I'm rating this classic with 3 stars, which is supposed to mean that I liked it. Let's be honest, though. I really didn't. The hallucinatory element of the narrative honestly had me lost, so I literally didn't know WTF was going on half the time.

But I suppose that's the point.

The book does not glorify addiction. Burroughs' use of hallucinatory imagery is highly effective in this regard, hence the higher rating than I would have given it based on my enjoyment of the material. But there is no single sympathetic character to latch onto to carry the reader through the nightmare. If you're looking to find a new main character to identify with, to sympathize with or to have pull at your heart in hope of him or her rising above their circumstance, this book isn't it. But as far as it being an important work in the history of literature? Yes, I understand why.

The edition I read has an appendix on known addictive drugs and their effects, as well as drugs used during withdrawal techniques that I found highly interesting though. Maybe that's because I could make better sense of it. I don't know if the appendix is standard in the original text, though.
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El almuerzo desnudo, una de las novelas más míticas de la literatura norteamericana, es un descenso a los infiernos de la droga y una denuncia horrorizada y sardónica, onírica y alucinatoria de la sociedad actual, un mundo sin esperanza ni futuro. Burroughs dispara sus flechas contra las religiones, el ejército, la universidad, la sexualidad, la justicia corrupta, los traficantes tramposos, el colonialismo, la burocracia y la psiquiatría representada por el siniestro Dr. Benway, el gran manipulador de conciencias, el experto en Control total. (Generación Beat)

Brilliant writing, dynamic characters, confusing AF, almost annoying but just interesting enough to keep listening, and certain words repeated too often for comfort. I love vulgarity, but specific racial and sexual slurs just aren't my thing these days - once or twice is effective, over and over again is distracting. So for about 7 hours, this audiobook is an entertaining WTF of things happening and amazing phrases with no plot or conclusion to speak of. Then there are about 2 hours of notes, outtakes, and holy shit does it explain a lot! Next time I read this book, it's going to be ten times more meaningful. This has actually revolutionized the way I will approach my writing in the future. Why separate poetry and prose when you can have both in the same work? Not sure I can ever read a "normal" story again. ( )

The 1st of Burroughs' 4 or 5 cut-up novels. I reckon the 1st cut-up NOVEL ever. Certainly remarkable for that. But let's not forget, Tristan Tzara & Bob Cobbing deserve more credit for cut-ups (in poetry) than Burroughs & Gysin. In fact, Burroughs sortof 'normalized' cut-ups by never taking them 'too far' beyond what fit his narrative purpose.

I only give this a 4 star rating b/c I like the next 3 cut-up novels so much more. This edition has "Naked Lunch on Trial" re its attempted censorship, an introduction: "Deposition: A Testimony Concerning a Sickness" by Burroughs, & an appendix from The British Journal of Addiction. I don't know if all the other editions are this thorough. As usual, Grove gets kudos for publishing this in the 1st place. A library of ONLY bks that've been suppressed wd be a remarkable adjunct to my long-proposed Museum of Free Thought. "Naked Lunch" wd certainly fit right in.

When I learned that Cronenberg had made a version of "[b:Naked Lunch|7437|Naked Lunch The Restored Text|William S. Burroughs|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1219259455s/7437.jpg|4055]" I was very excited: favorite director, favorite bk. Then I saw the movie & didn't like it - except for the Ornette Coleman soundtrack. I preferred Anthony Balch's "Towers Open Fire" as more formally radical. In retrospect, though, Cronenberg's empahasis on Burroughs' problematic relations w/ women seems daring. To include the accidental "William Tell" shooting of Joan Burroughs & to turn that into a driving force behind Burroughs' writing was a Cronenberg touch that pushed things into a territory other directors might not've touched. ( )