Kentucky Ham

by William S. Burroughs Jr., Anne Waldlman (Foreword by), William S. Burroughs

The author describes his family life and journey into the drug culture and comments on today's society and ways to stop drug addiction

Genres: Fiction, Literature

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

William S. Burroughs III, a.k.a. William S. Burroughs Jr. or Billy Burroughs, was the son of author William S. Burroughs and Joan Vollmer.

Reviews

[Lysergius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Way better than anything his old man wrote...

[Michael Palkowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

An autobiographical novel that sort of meanders and wonders listlessly through a series of observations that only occasionally clusters together to form a cohesive story/narrative. The story itself is quite bland and made worse by non sequiturs and a lack of strong, dedicated characterization. Despite this, it is a decent pulp fiction drug novel that is as enjoyable (but not as developed) as his dad’s text “Junky”. Part of the problem with novels that focus entirely on drugs as a way of developing the action, is that the writer needs to have the talent necessary to make sure that the story is not submerged and destroyed. Drug addicts can be sensational bores, especially when they are only able to talk about the intricacies of preparing/sourcing a drug. They are miserable company, especially if they do not have the drug they are fond of. It takes real talent for a writer to use drugs as the central focus of a book, infused with autobiographical experiences and not have the story descend into the tedious documentation of people taking drugs or people wistfully recounting taking drugs. It is something that writers like Bukowski could have easily fell into since he used alcohol and bars often as a way to stimulate action in his work, luckily Bukowski was able to develop his craft longer and whilst retaining a similar style and prose, it was more than alcohol stories. Bill died too young, self-destructing and dying of liver failure due to sustained alcoholism at the age of 34. He most certainly would have been able to develop his writing and it had clear potential for becoming special. Bukowski after all did not become important until he was well into his 50s.

As a book itself, I only had a copy because I erroneously ordered it when I was 17, when I was ordering almost the entire William S Burroughs bibliography from a small independent bookstore. I had a college grant for the first time and with a sudden interest in the beat generation, I spent hundreds of pounds gathering books that had nothing to do with my course at the time. The book has followed me through life. It was with me when I went to the Marxism festival at the same age, in my rucksack, as I traveled to London on an overnight bus. It was used mostly for other things though. It for example has a girl’s phone number in the back with a scrawled self portrait of herself and her address. Reading the actual novel therefore has been a long time coming.

A great part of the book covers how drug addicts used the Bananadine hoax to their advantage in the rehabilitation system, by smoking foods that they did not like being served (for example smoking Brussels sprouts and so on as a way to remove them from the menu). Naturally, banana skin as containing psychoactive properties was reproduced entirely as a serious recipe in the Anarchist cook book in the 1970s and so it had way more traction beyond the scope of this novel which was autobiographically set in the 1960s. The hoax was about magnifying the stupidity of the government's policies on drugs, by trying to get the government to seriously consider regulating and controlling the ordinary banana. The "subtleties" of the drug, was enough to convince William Burroughs JR that it wasn't anything but a placebo, but it led to the use of nutmeg, mace and everything that could be conceived of as potential psychoactive substances in the rehabilitation facility. The psychotic drug addicts would be convinced of medicinal/recreational properties.

Pharmacology is interesting to me and to have Billy forging prescriptions at the beginning as a way to try and score drugs (presumably to be able to mix them) is fascinating. It is like a form of alchemy to the uninformed (such as myself) but unfortunately it is not considered in any depth beyond a framing/naming scene.

[AL · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as fun as SPEED, but the subject matter is more about getting off drugs than on, so naturally the action suffers a bit. Writing and insights are spot on, as WSBJR is sensitive and intuitive as well as a keen observer. All great qualities for a writer. It struck me as an odd coincidence that I immediately noticed the same poetic image that his father used as the title of his afterward, which made me feel connected to the dead junky queer, but then I realized, that image "the trees showed the shape of the wind" was just so brilliant even the author had to put it in the first few paragraphs of the story. A quick insightful read about the then burgeoning drug rehabilitation facilities in the US. Ole Billy helped is see the early foibles of these facilities but no one cared to listen then. Just keep those hippy drug fiends away from my daughter and my entire family. That still is the case after 40 years. Reform and reevaluation of our prisons and rehabs is long overdue, but it won't change until the demonization of drug addiction begins to wane in the collective societal mind.

[Guy Salvidge · Rating 2 out of 5]

Drug rehab and fishing in Alaska. Burroughs Jr's second book isn't as interesting as his first, and the writing is similarly average. Jr isn't a patch on the old man, even if they do write about the same kind of subject material. Jr may have eventually become a good writer in his own right, had he lived longer than 34 years.

[James Alfred · Rating 4 out of 5]

Innocent and promising.

[Stephen Rowland · Rating 2 out of 5]

This sort of thing was fascinating and brilliant when I was 17 years old. This, and Burroughs Jr.'s other book "Speed," made a major impression on me. Over 20 years later I struggled to get through "Kentucky Ham" again. Written by someone young to be enjoyed by someone young, I suppose. That's a nice way of saying it's an often dated, tedious memoir, the product of someone with a mediocre sense of humor and a thoroughly average intellect. Hey, it still beats the garbage his father inflicted on the world of literature.

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

as gentle as a junkie could be. Billy and his dad’s relationship is most intriguing to me, and when Burroughs Sr drops the stoicism and the hallucination there is a real thoughtful human depth to him, something his son took and ran with - the most important trait he could have inherited

[Documentally · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well I finished it.
It started strong got interesting in the wilds and then petered out into a bit of a mess. Like many I preferred Speed. (The book).

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't mean to give this bk or its predecessor, "Speed", short shrift. I just read it 25 yrs or so ago & mainly just remember its being reportage on drug use, ending up in the Lexington dry-out prison, that sort of thing. Glimpsing thru it now, the writing seems intelligent & coherent. But, alas, that's about all I have to say about it.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by a seemingly beautiful soul who seemed to be marching down an inevitable path of destruction. He seemed to have burned bright in his short time here. Never read any of his father's works but this book sheds some light on Sr....may go back and read a book or two of his.

[Greg Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

William S. Burroughs Jr. is sometimes call "the last of the beat generation authors". Perhaps he was. In his short, pain-filled life he published two books while living: Speed and Kentucky Ham, both autobiographical, in that order. While I enjoyed Speed I found Kentucky Ham to provide a more complete picture of the author. I enjoyed both books very much and wish his life had not been so short because I feel he had much more to say about the world in which he lived.