Queer (William S. Burroughs)

This early Burroughs is so incredibly different from his later work. It seems as if the death of his wife was the event that totally shattered his existence and plunged him into the black hole of a world that ended up spitting out Naked Lunch and everything he wrote afterwards. His style in this book gives the impression of being not quite Burroughs, although here and there are definite glimpses of the later style. The narrative is very straight forward, and really feels more like an autobiography than a novel. A very easy read, with an interesting introduction by the author that puts the whole thing into perspective. It's really about the emotional vulnerability experienced by the ex-junky in the absence of junk, and so (I imagine) it's very appropriate as a sequel to his first novel, Junky.