There. I did it. Now I never have to do it again.
Ten thoughts on The Naked Lunch
10. I don’t like it. Maybe I’m too old, too square or just
too normal to really get it but I didn’t enjoy reading this book at all. It was
an assault on my intellect- not because it’s perverse but because it’s perverse
with no larger goal. I have to imagine that the obvious and over-the-top
societal winks aren’t the reason this book is considered great. Maybe I’m
missing the elephant in the room or maybe it’s a case of no one wanting to tell
the emperor he has no clothes.
9. It’s simplistic. I admit that it probably had a point
when it first came out. It was a landmark case against censorship when it came
out so that’s something to be grateful for. If something smashes through a wall
it’s probably not going to be a pretty, delicate thing, but this is just silly.
Every number is 69. Everything is described as erect, quivering, ejaculatory.
Every little boy is masturbating on a wooden bench (the same wooden bench?).
Everyone is pissing and shitting as they roll naked down a mountain of filth.
Just read these last few sentences over and over to get the gist of this story.
8. The larger point: Where is it? The story is, by design,
segmented and scattered. Characters transform into other characters and
sentences trail off. Overall there is a theme of three civilizations, or just
cities. Freeland, run by Islam Inc and acts as sort of a limbo; The Interzone
where there are a bunch of really raunchy parties; and Anixia which is like
totalitarian Texas. I think. A guy is trying to get his next drug fix and
others are doing other things.
I say where is the larger point because others have been
more subversive books that had a point to it all. “Fear and Loathing in Las
Vegas” comes to mind. This is just shock for shock- or maybe not even that.
Maybe it’s just a guy writing whatever filth drips from his drug-addled mind.
7. The experience reading this was new, at least. When I
stopped looking for a plot, point or reason for existence, I found myself
reading purely for the sensation the words plant on my mind. This was novel and
would have been enjoyable if the words were something more substantial than
what would pass as a seventh grader’s attempt at shock.
6. It’s a good thing more people don’t know about this book.
With the uproar “Fifty Shades of Gray” is making I can only imagine what hubbub
this book would cause. Did cause. Whatever. I’m stretching here to think of 10
interesting things to say about this.
5. Ok, here’s one: There were some funny parts. A man with a
talking asshole which eventually took over the man. That bit made me laugh a
bit.
4. I read the “restored text” which included a lengthy
explanation as to how the book was written and named. It was far more
interesting than the actual book. Also included were Burroughs’ notes on what
it feels like to take every drug you can imagine. That wasn’t nearly as
interesting as I thought it would be.
3. I’m just going to go ahead and say William S. Burroughs
was a stupid. He was the heir to an adding machine fortune and he just drugged
around and then wrote a very stupid book.
2. I don’t have anything else to say it was dumb.
1. And it’s over.
Coming up: Slaughterhouse Five and Portnoy’s Complaint.
