mark’s review of Naked Lunch: The Restored Text > Likes and Comments

Nice review, Mark. I will read this soon.

Haha, how many times do you have to repeat those phrases.

thanks kd.

kwesi, many times! many times. many, many times. many times!

massacre...then a sex orgy. you mean the dead came alive, zombies having sex?

i wouldn't describe it exactly as zombies having sex, but in a burroushsian massacre-turned-sex orgy, zombies are definitely encouraged to attend.

this is precisely the book for oscar the grouch.

it is debris-as-food! delish!

Disturbed by the appearance of poor innocent Winnie the Pooh at the end of this review, mugwump jism.

how in the world did sweet little pooh-bear get there, a bubbly thick stagnant sound, a sound you could smell?

I'm guessing that the sound in question would be too prohibitively thick for an effective game of Pooh sticks.

wow, even i am disgusted at imagining a burroughs-version of that game. stop, imagination, stop!

You know that it would undoubtedly involve some kind of popsicle mold and a freezer. Haha.

gag...shudder

I always thought Pooh was a bit of a dick. That would make it all rather fitting.

pooh's self-absorption is monstrous! poor piglet, and eyore...oh, what they have to deal with.

Exactly!

hahaha!! i wish i had your patience, 3rd times a lucky charm in a fetid chatter p.o. box buttho'.

Wow. Just wow. That was a hell of a review, a bubbly thick stagnant sound, a sound you could smell.

I heard Burroughs wrote this expressly under the effects of hallucinogens, so hats off to his focus. I haven't read it, only watched the film and it wrapped me in its seedy embrace for at least a fortnight afterwards. It's the kind of film that makes you feel so filthy you need a shower afterwards. And not in a good way.

I just couldn't believe that of the three main drugs that were mentioned in the book/film that only one (mugwump jism, of course) was made up.

Also, I couldn't believe that the film was banned initially based on the homoeroticism rather than the drug use. Um.

Btw, sorry for adding this comment so late to the party, still exploring this site as a relatively new member...

late submissions always welcome!

i'm not sure i understand - did you dislike the film? i also felt the need to shower afterwards... but i loved that movie and it is one of my favorites by Cronenberg. i really like how it captured the mood of the film while exploring the author's mindstate and personal context, instead of attempting to actually translate the novel on-screen.

also, Judy Davis: one of my favorite actresses.

and almost forgot to say... thank you!

Awesome review! Tempting almost for me, to give this book another try, maybe in a couple of years! ;)

beautiful..just beautiful review...can't wait to read this book...sitting on my shelf for awhile now..

thanks Veeral & Janine! Veeral, definitely no need to rush back into this one. it'll be there waiting for you, even after the zombie apocalypse begins on 12-21-12.

If that zombie apocalypse happens I would sacrifice 2 zombies daily for the Mayans!

it'll be there waiting for you, even after the zombie apocalypse begins on 12-21-12

Haha!! I better put that in my calendar...

I have to say I loved the film, and hated what it did to me...It was very impressive. I would watch it again, but wouldn't go into it lightly.

After the film had finished, the friend who "subjected" my husband and I to it disappeared for a few moments, then returned with a nerf gun and said "Well, I guess it's time for our William Tell routine" and I almost choked on my tea... :)

i remember the conversation i had with two friends right afterwards (so many years ago!) and it was an aggravating one. all about how the film is misogynist vs. my perspective of a film that shows a character with issues with women is not itself automatically misogynistic, duh. typical college conversation i suppose. shortly after, the first gulf war happened and that advance screening & that war are for some reason linked in my mind. 20+ years later, one is a married mother of 3 or 4, another is a single, high-powered lobbyist for fair trade in DC, and the third is typing up his pointless, random musings here in SF in his boxers.

I didn't expect to like the movie at all but I loved it. I don't remember it well enough to remember if I saw misogyny. Probably. But that doesn't matter if the book is that way since it's really a novel based on personal reality.

Veeral, I'll help.

Brad, I'm going to pretend I didn't hear you say that. Disney Pooh is not Pooh so I'll forgive you if that's who you're referring to but Milne's Pooh? I just... there are no words, man, no words.

Awesome review. I actually have this on my to read soon shelf. I read it twenty plus years ago and I'm curious to see how it will read for the older and hopefully wiser self.

i am also curious what older, wiser Jeffrey thinks.

hey what do you remember about your reaction of 20+ years ago?

mark wrote: "i am also curious what older, wiser Jeffrey thinks.

hey what do you remember about your reaction of 20+ years ago?"

It had a perversity that I hadn't previously encountered. Although I don't think I squeezed all the juice out of it the first go around. I remember thinking that every so often you run across a book that makes you a little bit afraid to be human.

amongst all that you forgot to mention the misogynism! I feel the same way about 'naked lunch' but I've only attempted the tome once. I will try again soon. recently finished 'last words' so it's time to try again. however, due to my gender I will always be an outsider looking in with WSB.

Michelle wrote: "amongst all that you forgot to mention the misogynism! I feel the same way about 'naked lunch' but I've only attempted the tome once. I will try again soon. recently finished 'last words' so it'..."

good point! misogyny is an unfortunate hallmark of so many books of the time period, particularly from WSB's group of writers.

::sad sigh at the foolishness of men::

nice review! Just finished it (for the first time) and it was a bit of a head fuck...reading the letters at the back now which is less cock wrencing, shit stabbing horror, though! Not sure when I'll be ready to give it another go :)

thanks Paul! definitely a head fuck. now that i have this under my belt after two false starts, i don't think i will need to return to it.

Just about to put up my own review :) And just started Finnegan's Wake, which may not be the easy read I need after Naked Lunch!

Yay! i loved this book - but absolutely once is enough! and i had no idea what misogyny was at the time i read it *peers back into the dim and distant past at uneducated self*

Scribble wrote: "Yay! i loved this book *"

i think you are one of the few! correction - we are some of the few!

If you don't already write book reviews professionally, you should! This was brilliant, funny, and made me want to read the book even more. If for no other reason than to learn in what context one might use the phrase, "mugwump jism." Thank you for a reviving pre-bedtime laugh session!

i don't, but it is the sort of dream job that i find myself imagining myself in from time to time.

and thank you very much, Wendi!

Never lose sight of your dreams! And keep posting reviews; somebody in the publishing industry is bound to stumble across you eventually! :)

Oh, and Re. a comment you made back in September, I'm glad to see you pointing out that Milne's (ORIGINAL!) Pooh is not an example of Disney®©™ ambergris. Too many people don't know this! The general public has been equally misled about The Wizard of Oz, too. I owned the series (yes!) of books (yes!) and I feel bad for those who think there's only one schmaltzy movie to refer to. God, I love books!! OK, I'll hush up and go away now. Have a good night!

i'm glad you love the Oz books! definitely so much more there than just the film. i grew up with those books. love them! they have such a no-nonsense feel to them, particularly in how they portray children, that they are the opposite schmaltz.

Wendi wrote: "Oh, and Re. a comment you made back in September, I'm glad to see you pointing out that Milne's (ORIGINAL!) Pooh is not an example of Disney®©™ ambergris. Too many people don't know this! The gen..."

I completely agree. I grew up on both series and they were so good and so different from Disney versions.

This book is doing my brain in. I’m a third the way through and, if not for so many great reviews like this one, would have shut it pages ago. I feel vomited on. I shall persist, however, and reserve my final judgement until the end.

if you end up liking it on your first try, I'm impressed. took 3 times for me

I read this very dark jewel when I was a teen and I totally adore it. I spent several neon markers underlying the passages I liked the most until most of the lines in the book were bright neon. But it read it centuries ago and, I have to confess, in an Spanish translation since, back then, I didn't speak or read English. I want to re-read it, this time in it's original English, but I'm not sure if I'm ready. I tried with Joyce's "Finnegan's Wake" and realised I still wasn't ready. For me, Shakespeare (whose "Sonnets" I'm attempting), Joyce and yes, Burroughs are the 3 pillars that could let you know if you're ready to declare that English is indeed your second language.

Enrique, I'm really impressed! and I like your pillars.

Maybe after such an impressive review I must stay silent.

I am against silence! Please feel free to chatter, moan, roar, howl, or otherwise not remain silent.

I like your review, but did you ever hear about the man who taught his asshole how to speak?