Reviews for Port of Saints

The average rating for Port of Saints based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-12-14 00:00:00 Chris Marshall This book was a real surprise. You know, this is actually a very interesting book, for the most part. While there are a few parts where Burroughs completely loses me, the imagery in Port of Saints is beautiful and, of course, shockingly graphic at the same time, but there is also enough of a story here which you can sink your teeth into. As a previous reviewer of Port of Saints has already pointed out, this is THE book to read, not the overblown and somewhat disappointing Wild Boys. This is SO MUCH BETTER than Wild Boys, in my humble opinion. If you ever wanted to know who the Wild Boys are/were and how they 'evolved' over the course of time this is the book to read, without a doubt. Either this book is not as shocking in terms of its homoerotic descriptions or I am just getting desensitized to Burroughs' work. Probably the latter. Anyway, what I especially liked about this book is how it is NOT (deliberately or accidentally) obfuscatory like some other works in the Burroughs' canon and it is in fact quite revealing! I did not know that Audrey was Kim Carson's son (or is it the other way around?) until I read this. This puts the whole final trilogy into a completely different perspective for me. Also, we find out more about Audrey's background especially his childhood and how parents such as fathers can be oppressive figures in some people's lives, turning them into the complete opposite of what their parents intended. And that is pretty true even today - lots of people either become close replicas of their parents or the exact opposite. I cannot put my figure on it exactly, but there is something incredibly sad that comes through just under the surface in Burroughs' work and I don't think it is just Burroughs having to deal with his shooting of Joan. It's something deeper...haunting. And there is a veritable trace of nostalgia in this book too or was I deceived by that use of the first-person throughout? I have a feeling that some of the stories in this book cut really close to the bone and may reflect real events in Burroughs' life but I will have to read Literary Outlaw to find out for sure. I would like to reiterate the fact that Wild Boys should not be revered as much as it has been heretofore but instead Port of Saints is a half-overlooked classic from WSB that is well worth reading through at least once. It is another relatively short book so what have you got to lose? Like other writers have pointed out also, words like 'rectal mucus' have been seared into my mind forever, for good or for worse...

Review # 2 was written on 2016-01-06 00:00:00 Jihad Baker Well, four stars because of its uniqueness. This is Unlike most things I have ever read. It made my brain reel and at times I could be present in the otherworldly, in-between place of... multiple realities? If you want an even stranger experience while reading this book I recommend you read this on a 3 1/2 hour flight where you are trapped with two young adults basically having sex (trust me you don't want details) in the seats next to you pretending no one can see them. W.T.F.