Gentleman Junkie: The Life and Legacy of William S. Burroughs

I've only read one book by Burroughs and that was Nova Express. I thought it was 80% indecipherable and 20% brilliant. It wasn't a fun read, but I like the idea of people being experimental, trying new things, pushing the envelope, etc... so I never thought of it as just trash. I found this book "about" Burroughs much more interesting and it's kind of ironic because that seemed to be what the author was saying. Burroughs was an author, but more importantly he was Burroughs, or at least he created a "Burroughs" that was extremely appealing to many people. I guess my biggest problem with him is that as a father he was a piece of shit. Being a father myself, I have a hard time respecting anyone who takes the job lightly. Also I have no show more respect for drug addicts of any kind. I have empathy for their plight, but refuse to glorify their life-destroying choices.

I did appreciate that while the author spoke in an artsy/intellectual jargon I often understood what he was saying. One bad thing was that the art in the background made it hard to read sometimes, and it's really a shame that the last words of the book were printed over a black so dark that you can't read them at all, even with a magnifying glass and bright light. Anyone happen to know those last words? (before the epilogue) show less

Very interesting look into the lives of my favorite Beat, and one of my favorite authors. This book is more of a scrapbook than a traditional book, which would have suited WSB perfectly. There are many photos and reproductions of items throughout the book, giving us a little more texture to the images we form of WSB as we read about his life on the pages. If you are a fan, I highly recommend this coffee table book for your collection!

Hated the layout/design and hated the shallow romanticization of Burroughs as drug addict. Good information can be found in there in spite of that.

Full color collage layout. Burroughs gets the coffee-table bk money behind him. Lovingly done. Burroughs has moved alotof people in profund ways. Me included.