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Lee Kofman's Reviews > Junky
Junky
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Okay, I can see the artistic merit in this novel. Burroughs's prose is lean, cool and convincingly realistic. He’s good with (mostly brief, introductory) characterization and telling of anecdotes. He knows his material, the drugs that is. And yet, there was absolutely nothing that held my attention as I kept reading the book. This novel was completely focused on drugs – the quest for them, the dealing, the administering – and in a tediously technical way. There are absolutely no digressions. In this very brief book new characters appeared and disappeared on every second page. I felt like I was in a zoo, shown around a variety of exotic animals (that weren’t that exotic for me after all the books I’d already read about the world of addiction). The utter lack of emotion from the writer/narrator made the reading particularly uninspiring. As one reviewer suggested, this book was ‘journalistic’. I know this novel was innovative for its time and refreshingly honest then. For me, though, it was sheer boredom.
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
January 10, 2015
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Caroline
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rated it 2 stars
Dec 11, 2015 02:43PM
I just finished my reading of junky and I so agree with you ...
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Caroline wrote: "I just finished my reading of junky and I so agree with you ... "Thanks Caroline, interesting to hear :)
Had to check out the reviews for this just so I know I'm not alone in thinking this way. You described it perfectly with the zoo analogy. I also felt like half the book was just a list of drugs and their prices at the time, and instructions how to score. Other than that I didn't get much from this book.
Hanna wrote: "Had to check out the reviews for this just so I know I'm not alone in thinking this way. You described it perfectly with the zoo analogy. I also felt like half the book was just a list of drugs and..."Thank you and yes, dear Hanna, I agree with you on all these accounts too! I since also read some of his poetry and yet again it wasn't my thing... But if you're interested in Beatniks and haven't read the novel Go yet by Holmes, I found it great.
Your review is spot on! Just very confused why you gave one star... I agree with everything you said, however that’s a perfect 5 for me..
Bernardo, how interesting it is how diverse we readers are, and what we can bring from our own psychological makeup to the reading of the same work... For me, I didn't manage to engage with the book on the emotional level and, since I already read a lot of fiction/memoir about drug use and there was no new information for me in the book, I ended up simply not caring about what was happening. But I can also see the artistic merits of this novel.
Agree with you 10000000% percent. Couldn’t hold my attention - it felt flat except for snippets of prose that were beautifully written. Love the zoo analogy because that is indeed what made me lose my focus. I understand the reasoning for wanting to explain the technical way of acquiring and administering junk but it just became… blah.
Courtney wrote: "Agree with you 10000000% percent. Couldn’t hold my attention - it felt flat except for snippets of prose that were beautifully written. Love the zoo analogy because that is indeed what made me lose..."Glad to hear we share our feelings about this book, Courtney.
Couldn’t agree with you more on this review. I can’t count how many cups of coffee I drank trying to stay focused on reading and absorbing this book. Building on what you said, it felt like a journalist was navigating a zoo, occasionally stopping to pull out a phonebook to listen off a bunch of random names we’d never become invested in, or even hear of again. I think I only had 30 pages left before I gave up and retired it to the bookcase for good. For its time, it was probably profound, but it just doesn’t compare to the standards set by more modern literature.
Lee, you're absolutely right. I can't say if it was intentional on Burroughs' part but much of this evaluation describes what it is actually like to be muddling your way through life in addiction. Characters flip in and out without great growth or meaning. The complete focus on drugs is what happens in the psyche for the addict. I can totally understand why it would bore some. For me, it felt like reading a journal. I love that we all receive works so differently. This is why I always come back to see other people's takes. Thanks for sharing yours! What's your favourite addiction memoir?
