Junky

Hello dear readers,

I am back with yet another post. Yes, I know it has been a few months but hopefully I can get back on a regular schedule. To be honest, I am reading more than ever now. But I am also writing and working more than ever now as well and sometimes my blogs get pushed to the side so I can focus on other writing. But I think I finally came up with a realistic posting schedule for each of my blogs that I can hopefully follow. So, if all goes well, expect posts from me every two weeks or so.

Anyway, the book I want to talk about this time is Junky by William S. Burroughs. Now, for those of you who don't know, I am a huge fan of beat writing. I find the whole beat culture and its effect on history fascinating. But, before this, I had yet to read any of Burroughs's work. And I have to say, I am not yet sold on it. 

So, Junky simply tells the story of a man who is hooked on junk aka heroin. Told from a first-person perspective, the reader is treated to what goes on in the head of an addict. The story follows the narrator through the first strains of addiction to selling junk to trying to kick the habit to falling back into it. The narrator discusses not only the physical reactions both on and off the drug but also the mentality of an addict. The book also has a historical aspect as the narrator discusses how life changes and how dangerous it becomes to be an addict as new laws are passed making addiction a felony.

Now, I will admit, I was supposed to read this book in one of my college classes but could never finish it. And it honestly took me a long time to finish it this time around. I will say one positive thing about the book is the way it portrays addiction. Most of the time, drug addiction is portrayed as strictly good or strictly bad depending on the point of view. But this book deals in simple facts, not glorifying drug use or condemning addicts, but simply telling the reader exactly what being an addict is like and making them truly think about if they want a life like that. There is nothing glamorous in it, nothing over-hyped. It is just one man telling his story. Now, that being said, I honestly was not the biggest fan of the book. Perhaps it is because I have no experience with drugs at all so I found the story difficult to relate to. But, for whatever reason, I just could not get into it.

So, should this book be on the list of ones to read before you die? In my opinion, no. While it is a decent story and provides some historical and psychological insight into the mind of a beat generation drug addict, I do not think that it truly adds anything beneficial to the life of the reader or leaves them thinking about the story when they are finished with it. But, that is just my opinion. If you read this book, I would love to hear what you think. 

Anyway...hope you enjoyed this little review and I will see you in two weeks. Until then...

Happy reading!