Author Burroughs' son, who died at of the age of 34, penned two shattering autobiographical novels which offer his vision of alienated youth at its most raw and uncensored. "A compelling narrative that balances the methedrine horrors with the outcast's romantic search for identity."--Rolling Stone.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating work,
By
This review is from: Speed / Kentucky Ham (Paperback)
I was a close friend of Billy Jr. for many years, and knew his father, the immortal William S. Burroughs, when I founded the Santa Cruz Poetry Festival in the 1970's. The son was no mere imitation of the father, though the subject of these books, drug addiction, would lead you toward that conclusion. Billy was one of the saddest, most tragic figures I had ever known, and also one of the kindest, most entertaining and charming. He is testimony to the "offspring of greatness", syndrome: the curse of trying to emulate and duplicate the father. These are remarkable books, perhaps as relevent to the insanity of the 60's and 70's, the self indulgent, self-destructive underbelly of all that hope and optimism and freedom that Naked Lunch and Howl and Dharma Bums had represented to the 50's. Billy Jr. could write, Billy was a human yo-yo, full of pain and rage, resistant to society's conventions and ultimately his own worst enemey. I belive he had two liver transplants before he was 32. He told us on numerous occasions that he was present when his father shot his mother during an infamous, abortive game of "William Tell" in Mexico. I have never been able to verify that, as I never had the courage to ask Wiliam Sr. on the rare occasions I was with him. Anyway, very few writers are inseparable from their work. There was nothing fabricated in either Speed or Kentucky Ham: this is Billy Burroughs, Jr., son of a legend, a modest legend in his own right, and I don't think a study of the 60's would be complete without seeing this dark, painful, resilient, hopeful, despairing, all-too-brief mini-body of work left behind by Billy. It is almost a litmus test for which path you took at a very young age. If life was too painful to be lived, Billy took the right one. I"m not sure that's what he wanted, he just didn't know how to step outside himself for very long. I loved these books, and I loved Billy JR. James Dalessandro, author, Canary In A Coal Mine, Citizen Jane, Bohemian Heart and 1906
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing books,
By A Customer
This review is from: Speed / Kentucky Ham (Paperback)
I never tire of reading these books and have read them over and over again. This book touches you especially if you have had an addiction to anything like drugs. William Jr can make you laugh and weep in the same chapter. These books leave you with a profound sadness but they stay with you even after you are done reading them. The thing is you are never done because I have returned to them over and over again. This is an honest look into the world of addiction. It's not a pretty picture but it is not a preachy book on the " evils " of drugs. It just describes the author's experience with speed. A terrific read. I know it will touch you as it has touched me. It is a shame that William Jr left us so early.
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
deep sadness,
This review is from: Speed / Kentucky Ham (Paperback)
Two books by the son of William S. Burroughs. Soul crushing sadness. While the Elder Burroughs' writing has an almost scriptural cadence to it, (Bill Jr, says "Naked Lunch" was transcribed), the Junior Burroughs writing is page after page of unrelenting despair and self-pity; well-written, yes, but Darker-than-Dark...In his afterword to the book the Elder Burroughs' describes his son's writing as illustrative of the Cultural Revolution and Dream that was the 60's. Bill Jr's writing shows the 60's as a nightmare and you may feel fortunate to wake from it after finishing the book. And, as so many "Revolutions" of the 20th century abysmally failed, perhaps this was one more revolution we can thankfully see fizzle and fade. In "Speed" Bill Jr. confidently predicts that the long-hair revolutionaries he sees are gonna shake up the world and never sell out...well... Fascinating book, well-written, haunting and exasperating, important addition for folks who collect the Elder Burroughs stuff. Just don't read this book with any sharp objects nearby...
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