"Continual dreams of junk: I am looking for a poppy field."
This year for Banned Books Week I dove right into the deep end with the infamous Naked Lunch. I DNF'd this once before, but after reading a rave review decided to give it another shot. The entire time I felt on the verge of DNFing it again. But I persevered! And what did I get out of it? Ummm...
Naked Lunch, while exceedingly confusing and pretty much just fetish porn, is at times heartfelt and sincere. Every so often, the author's soul shines through, and you get these moments of naked (har har!) honestly and emotion. It is these moments that save Naked Lunch from being a 1-star read for me. That said, if you are picking this up looking for a novel, don't get your hopes up. There is no storyline to follow whatsoever. Naked Lunch is anecdotal, drug-induced, rambling word-vomit.
"Naked Lunch is a blueprint, a How-To Book [...] Abstract concepts, bare as algebra, narrow down to a black turd or a pair of aging cajones..."
Truthfully, I would have preferred reading the original notes and drafts of Naked Lunch in their raw form. At least from a psychological standpoint, that would have been much more engaging than this comparatively sterile, edited version.
"You see control can never be a means to any practical end... It can never be a means to anything but more control... Like junk..."
I can't exactly say that I'm glad I finished this one. I'm not sure what I got out of Naked Lunch besides discomfort. 2/5 Stars
Find all of my reviews at goodreads.com/warpedshelves
Happy reading!
Audrey, Warped Shelves
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