The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead
by William S. Burroughspublished
January 12th 1992
(first published 2000)
by Grove Press
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binding
Paperback, 184 pages
isbn
0802133312
(isbn13: 9780802133311)
description
The Wild Boys is a futuristic tale of global warfare in which a guerrilla gang of boys dedicated to freedom battles the organized armies of repressive...more
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Read in January, 1975
I was relatively innocent when I read The Wild Boys and it gave me nightmares. The staccato, choppy plot is too disjointed to ever really allow anything to come to a close so the images tend to remain in some vestibule of the brain and come spilling out at night when your poor consciousness tries to form them into some kind of completeness.
The images themselves are sometimes gruesome and you can almost sense Burroughs' lunatic energy and all his wild imaginings spilling out on the page and b...more
The images themselves are sometimes gruesome and you can almost sense Burroughs' lunatic energy and all his wild imaginings spilling out on the page and b...more
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Read in December, 1974
I used to think of this as the last of Burroughs' 5 cut-up novels. It's probably more appropriate to think of it as the 1st of the homoerotic adventure novels. Or something. Anyway, it's great! I read it when I was a research volunteer for a NASA study re space stn living. No shit. This was at the Phipps Clinic of Johns Hopkins University/Hospital in Baltimore. I was living in a simulated space stn environment for 15 days w/ 2 other guys. It was mainly an experiment in behavior modificat...more
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...she dances on the sand, just like that river twisting through a dusty land and when she shines she really...
Oh, damn. Wrong song. Anyways, started this last night; and would I sound crazy if I said that the first chapter makes absolute sense now and wouldn't have in 1999 (when I first started it)? I mean, Burroughs is supposed to make sense to the teens and 20s; and then fade away like a bad camping memory. Instead, this is strong, strong stuff - definitely a touch of magia negra ...more
Oh, damn. Wrong song. Anyways, started this last night; and would I sound crazy if I said that the first chapter makes absolute sense now and wouldn't have in 1999 (when I first started it)? I mean, Burroughs is supposed to make sense to the teens and 20s; and then fade away like a bad camping memory. Instead, this is strong, strong stuff - definitely a touch of magia negra ...more
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Read in January, 1980
recommends it for:
everyone
Of course there are no women in Burroughs' post-apocalyptic world - just a bunch of boys, running around and doing what boys will do. Burroughs has had much more of an affect on my life while asleep than while awake. Even though the plot is disjointed in this book, it still provided me with much dream material. To journey through Burroughs' unconscious is always a trip worth taking.
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one of the strangest books I've ever read. it reminded me of lord of the flies, only thrown into a apocalyptic and metaphysical world domination plot. the social and political commentary is amazing. burroughs writing painted pictures in my mind that will linger for a very long time. if homoerotic pedophilia makes you squeamish to the point you cant look past it, then don't even bother. otherwise i would definitely recommend.
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Read in June, 2007
I've read this book twice. Its interesting and brings forth some interesting ideas. The only downside is that I've read it two times and I still don't know whether or not is a book of short stories or a novel. I guess thats just Burroughs though!
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Read in January, 1999
I read this thing when I was a teen and truly took me away on a wild trip. Rejected and filled with anxiety and self doubt, Burrough's nasty world made feel better. Maybe living on my own was a little scary. i should have trecked it west then.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
recommends it for:
The Hipper than Thou
I couldn't make sense of this jumble. Then I read he cut it up into sentence and paragraph fragments and pasted it back together. I don't know if that was even true, but it makes as much sense as this book.
I don't get it.
I don't get it.
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A great Sci Fi novel. 'The Wild Boys' is about a post apocalyptic world where there are no women, and what the boys raised there would turn out like. They screw, do drugs and have wars with diseases and stray weapons.
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
anyone with a sense of the absurd
This was my first Burroughs since naked lunch YEARS ago, and it was a hoot, all sex, murder and far out stuff, an aquird taste but I loved it, frankly the only Burroughs I have enjoyed reading so far
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Read in January, 2007
recommends it for:
harlequin paperback fans
I learned that reading Burroughs on the bus makes me feel incredibly filthy and awkward from this book. It could be all the allusions to the smell of rectal mucus, or maybe I'm just weird.
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Read in January, 1983
I read a few Burroughs back in the day - like Bukowski, I'm not quite sure which one(s) I read entirely through. Did get to see Burroughs in person once, though - that was kinda neat.
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Awesome. Guns, war, politicians and above all... HOMOSEXUAL BUTTFUCKING. All in a big messy awesome buttcunt of a novel.
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Essentially: gay sex for 200 pages and then a quick smashing of the state. A perfect Sunday church read. No lemonade.
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just not what i want in a book. definately one of my all-time low reads. boring, non-sensical and forgetful.
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He teaches me how to write. And who could read better porn than "The Frisco Kid"?
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i dont quite know what to say of this book yet
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