Naked Lunch

I saw the movie Naked Lunch years ago. The only thing I remember is a scene in a military vehicle in a desert and that I thought it was pretty cool. So, that's why I read this book, that plus references in Kerouac's On the Road.

This is what IMDB says about the movie: "Not an adaptation of beat writer William S. Burrough's novel but a mix of biography and an interpretation of his drug- induced writing processes combined with elements of his work..."

Fantastic: without regard for reason or reality; absurd, bizarre, crazy, fanciful, foolish, insane, nonsensical, preposterous, unreal, wild; implausible, inconceivable, incredible, unbelievable, unimaginable, unthinkable; grotesque; bizarro, curious, eccentric, far-out, funny, kinky, kooky, odd, off the wall, outlandish, out-of-the-way, outré, peculiar, quaint, queer, quirky, screwy, strange, wacky, way-out, weird; farcical, laughable, ludicrous, ridiculous; Alice-in-Wonderland, Kafkaesque, nightmarish; dreamlike, surreal.

This might have been a better novel if it had any semblance of a story line. The middle part of Wikipedia's plot summary being immaterial, here are the first and last sentences: "Naked Lunch is a non-linear narrative without a clear plot.... The book then becomes increasingly disjointed and impressionistic, and finally simply stops."

Comparisons:

The structure of Naked Lunch is vaguely similar to Toni Morrison's Beloved; but if Beloved is dreamlike, Naked Lunch is a nightmare. There their similarity ends.

Compared to Naked Lunch, James Joyce's Ulysses is straightforward and succinct, with highly structured prose and a well defined plot line.

Compared to Naked Lunch, Hunter Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Lost Vegas is a calm journalistic exposé and only tentatively gonzo.

Jack Kerouac was a friend of Burroughs and encouraged him to publish Naked Lunch. Kerouac's On the Road was mainstream standard fare compared to Naked Lunch.

Compared to William S Burroughs, Kurt Vonnegut and Philip K Dick are straight-laced models of conventionality:

I've read reader reviews of this book that range from "brilliant" to "drivel". I lean towards the drivel end of the spectrum.