Nova Express by William S. Burroughs
Final Verdict: 2.5 out of 4.0
YTD: 03
William S. Burroughs is an unusual author, and this book irritated me, in a way. I’ve decided to adjust my review a bit to fit my mood, reaction, and the author. I do this out of love and respect (and frustration). William S. Burroughs was a master of the cut-up technique – he was a postmodern writer, “Godfather” to the Beat generation, and he oftentimes had a habit of writing in a nonsensical, satirical way, particularly about things – political/social- that he felt were being addressed nonsensically by those in power. This includes, primarily, drugs, sex, and privacy. As Burroughs is a favorite of mine, and because this book and its predecessor (the third and first, respectively, in a trilogy, which includes a book called The Ticket that Exploded, which I’ll likely read later this year) were so ridiculously cut-up and disjointed, I’ve decided to pay homage in my review, thusly:
Plot/Story: 2 – Plot/Story could work with better development.
Third in a trilogy. Fourth in a quartet. Nova Express – agents of the body searching for, fighting against, elements exploding. Some sex – homosexual, heterosexual, asexual- mild. Tame. Boring, comparatively. Not the Wild Boys. Third book following Naked Lunch makes Burroughs prudish, bizarre, twisted, normal, odd. Remember disembowelment? Remember parasites – anuses, walking and talking? Anuses like mouths, with teeth to bite. Burroughs forgets – forgets the past, forgets the future, forgets, mid-sentence. Remembers. Where are the cats? The balance? Closed captioning provided by the Nova Agents – looking for you. Put you on drugs to make you weak. Make you stupid. Catch you on drugs – detox, death. Double paradox. Double jeopardy. No-win situation. Chemical and biological hazards, walking bombs, all of us. Overdose.
Characterization: 2 – Characters slightly developed.
Character development. Human faces, human emotions, inconsequential. Attachments where attachments due, feeling detached. Characters Good? Bad? These are descriptors – qualifying phrases applied to one and another, sometimes with cause and sometimes without. Fruit salad. Rabbits. “Agents.” Characterization lacking – list of goods, non-existence, list of bads, like The Goodbye Mister. People stand for things, things mean what? Control elements vs. language – power vs. power. Nature vs. machine.
Prose/Style: 3 – Satisfactory Prose/Style, conducive to the Story.
Jonathan Swift, but not really. Eat the young? Maybe. Probably – especially the boys, if they’re high. To get high. Brilliant in a way, subtle. Subtle but over the top – possibilities previously impossible, unexplored. “Good Grief, Charlie Brown.” Masterful like Stein – obnoxious like Stein. Henry Miller. Love child. Cut-up experimentation, finished. Culmination of phase, of trilogy, of mathematical series (four). Onward to reality (which is what, exactly?).
Additional Elements: 3 – Additional elements are present and cohesive to the Story.
Control elements: Government, Society, Culture. Language is virus. Language is power. To catch the virus – to get sick – to make noise. To be vocal, is power. Is wrong and right. Right is might. Speak out against Control Elements. Law powers create criminals to justify existence of Law powers. Good creates bad to create good. To be in control. Addiction, dependence. Junkies. Criminals are the powerful ones – only if infected. Infected with speech. What is human? Who defines humanity? Addicts, homosexuals, criminals – disappear for utopia? Not really. Make more for Utopia? Not really. Break down the walls – with voice – break down the walls to win.
Suggested Reading for:
Age Level: High School+
Interest: Drugs, Privacy (Invasion of), Sexuality, Cut-Up Prose, Postmodernism, Beats, Culture
