiftly swepped aside as you delve deeper into this book. Its easy to forget this book was published in 1953, albeit edited&censored (unsurprisingly), as it is still applicable today. Fortunately, thanks to Burroughs(and Allen Ginsberg&Co) and others like him, the censor laws are far more realistic. A genuine 20th century classic which has stood the test of time, which will still be on bookshop shelves, and yours, in 2053.

An astonding first novel for Burrough's, the purveyor of strange...

ACCESSIBLE AND COMPELLING, 27 Feb 2006
Burroughs' writing here is a unique and successful blend of autobiography and detached journalism, unprecedented for that time. The prologue gives Junky an air of authenticity from the outset as the author briefly describes his childhood before plunging into this narrative of a journey - teeming with colourful low-life characters - from the Midwest to New York to Texas to New Orleans, a farm in the Rio Grande Valley, & finally Mexico in his relentless pursuit of the heroin trip. There is a certain aloofness in the style, giving the reader the impression that you're only witness to a restricted part of the protagonist's experiences. For example, the text makes vague references to his wife who obviously journeyed and indulged with him, but no more is told of her, poor Joan. Although Queer, which is a more rounded novel, filled in many pieces of the jigsaw, it was only upon reading Ellis Ambrose's The Subterranean Kerouac, that this novel finally made sense and I began to see a fuller picture of Burroughs, his wife and their contemporaries. Anyway, this is a piece of brilliant writing on many levels. The book concludes with a glossary of "junk lingo" or "jive talk" - so that's what the BeeGees were singing about!

An accurate and honest portrayal of heroin addiction, 23 Aug 2003
Having personally experienced heroin addiction, I was intrigued and keen to read Junky and I wasn't disappointed. Although Junky was published in the 1950s, it's excellent depiction of drug addiction and the associated lifestyle hasn't aged in the slightest (although disposable needles and syringes - 'works' - have replaced eyedroppers).

What I particularly liked about Junky, is that Burroughs isn't remotely self-pitying, even when he describes 'taking the cure' in a hospital and going through bouts of 'junk sickness'. Burroughs also manages to keep the reader completely focused on the book, with eager anticipation about what's going to happen next. Although Junky isn't a particularly long book (it only took a few days to read) it's like a slow-release euphoric experience from beginning to end!

Unique & Compelling, 03 May 2002
Burroughs’ writing here is a unique and successful blend of autobiography and detached journalism, unprecedented for that time. The prologue gives Junky an air of authenticity from the outset as the author briefly describes his childhood before plunging into this narrative of a journey – teeming with colorful low-life characters - from the Midwest to New York to Texas to New Orleans, a farm in the Rio Grande Valley, & finally Mexico in his relentless pursuit of the heroin trip.
There is a certain aloofness in the style, giving the reader the impression that you’re only witness to a restricted part of the protagonist’s experiences. For example, the text makes vague references to his wife who obviously journeyed and indulged with him, but no more is told of her, poor Joan. Although “Queer’, which is a more rounded novel, filled in many pieces of the jigsaw, it was only upon reading Ellis Ambrose’s “The Subterranean Kerouac,” that this novel finally made sense and I began to see a fuller picture of Burroughs, his wife and their contemporaries. Anyway, this is a piece of brilliant writing on many levels. The book concludes with a glossary of “junk lingo” or “jive talk” – so that’s what the BeeGees were singing about?

A classic of the early Beats, 06 Apr 2002
Junky is William Burroughs's first novel, and one of his most important....Don't let the first person narrative fool you, this is not an autobiography in any usual sense. Burroughs himself described it as a 'travel book.'
Unlike the cut-up novels this novel easily engages the reader. There is a narrative, even if there is no narrative development towards a repentant self realsation that would be expected in a confessional novel.
If you have read On the Road then you'll appreciate Junky.
If you have read Naked Lunch then this might come as something of a surprise. But don't berate the book for that. It might not deconstruct a logical narrative development. Or for that matter it doesn't deconstruct the liberal humanist individual. But it does reveal Burroughs the genius....
If you are familiar with Burroughs allready then Junky is well worth buying.
And if you aren't... buy this book. You'll never look at eye droppers the same way after reading this.

I hope I'm not thick, 05 Aug 2008
I think I'm a pretty bright sort of a bloke. I got a good degree in English Literature from a very respectable university. I'm pretty knowledgable and can grasp fairly difficult concepts. But I'm not ashamed to admit (I am ashamed really) that this book floored me.

I appreciate it is experimental and understand that it probably gives great pleasure to those who "get" what Ballard is doing. But it is extremely obscure, written in a highly-florid, conceptual style and I found it unreadable. Instead of becoming involved with it I ended up just looking at words on a page and although I could appreciate the semantics of each sentence, getting any kind of notion of what was happening across the novel escaped me.

So should you be considering purchasing the book my advice would be this: If you like poetry you might like this. If you enjoy the deciphering of poetry, enjoy the subtext and enjoy the playing with ideas and forms of literature, then you might like this. Otherwise, you probably won't.

I have not read any other books by this author but do intend to. I hope that The Atrocity Exhibition was just very self-indulgent on his part and that I do not waste another eight quid on my next Ballard.

The 'atrocious' exhibition, 05 Jan 2006
'The Atrocity Exhibition' is a very apt title, because I have never read a more atrocious book. 'Experimental' translated means 'Avant-Garde', He mentions rape, torture, paedophilia, people who are aroused by Vietnam's child napalm victims and people who are aroused by viewing car crashes. As if this weren't bad enough, he writes the book in a willfully obscure, difficult, awkward style - hence the 'experimental' label.

Essentially what Ballard is trying to do is dazzle us with his expansive vocabulary, but it cannot change the fact that the novel is meaningless. I for one am not impressed by someone who uses ten-syllable words continuously.

Barely a paragraph goes by where he isn't making some crude or unpleasant outlandish sexual reference, even to the point where he is implying that anyone who is an anti-war protestor is sexually inadequate. There are numerous of these bizarre and disturbing thoughts.

I fail to see how anyone could 'enjoy' this novel, as it is not the kind of novel you can enjoy. Once you have come to terms with his style of writing, the novel just becomes tedious. I do not think there is an overall point. Avoid this obscene and tedious novel at ALL costs!

Truly visionary, 03 Oct 2005
Will Self describes this book, on the cover, as representing "the zenith of the experimental novel in English. Ballard's marginalia are a tour de force, a wholy original work in their own right."

This annotated edition with an excellent introduction by William Burroughs and Ballard's own chapter notes, written with over twenty years hindsight, further enhances a novel that already made Ballard stand out as one of greatest soothsayers of the twentieth century.

Obsessively documenting his obsessions and preoccupations, this novel cuts deep into the fabric of contemporary society. Not an easy read but an invaluable testament of our time, now with added historic perspective.

Every good novel should change your life - this will alter your perceptions in an astonishing and radical manner. Not to be missed.

Best book I ever read!, 30 Aug 2005
Yes, this is a difficult and complex book. Yes, it is dense, cryptic and multi-layered. Yes, it lacks a clear linear plot. Yes, it is packed with complex and repetitive images. It is also Ballard's finest work, a collection of frames from a film that evokes all the obsessions and symbols of the latter years of the twentieth century.
And to answer the last reviewer, yes, I think it is great.

amazing - the geometry of virtual un-reality, 28 Aug 2005
ballard himself said that every paragraph of this frightening, obscure and obtuse puzzle-fiction is a condensed novel. it's true and puts most other writers to shame: experimental and totally transgressive.
the imagination and wayward-intelligence behind the ideas here might lead you to think it was written by an maverick escapee of a mental asylum (maybe travis, trabert, talbolt or traven)but ballard, like orwell and huxley, knows exactly what he's talking about.
there's abandoned airfields where recreations of the jfk assassination take place, studies of the geometry of bits of car in relation to calculated sexual poses, the encyclopedia of imaginary diseases, dali, max ernst, the death-crashes of james dean, albert camus.
first published as a collected 'novel' in 1969 it embodies the start/end of the space race, psychopathology of the modern icon and the possibilities of celebrity car-death.
the annotations by ballard in this edition are very helpful in creating an understanding of some of the less obvious content without detracting from the ferocity of the ideas.
'atrocity exhibition' is the only title this book could possibly have.

Powerful&Brutally Honest ;Beautifully Wrote , 01 May 2007
Whether you have any interest in addiction, or you just wanna good read, put this in your "Works". Unlike so much of Burroughs,this is an easily read,straight-forward & beautifully written narrative. A disturbing account of heroin addiction in 1940's post-war America. Burrough's creates vivid characters without a single wasted word in his dry,dark tones. You feel as if you know these characters. Any preconceptions will be swiftly swepped aside as you delve deeper into this book. Its easy to forget this book was published in 1953, albeit edited&censored (unsurprisingly), as it is still applicable today. Fortunately, thanks to Burroughs(and Allen Ginsberg&Co) and others like him, the censor laws are far more realistic. A genuine 20th century classic which has stood the test of time, which will still be on bookshop shelves, and yours, in 2053.

An astonding first novel for Burrough's, the purveyor of strange...

ACCESSIBLE AND COMPELLING, 27 Feb 2006
Burroughs' writing here is a unique and successful blend of autobiography and detached journalism, unprecedented for that time. The prologue gives Junky an air of authenticity from the outset as the author briefly describes his childhood before plunging into this narrative of a journey - teeming with colourful low-life characters - from the Midwest to New York to Texas to New Orleans, a farm in the Rio Grande Valley, & finally Mexico in his relentless pursuit of the heroin trip. There is a certain aloofness in the style, giving the reader the impression that you're only witness to a restricted part of the protagonist's experiences. For example, the text makes vague references to his wife who obviously journeyed and indulged with him, but no more is told of her, poor Joan. Although Queer, which is a more rounded novel, filled in many pieces of the jigsaw, it was only upon reading Ellis Ambrose's The Subterranean Kerouac, that this novel finally made sense and I began to see a fuller picture of Burroughs, his wife and their contemporaries. Anyway, this is a piece of brilliant writing on many levels. The book concludes with a glossary of "junk lingo" or "jive talk" - so that's what the BeeGees were singing about!

An accurate and honest portrayal of heroin addiction, 23 Aug 2003
Having personally experienced heroin addiction, I was intrigued and keen to read Junky and I wasn't disappointed. Although Junky was published in the 1950s, it's excellent depiction of drug addiction and the associated lifestyle hasn't aged in the slightest (although disposable needles and syringes - 'works' - have replaced eyedroppers).

What I particularly liked about Junky, is that Burroughs isn't remotely self-pitying, even when he describes 'taking the cure' in a hospital and going through bouts of 'junk sickness'. Burroughs also manages to keep the reader completely focused on the book, with eager anticipation about what's going to happen next. Although Junky isn't a particularly long book (it only took a few days to read) it's like a slow-release euphoric experience from beginning to end!

Unique & Compelling, 03 May 2002
Burroughs’ writing here is a unique and successful blend of autobiography and detached journalism, unprecedented for that time. The prologue gives Junky an air of authenticity from the outset as the author briefly describes his childhood before plunging into this narrative of a journey – teeming with colorful low-life characters - from the Midwest to New York to Texas to New Orleans, a farm in the Rio Grande Valley, & finally Mexico in his relentless pursuit of the heroin trip.
There is a certain aloofness in the style, giving the reader the impression that you’re only witness to a restricted part of the protagonist’s experiences. For example, the text makes vague references to his wife who obviously journeyed and indulged with him, but no more is told of her, poor Joan. Although “Queer’, which is a more rounded novel, filled in many pieces of the jigsaw, it was only upon reading Ellis Ambrose’s “The Subterranean Kerouac,” that this novel finally made sense and I began to see a fuller picture of Burroughs, his wife and their contemporaries. Anyway, this is a piece of brilliant writing on many levels. The book concludes with a glossary of “junk lingo” or “jive talk” – so that’s what the BeeGees were singing about?

A classic of the early Beats, 06 Apr 2002
Junky is William Burroughs's first novel, and one of his most important....Don't let the first person narrative fool you, this is not an autobiography in any usual sense. Burroughs himself described it as a 'travel book.'
Unlike the cut-up novels this novel easily engages the reader. There is a narrative, even if there is no narrative development towards a repentant self realsation that would be expected in a confessional novel.
If you have read On the Road then you'll appreciate Junky.
If you have read Naked Lunch then this might come as something of a surprise. But don't berate the book for that. It might not deconstruct a logical narrative development. Or for that matter it doesn't deconstruct the liberal humanist individual. But it does reveal Burroughs the genius....
If you are familiar with Burroughs allready then Junky is well worth buying.
And if you aren't... buy this book. You'll never look at eye droppers the same way after reading this.

interesting, yes., 06 Nov 2008
If, like me, you are a big fan of Burroughs and Kerouac's eh 'solo efforts'; if you have raced through 'On The Road' while pitifully short on gas, and shot up on 'Junk' when you knew you shouldn't; if you have searched through 'Cities of the Red Night';if you have broken down in 'Big Sur' and shifted your way through all those frozen moments of 'Naked Lunch' then you will probably want to buy this book. It is the heretofore unpublished collaboration from 1944 between these two greats of Twentieh Century Literature, written as alternating chapters, one by Burroughs followed by one by Kerouac and on like that, from the point of view of William Dennison and Mike Ryko respectively. It tells the story of a crime from the point of view of two mixed up in it. It is apparently based on actual events. I wouldn't call it a work of juvenalia exactly, there is a lot to like here, but it doesn't reach the heights (or the depths) of either writer's later stylistic flourishes. It is in fact a pretty conventional novel. The main enjoyment for me was in seeing the differences between the two writers even at this embryonic stage, spotting the germs of what they would become. But I don't want to dissuade anyone from buying this at ALL! If you like the two writers' work then buy it by all means. I really enjoyed reading it. All I would say is 'Don't start here' if you've never before read Burroughs or Kerouac.

Most important novel since Ulysses, and only gets more important, 13 Jul 2008
I read Burroughs first when I was in my teens. The homosexuality was just like reading about the sex-life of Martians or something; his whole world was so bizarre that it just seemed like part of his freak show - I thought he was just trying to be as disgusting as possible. But that's not the point about Burroughs - if you can get hold of any recordings of Burroughs reading from the Naked Lunch, or the Soft Machine, the Ticket that Exploded, or Nova Express, you'll 'get it' more - it's a sort of beat poetry, stunningly inventive, imaginative and hilarious, if patchy. A lot of fuss is made about his 'cut up technique', which is just the equivalent of scrap iron or turds in art galleries - pretentious drivel. But actually, it throws up some interesting effects when he uses it on his own stuff. You'd have to read the first four novels in a row to appreciate that - Don't worry, he only uses it here and there. I don't think he uses cut-up in this one though, which makes it an easier read than the others.
The Naked Lunch would be enough to be going on with for most people, though. David Lynch's film is great, and as good a stab at it as you could get, but it's really only a few selected scenes and themes from all his books and his life - great but not the book.

Don't expect a straightforward story, but there are recurring themes and threads, that sort of link it all together. It was apparently written in Tangier, in installments which he then posted to Allan Ginsberg, as 'reports from Interzone', just for his own amusement. Ginsberg persuaded him to publish it all. That was the story a while back. I daresay this new edition will have some new insight on all that.
As to the substance: consider when the Naked Lunch was written, and what he was writing about, and what others were writing about at the time. It's not the homosexuality that's the point, or even remarkable. While everyone else was writing about the 'cold war', he was writing about the expansion of the drug-trade, and the symbiotic and parasitic expansion of law enforcement to parallel it, using heroin as a metaphor for all sorts of parasitic political and economic forces that insinuate themselves into the human world and deliberately create a dependence, and behind them the alien, child-sacrificing Mugwumps, and the Heavy Metal Kids, alien lizards from a high density world, with all their scams and projects, like 'the Oven Gang' (the nazis). Burroughs is sometimes credited with introducing 'heavy metal' into the vocabulary, but encountered other stories about that.
I haven't read it for a while so I can only give some hints off the top of my head, but I disagree with those who say Burroughs is someone who you read when young and never revisit - he gets better with age. The Naked Lunch is a remarkable work, and a remarkable prophecy which is getting truer by the day, unfortunately - 'the moment when everyone sees what's on the end of every fork'! The most inspired and bizarred science fiction ever!

Rubbish, 14 Jan 2008
This is a book for sad people who like to think they're cool and clever - like most of the `beat' texts. It plays with being difficult and wallows in degradation for the sake of it.

Having read enough difficult books to be able to tell the difference between honest and necessary difficulty on the one hand and self-indulgent confusion on the other, I can confidently put The Naked Lunch in the second category.

As far as the subject matter is concerned, I've seen enough to be fairly unshockable, and I can look at it calmly enough to recognise self-indulgent wallowing when I see it.

If you really want to read something difficult for the sake of it, you're better reading a book that's also rewarding and meaningful, like Finnegans Wake. James Joyce has vistas of significance and depths of humanity that Burroughs can't hold a candle to.

I first became aware of Burroughs a long time ago, in my teens, but never got round to reading him. In the meantime I've read a lot of books in the course of getting a master's degree in literature. Some are worthwhile. Others aren't. Some are merely hyped-up trash. This is one of the latter.

... and funny, 18 Dec 2007
OK, it's black, bleak, about control and the "algebra of need" ... and startlingly funny!

Knowing the score, 25 Oct 2007
You don't need me to tell you this is a great book. Writing has never been this good.

But are you ready for it?

The images are out there. The style is out there. If you haven't been out there with Burroughs, you may want to start with a similar message in a more traditional form, namely his trilogy that begins with "Cities of the Red Night".

But the power is here in this book. The power of the truths about control, about desperate needs, about everything that is lurking beneath even well-structure, settled lives.

If you're studious, then after the thrill of Naked Lunch, if there is an "after Naked Lunch", you can grow your understanding of your social conditioning with Peter Handke's play "Kaspar" and with B.F.Skinner's study "Verbal Behavior" (read Skinner's "Science and Human Behavior" before "Verbal Behavior"). These are all you need to be able to stand on your own two feet. But start with Naked Lunch to get the jolt you'll need to start understanding how the control systems have you pinned down.

Heroin addiction and outlandish s*x are only small adornments in "Naked Lunch", the escapes could have been instead workaholism and fundamentalism, or reading books and writing Amazon reviews. But you probably wouldn't be drawn to a book about Amazon book reviewers. Still, Naked Lunch isn't describing anything far away. It's not "out there" after all but right in our guts. Enjoy.

A journey into paradox, 09 Sep 2007
It took me several weeks to get into this book: then I got to half-way and suddenly felt comfortable with the style and the remainder got gobbled up in a couple of days. It is a very different "novel", and one which certainly won't appeal to everyone - particularly unsuitable for immature readers or religious fundamentalists of any persuasion. There is extensive explicit reference to heroin use and homosexuality throughout, with an often sadomasochistic or twisted medical angle.

The book's plot is loose to say the least, and the stream of consciousness style caused me great difficulty in the early stages. Once I realised that this was the books strength and started going with the flow, it became much easier to read and was highly enjoyable. Although the subject matter is often disturbing and the characters generally frightening and detestable, the prose is beautiful and often very poetic. Loose concepts such as Interzone, Islam Corp, Dr Benway etc are intimated like pieces of exquisite modern art.

If you think you won't huff and puff due to the references to homosexuality, drugs, casual violence, and florid prose, give this dizzying journey into dark beatnik fantasy a go. And hope you never have a GP called Benway...

Powerful&Brutally Honest ;Beautifully Wrote , 01 May 2007
Whether you have any interest in addiction, or you just wanna good read, put this in your "Works". Unlike so much of Burroughs,this is an easily read,straight-forward & beautifully written narrative. A disturbing account of heroin addiction in 1940's post-war America. Burrough's creates vivid characters without a single wasted word in his dry,dark tones. You feel as if you know these characters. Any preconceptions will be swiftly swepped aside as you delve deeper into this book. Its easy to forget this book was published in 1953, albeit edited&censored (unsurprisingly), as it is still applicable today. Fortunately, thanks to Burroughs(and Allen Ginsberg&Co) and others like him, the censor laws are far more realistic. A genuine 20th century classic which has stood the test of time, which will still be on bookshop shelves, and yours, in 2053.

An astonding first novel for Burrough's, the purveyor of strange...

ACCESSIBLE AND COMPELLING, 27 Feb 2006
Burroughs' writing here is a unique and successful blend of autobiography and detached journalism, unprecedented for that time. The prologue gives Junky an air of authenticity from the outset as the author briefly describes his childhood before plunging into this narrative of a journey - teeming with colourful low-life characters - from the Midwest to New York to Texas to New Orleans, a farm in the Rio Grande Valley, & finally Mexico in his relentless pursuit of the heroin trip. There is a certain aloofness in the style, giving the reader the impression that you're only witness to a restricted part of the protagonist's experiences. For example, the text makes vague references to his wife who obviously journeyed and indulged with him, but no more is told of her, poor Joan. Although Queer, which is a more rounded novel, filled in many pieces of the jigsaw, it was only upon reading Ellis Ambrose's The Subterranean Kerouac, that this novel finally made sense and I began to see a fuller picture of Burroughs, his wife and their contemporaries. Anyway, this is a piece of brilliant writing on many levels. The book concludes with a glossary of "junk lingo" or "jive talk" - so that's what the BeeGees were singing about!

An accurate and honest portrayal of heroin addiction, 23 Aug 2003
Having personally experienced heroin addiction, I was intrigued and keen to read Junky and I wasn't disappointed. Although Junky was published in the 1950s, it's excellent depiction of drug addiction and the associated lifestyle hasn't aged in the slightest (although disposable needles and syringes - 'works' - have replaced eyedroppers).

What I particularly liked about Junky, is that Burroughs isn't remotely self-pitying, even when he describes 'taking the cure' in a hospital and going through bouts of 'junk sickness'. Burroughs also manages to keep the reader completely focused on the book, with eager anticipation about what's going to happen next. Although Junky isn't a particularly long book (it only took a few days to read) it's like a slow-release euphoric experience from beginning to end!

Unique & Compelling, 03 May 2002
Burroughs’ writing here is a unique and successful blend of autobiography and detached journalism, unprecedented for that time. The prologue gives Junky an air of authenticity from the outset as the author briefly describes his childhood before plunging into this narrative of a journey – teeming with colorful low-life characters - from the Midwest to New York to Texas to New Orleans, a farm in the Rio Grande Valley, & finally Mexico in his relentless pursuit of the heroin trip.
There is a certain aloofness in the style, giving the reader the impression that you’re only witness to a restricted part of the protagonist’s experiences. For example, the text makes vague references to his wife who obviously journeyed and indulged with him, but no more is told of her, poor Joan. Although “Queer’, which is a more rounded novel, filled in many pieces of the jigsaw, it was only upon reading Ellis Ambrose’s “The Subterranean Kerouac,” that this novel finally made sense and I began to see a fuller picture of Burroughs, his wife and their contemporaries. Anyway, this is a piece of brilliant writing on many levels. The book concludes with a glossary of “junk lingo” or “jive talk” – so that’s what the BeeGees were singing about?

A classic of the early Beats, 06 Apr 2002
Junky is William Burroughs's first novel, and one of his most important....Don't let the first person narrative fool you, this is not an autobiography in any usual sense. Burroughs himself described it as a 'travel book.'
Unlike the cut-up novels this novel easily engages the reader. There is a narrative, even if there is no narrative development towards a repentant self realsation that would be expected in a confessional novel.
If you have read On the Road then you'll appreciate Junky.
If you have read Naked Lunch then this might come as something of a surprise. But don't berate the book for that. It might not deconstruct a logical narrative development. Or for that matter it doesn't deconstruct the liberal humanist individual. But it does reveal Burroughs the genius....
If you are familiar with Burroughs allready then Junky is well worth buying.
And if you aren't... buy this book. You'll never look at eye droppers the same way after reading this.

I hope I'm not thick, 05 Aug 2008
I think I'm a pretty bright sort of a bloke. I got a good degree in English Literature from a very respectable university. I'm pretty knowledgable and can grasp fairly difficult concepts. But I'm not ashamed to admit (I am ashamed really) that this book floored me.

I appreciate it is experimental and understand that it probably gives great pleasure to those who "get" what Ballard is doing. But it is extremely obscure, written in a highly-florid, conceptual style and I found it unreadable. Instead of becoming involved with it I ended up just looking at words on a page and although I could appreciate the semantics of each sentence, getting any kind of notion of what was happening across the novel escaped me.

So should you be considering purchasing the book my advice would be this: If you like poetry you might like this. If you enjoy the deciphering of poetry, enjoy the subtext and enjoy the playing with ideas and forms of literature, then you might like this. Otherwise, you probably won't.

I have not read any other books by this author but do intend to. I hope that The Atrocity Exhibition was just very self-indulgent on his part and that I do not waste another eight quid on my next Ballard.

The 'atrocious' exhibition, 05 Jan 2006
'The Atrocity Exhibition' is a very apt title, because I have never read a more atrocious book. 'Experimental' translated means 'Avant-Garde', He mentions rape, torture, paedophilia, people who are aroused by Vietnam's child napalm victims and people who are aroused by viewing car crashes. As if this weren't bad enough, he writes the book in a willfully obscure, difficult, awkward style - hence the 'experimental' label.

Essentially what Ballard is trying to do is dazzle us with his expansive vocabulary, but it cannot change the fact that the novel is meaningless. I for one am not impressed by someone who uses ten-syllable words continuously.

Barely a paragraph goes by where he isn't making some crude or unpleasant outlandish sexual reference, even to the point where he is implying that anyone who is an anti-war protestor is sexually inadequate. There are numerous of these bizarre and disturbing thoughts.

I fail to see how anyone could 'enjoy' this novel, as it is not the kind of novel you can enjoy. Once you have come to terms with his style of writing, the novel just becomes tedious. I do not think there is an overall point. Avoid this obscene and tedious novel at ALL costs!

Truly visionary, 03 Oct 2005
Will Self describes this book, on the cover, as representing "the zenith of the experimental novel in English. Ballard's marginalia are a tour de force, a wholy original work in their own right."

This annotated edition with an excellent introduction by William Burroughs and Ballard's own chapter notes, written with over twenty years hindsight, further enhances a novel that already made Ballard stand out as one of greatest soothsayers of the twentieth century.

Obsessively documenting his obsessions and preoccupations, this novel cuts deep into the fabric of contemporary society. Not an easy read but an invaluable testament of our time, now with added historic perspective.

Every good novel should change your life - this will alter your perceptions in an astonishing and radical manner. Not to be missed.

Best book I ever read!, 30 Aug 2005
Yes, this is a difficult and complex book. Yes, it is dense, cryptic and multi-layered. Yes, it lacks a clear linear plot. Yes, it is packed with complex and repetitive images. It is also Ballard's finest work, a collection of frames from a film that evokes all the obsessions and symbols of the latter years of the twentieth century.
And to answer the last reviewer, yes, I think it is great.

amazing - the geometry of virtual un-reality, 28 Aug 2005
ballard himself said that every paragraph of this frightening, obscure and obtuse puzzle-fiction is a condensed novel. it's true and puts most other writers to shame: experimental and totally transgressive.
the imagination and wayward-intelligence behind the ideas here might lead you to think it was written by an maverick escapee of a mental asylum (maybe travis, trabert, talbolt or traven)but ballard, like orwell and huxley, knows exactly what he's talking about.
there's abandoned airfields where recreations of the jfk assassination take place, studies of the geometry of bits of car in relation to calculated sexual poses, the encyclopedia of imaginary diseases, dali, max ernst, the death-crashes of james dean, albert camus.
first published as a collected 'novel' in 1969 it embodies the start/end of the space race, psychopathology of the modern icon and the possibilities of celebrity car-death.
the annotations by ballard in this edition are very helpful in creating an understanding of some of the less obvious content without detracting from the ferocity of the ideas.
'atrocity exhibition' is the only title this book could possibly have.

Powerful&Brutally Honest ;Beautifully Wrote , 01 May 2007
Whether you have any interest in addiction, or you just wanna good read, put this in your "Works". Unlike so much of Burroughs,this is an easily read,straight-forward & beautifully written narrative. A disturbing account of heroin addiction in 1940's post-war America. Burrough's creates vivid characters without a single wasted word in his dry,dark tones. You feel as if you know these characters. Any preconceptions will be swiftly swepped aside as you delve deeper into this book. Its easy to forget this book was published in 1953, albeit edited&censored (unsurprisingly), as it is still applicable today. Fortunately, thanks to Burroughs(and Allen Ginsberg&Co) and others like him, the censor laws are far more realistic. A genuine 20th century classic which has stood the test of time, which will still be on bookshop shelves, and yours, in 2053.

An astonding first novel for Burrough's, the purveyor of strange...

ACCESSIBLE AND COMPELLING, 27 Feb 2006
Burroughs' writing here is a unique and successful blend of autobiography and detached journalism, unprecedented for that time. The prologue gives Junky an air of authenticity from the outset as the author briefly describes his childhood before plunging into this narrative of a journey - teeming with colourful low-life characters - from the Midwest to New York to Texas to New Orleans, a farm in the Rio Grande Valley, & finally Mexico in his relentless pursuit of the heroin trip. There is a certain aloofness in the style, giving the reader the impression that you're only witness to a restricted part of the protagonist's experiences. For example, the text makes vague references to his wife who obviously journeyed and indulged with him, but no more is told of her, poor Joan. Although Queer, which is a more rounded novel, filled in many pieces of the jigsaw, it was only upon reading Ellis Ambrose's The Subterranean Kerouac, that this novel finally made sense and I began to see a fuller picture of Burroughs, his wife and their contemporaries. Anyway, this is a piece of brilliant writing on many levels. The book concludes with a glossary of "junk lingo" or "jive talk" - so that's what the BeeGees were singing about!

An accurate and honest portrayal of heroin addiction, 23 Aug 2003
Having personally experienced heroin addiction, I was intrigued and keen to read Junky and I wasn't disappointed. Although Junky was published in the 1950s, it's excellent depiction of drug addiction and the associated lifestyle hasn't aged in the slightest (although disposable needles and syringes - 'works' - have replaced eyedroppers).

What I particularly liked about Junky, is that Burroughs isn't remotely self-pitying, even when he describes 'taking the cure' in a hospital and going through bouts of 'junk sickness'. Burroughs also manages to keep the reader completely focused on the book, with eager anticipation about what's going to happen next. Although Junky isn't a particularly long book (it only took a few days to read) it's like a slow-release euphoric experience from beginning to end!

Unique & Compelling, 03 May 2002
Burroughs’ writing here is a unique and successful blend of autobiography and detached journalism, unprecedented for that time. The prologue gives Junky an air of authenticity from the outset as the author briefly describes his childhood before plunging into this narrative of a journey – teeming with colorful low-life characters - from the Midwest to New York to Texas to New Orleans, a farm in the Rio Grande Valley, & finally Mexico in his relentless pursuit of the heroin trip.
There is a certain aloofness in the style, giving the reader the impression that you’re only witness to a restricted part of the protagonist’s experiences. For example, the text makes vague references to his wife who obviously journeyed and indulged with him, but no more is told of her, poor Joan. Although “Queer’, which is a more rounded novel, filled in many pieces of the jigsaw, it was only upon reading Ellis Ambrose’s “The Subterranean Kerouac,” that this novel finally made sense and I began to see a fuller picture of Burroughs, his wife and their contemporaries. Anyway, this is a piece of brilliant writing on many levels. The book concludes with a glossary of “junk lingo” or “jive talk” – so that’s what the BeeGees were singing about?

A classic of the early Beats, 06 Apr 2002
Junky is William Burroughs's first novel, and one of his most important....Don't let the first person narrative fool you, this is not an autobiography in any usual sense. Burroughs himself described it as a 'travel book.'
Unlike the cut-up novels this novel easily engages the reader. There is a narrative, even if there is no narrative development towards a repentant self realsation that would be expected in a confessional novel.
If you have read On the Road then you'll appreciate Junky.
If you have read Naked Lunch then this might come as something of a surprise. But don't berate the book for that. It might not deconstruct a logical narrative development. Or for that matter it doesn't deconstruct the liberal humanist individual. But it does reveal Burroughs the genius....
If you are familiar with Burroughs allready then Junky is well worth buying.
And if you aren't... buy this book. You'll never look at eye droppers the same way after reading this.

CLASSIC, 27 Feb 2006
Although Naked Lunch and Junky are great novels, Queer reveals the more human side of Burroughs, where one can actually empathize with the protagonist. The evocative descriptions of Mexico City in the late 1940s and his circle of friends, many of whom were fellow American expatriates, lend a special air of magic to the writing. The flashes of humour are always unique and refreshing, e.g. the amusing story of his imaginary journey to the "Upper Ubangi" in Africa. It belongs to his early period when his writing was quite accessible, unlike the later, often incomprehensible work. Queer remains a brilliant novel whose many charms one can delve into again and again.

Addictive writing, 24 Jul 2004
Although Naked Lunch and Junky are great novels, Queer reveals the more human side of Burroughs, where one can actually empathize with the protagonist. The evocative descriptions of Mexico City in the late 1940s and his circle of friends, many of whom were fellow American expatriates, lend a special air of magic to the writing. The flashes of humour are always unique and refreshing, e.g. the amusing story of his imaginary journey to the "Upper Ubangi" in Africa. Queer remains a brilliant work whose many charms I intend to delve into again and again.

Sad love story., 27 Feb 2004
As other reviewers already have pointed out, this book is in no way "typical Burroughs" - actully it's completely the oposite of "typical Burroughs". I found this to be THE most harrowing story of doomed love I had read when I first picked it up, about 8 years ago - and I still haven't found anything that beats it for sheer feel-bad effect. It might not break your heart, but it will sure make you feel lousy; a great read.

Burroughs still tells a good tale but this is not his best, 04 Sep 2001
Queer is a story of love and Mexico City, filled with the usual lyrical prose of William Burroughs. I read it in one session, bewitched throughout the evening, but in my opinion, Queer is far from his best work.

The love story is told with a typically unorthodox approach, and this book could be told from a sentimentally romantic point of view. This is Burroughs' genius - the book is written from a very realistic perspective, and the slightly lacking depth seems symptomatic of the addict lover.

BUT, do not be fooled into buying some great beat love story, for Queer is, for all intents and purposes, a mediocre book when compared to say Junky or Naked Lunch. What the book does do is give us great insight into the mind and emotions of Burroughs himself, and he still made me reel with laughter when talking about Eastern mysticism.

All in all, a good read, but despite its being an example of his clearest prose, I would not recommend it to a Burroughs virgin purely because I personally feel the earlier books can show a reader his true avant garde magic.

BRILLIANT WRITING, 23 Jul 2001
The 1985 introduction by the author is very poignant and valuable for a clear understanding of the novel. Especially the admission that it was the accidental death of his wife by his own hand that motivated and formulated his writing. Although Junky is great, Queer reveals a more human side to his work where one can actually empathize with the main character. His descriptions of Mexico City in the late 1940s and his circle of friends, many of whom were fellow American expatriates, lend a special air of magic to the writing. The flashes of humour are always unique and refreshing, eg. the amusing story of his fantasy trip to the "Upper Ubangi." A brilliant work whose many charms I intend to delve into again and again.