Exterminator!

William S. Burroughs had some brilliant works. Although some of them are a little too drug induced (Naked Lunch for example), I still found them enjoyable. This is a collection of incomplete stories or sketches & shorts. This includes, The Priest They Called Him which is one of my favorites from Burroughs. If you are a fan of Burroughs works this is a must have. I found this and Junky to be some of Burroughs easier reads. Interestingly enough, Burroughs did a reading of The Priest They Called him with Kurt Cobain supplying basically feedback as a background noise back in the day. I am glad I own that CD as it is one of my favorites from Burroughs and they are both now dead. Just remember one thing going into this, it's not an actual novel. The stories don't connect and not all of them are finished.

First of all this is a nowadays rarely seen cut-up collaboration between Brion Gysin and William S. Burroughs, not to be confused with the later Burroughs publication "Exterminator! A Novel". This volume; The Exterminator, is a mixture of fiction, essay and poetry. This publication contains some of the wildest forgotten poety Burroughs never got full acknowledge for. The form and texture is a lot like "Minutes to Go" also penned by Burroughs/Gysin. If you are familliar with the works of Burroughs or Gysin, this is an exiting experience, but if you're not, well... I guess you don't wanna spend $45.00 on this rare volume.

Short glimpses into the surreal and fascinating underbelly of a carnal circus of oddities. Poetic delivery and stunning reflection sneaks into the vulgarness in the best possible way. Surreal and enjoyable.

Highly recommend for the Burroughs fan that does not have the time to tackle a challenging novel. Bizzare short stories that could only come from Burroughs unique mind

Had never read burroughs before this and now hes one of my favourites. highly recemmond

this is Burroughs, he doesn't fit any forms to fill out

I found this in the library at about age 15 or 16.Looking at it a certain way, I was lucky - some boysmy age read "The Fountainhead" or "Atlas Shrugged",and have their minds destroyed. I read "Exterminator!"and had my mind - well, altered in strange ways.To give an idea of how sheltered I was, there's a scenewhere a teenage boy is described as having a 'hardon'.I did not know what that meant, and could not figure itout by context.This is a strange book, not one of WSB's best, but defintelyworth a look if you like this sort of thing.

EXTERMINATOR! A NOVEL is without any question my favorite William S. Burroughs book. The "A Novel" of the title must surely be ironic, because the book is not in any recognizable sense a novel. It is a collection of largely unconnected sketches and scenes. Not every section is a masterpiece, but several are among the most surreal and brilliant things that Burroughs ever wrote. And for anyone who has not previously read any Burroughs, it is a brilliant introduction. I personally find it far more accessible and enjoyable than NAKED LUNCH, which, while it has many fine passages, nonetheless can at times become tedious.Although by and large the various parts are unconnected, several are focused on the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago. In particular, the amazingly creative and hysterically funny "The Coming of the Purple Better One" takes that as its locale. The "Purple Better One" of the title refers to a baboon that is placed upon the convention podium, and upon whose face is superimposed the face of a white Southern, racist politician, whose recorded speech is then played. It is one of the more bizarre, brilliant, and absurd scenes in recent American literature. Another favorite is "The Discipline of DE," the DE standing for "Do Easy." The story is a strange blend of Zen Buddhist tract and self-help manifestation. Other favorites include the title story, with the narrator/exterminator repeating ominously "You want the service?" and a supposed film treatment "Twilight's Last Gleamings."The collection features many of the themes usually associated with Burroughs: Sci-fi, fantasy, drugs, usual medical practices and phenomena, governmental nefariousness, and the corruption of capitalistic life.

Good read

but i prefer full novels to story collections. i bought this to be a completest...