After watching the recent film adaptation I decided to reread Burroughs' tome on gay life and its (frequently) painful minutiae. A sequel to his first novel Junky the author withheld publication of this novel due to its depiction of the homosexual lifestyle and its mindset.

Embodying himself in the lead character as William Lee, Burroughs takes the reader to the squalid and dangerous streets of early 1950s Mexico City as Lee makes an attempt at a life coming from a background of drugs and murder. Addled by alcoholism and trying to kick off a heroin habit Lee trudged through his aimless existence vacillating between one bar and young man after another. Things alter when he comes across Eugene Allerton, a young spectacled American fresh from the army who would turn out to be Lee's greatest desire and constant pain throughout this difficult time in his life. The tale details the duo's complicated one-way relationship with Lee being the pathologically dependent erastes to Allerton's reserved and dismissive eromenos. The pair take on a journey through South America vividly brought to life by Burroughs' direct delivery, wittily humorous hip Beaticisms and seamless prose. The sights and sounds of this moving travelogue hearken to Burroughs' fellow Beat traveller Kerouac and their mastery of the English language and the written word get better and more impressive with every read and passage of time. Eventually the odd couple go on their separate ways leading to a finale that's equal closure and surreal.

A classic and memorable story on "the love that dare not speak its name", Queer is a standout novella on fundamental human thoughts and emotions like love, yearning, desire, dejection and the joys and struggles of living life itself. When I first read this it barely made any impression on me and boy oh boy has it changed and what an admirable grower it has turned out to be. An essential read for open-minded readers and true lovers of literature.