Why did I do that?
This was one of the strangest things I’ve ever endured. This thing was more sexually explicit than a PornHub comment written by a raging nihilist hallucinating on every substance known to humankind (and possibly alienkind, too). Everything fucked everything else, and sometimes killed that something else and kept fucking it.
The drugs and violence in the book didn’t bother me at all, excepting the sexual violence which was frequent to the literal point of insanity.
Naked Lunch is genuinely a chaotic mess–but I’m pretty sure that was intentional. It’s an absurdist piece, so a nonsensicality is kind of necessary. Further, I think it’s supposed to be a portrait of what it is like to be helplessly addicted, and how it destroys you (I’m just guessing, here; I haven’t had much time to stop and think about it before spilling my thoughts here).
Over all, I don’t think I liked it. But, then again, I don’t even have a proper frame of reference to hold it to. The closest thing I can think of is perhaps the works of Tony Burgess (The Hellmouths of Bewdley, The N-Body Problem).
I hunted down the book because I saw Chroninberg’s movie. Even if I didn’t like the book, it was well worth reading once. I’m glad I will never have to do that again.
To anybody who does like Naked Lunch: Why? I am genuinely curious, so please expand to your heart’s content.
by Stalk_Jumper