In a different world, Burroughs' second book, written in 1952, could have been the next big gay-themed American novel after The city and the pillar. But it wasn't: partly because the publisher wasn't keen, partly because Burroughs had cannibalised the already-thin manuscript to bulk up the slightly underweight text of Junky, and also partly because he obviously became disenchanted with linear narrative whilst writing it, and wanted to experiment with other techniques. The mauled manuscript was put away and eventually mislaid, and the book didn't come out until 1985, when Burroughs had just got a new seven-book deal with a different publisher and a copy of the typescript of Queer happened to surface in an archive in Liechtenstein. By this time gay-themed novels were no longer considered shocking by most people. At least not by the sort of people likely to pick up a book by Burroughs.

Set mostly in Mexico City, the book centres around the unrequited passion of the Burroughs-character, Lee, for a younger American, Gene Allerton (in real life Lewis Marker). Lee pursues Allerton through the bars of Mexico City, and eventually persuades him to come on a quest into South America to search for the possibly mythical drug Yage, but it's clear that Allerton, whilst sometimes willing to be bought, is rather repelled than attracted by the older man. His condition for coming on the trip south is that he won't be expected to have sex with Lee more than twice a week. The narrative of the main text peters out somewhere in the rain forest, and then we see Lee in an epilogue back in Mexico City some time later, fruitlessly trying to find out where Allerton has gone.

The main interest of the book isn't really in this rather standard and dated obsession narrative, nor in the bizarrely awkward dialogues in gay bars, but rather in the "routines," the witty, surreal and very politically-incorrect monologues Lee comes out with when he's trying to deflect attention from his own problems. They are a joy, and flag the direction in which Burroughs' writing is going. ( )

Pseudo-autobiographical (or psychologically autobiographical) novel wandering around queer sexuality. ( )

"Junkie" (or, as it's usually spelled, "Junky") & "Queer" were 2 amazing 1st bks for any author to write. Burroughs clearly identified himself in terms completely unacceptable to society at the time & wrote about the identity w/ a defiant realism that helped break thru society's stupid taboos like an ice-breaker. Thank goodness for William S. Burroughs. He will forever be an inspiration. ( )

I'm not sure what to say about the book. I enjoyed far more than I did Junky, and I guess that makes me a sinner in the literary world because everyone's up in arms about that book.

I suppose the whole purpose of the book--the sort of sequel to Junky--is that once you drop the drug usage, you decide to have a lot of sex.

I did notice how, since these books are based on Burroughs life--he did leave out the accidental murder of his wife. I guess a lot of it had to do with regret for doing it. I'm not sure. ( )

Originally written in 1952 but not published until 1985 due to its outspoken depiction of homosexual desire, Queer is an unflinching autobiographical self-portrait and a corus-cating political novel, Burroughs's only realist love story and a comic-grotesque fantasy that paved the way for his masterpiece, Naked Lunch