Junkie/Junky by William Burroughs

Discussion in 'Beat and Hippie Books' started by etkearne, May 21, 2011.

  1. etkearne

    etkearne Resident Pharmacologist

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    Since I am a breed of junkie (former opioid pill-head turned to Suboxone Maintenance), I always wanted to read this short book. I never got the nerve to get it until I found the e-book for free somewhere.

    I can tell you this: If you are a person who has dealt with addiction to hard drugs or even dabbled in them and know their both euphoric and deadly effects, you will love this book. Although set in the 50s, all of the themes are still fresh: scamming doctors, being broke, taking stimulants to wake yourself up after dope-binging, trying to get clean 1,000 times, etc.

    Even if you don't touch hard drugs, it is still an ''edge-of-your-chair" read in the respect that the main character (just Burroughs himself with a made up name) is constantly struggling to beat the law.

    Any fans of the book? Don't tell me how it ends since I am only 2/3 done it.
     
  2. etkearne

    etkearne Resident Pharmacologist

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    I finished 'Junky' last night, fueled by my own amphetamine-induced drive to complete it. There is nothing better than reading a book about getting high while getting high.

    The book is a raw account of the truly bizarre life that us hard-drug users live, despite what may appear as complete normalcy from the outside. Our secret rituals and views on life remain in our heads and it is great that Burroughs was able to share with the world some of those inner secrets.
     
  3. antihippie

    antihippie Member

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    You should check out the sequel "Queer" it is less about addiction and more about Burroughs homosexuality though still an excellent read.

    The appendix of Naked Lunch where Burroughs lists all the drugs he has tried and how they effect opiate addiction is really interesting too I think it is available online for free.

    Burroughs is a really fascinating guy to read about--some anecdotes: in the 80's he got into a fight with scientology, he thought their methods worked but the group itself was a scamming cult. He also thought being an opiate addict could fight aging (and to be fair, he lived into his 90's so maybe he was right?)
     

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