Cheap Queer (Book) (William S. Burroughs) Price

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Customer Reviews of Queer

burroughs disappoints
I found queer to be a dissapointment. I loved Junky, and it is one of my favorite books, but queer was a let down. It takes place after junky ends and we follow William Lee around with his fascination with Eugene Allerton and his trip to South America. But the story isn't that interesting. There is more of a plot here than there was in junky, but I found Lee's struggles with heroin much more fascinating than his obssession over the boring Allerton. queer is told from an outside narrator rather than from Lee's perspective, and as a result, the voice that helped make junky so great is missing. It just doesn't match with the standards Burroughs set when he wrote Junky. If you are a Beat scholar, then this is a book you should read (it is one of Burroughs important works) or if you study gay literature, then you should read this. If you're just looking for a good book, reread Junky...

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An interesting voyage
Queer is simply the follow up from Junky. It starts out in Mexico City around the same time that Junky ends. Lee is in the process of quitting junk, and is desperately trying to find a lover. He spends alot of his time trying to gain the interest of Eugene Allerton. Struggling to hold on to Allerton's attention, Lee offer's for Allerton to join him on a trip to South America in search of the telepathic drug Yage.
One thing that I love most about Burrough's is his travels. He goes so many new places and meets so many strange people. This book does alot of that. It's really interesting. A very easy read too. I recomend it to anyone.

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Straigh Forward and Brilliant
Burrough's earlier works are probably his best ones in my opinion. His later stuff is too abstract and too far out to make for an enjoyable read. However, this book tells a story in a simple and straight forward manner. I highly recommend this book as a good starting point to the world of William S. Burroughs. Some of the later stuff that features the infamous cut-up technique works better on his spoken word albums because that stuff is more like poetry anyway. Also, I should mention that the forward in this book is amazing and is some of my favorite writing by Burroughs.