Tag: Charles Bukowski

Pulp by Charles Bukowski

When I first read this, I thought it was the worst novel I had ever read. On a second reading, however, it comes off remarkably well. It’s much funnier than I remembered the first time around, and somehow the ending seems more poignant now. It’s not one of Bukowski’s best, but it’s still Bukowski: funny, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/07/09/pulp-by-charles-bukowski/

The Most Beautiful Woman in Town and Other Stories by Charles Bukowski

These stories are not exactly edifying, but they are certainly not dull. Bukowski’s writing is remarkably uninhibited, and many of the things he writes about seem to have escaped censorship only by virtue of the fact that the respectable literary establishment takes no notice of him. A few of these stories are outstanding examples of …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2011/08/20/the-most-beautiful-woman-in-town-and-other-stories-by-charles-bukowski/

Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski

This is Bukowski’s best novel. An autobiographical novel, it goes a long way toward explaining how he became the bitter, misanthropic, brilliant drunk that he eventually became. Bukowski’s writing really resonates with me for some reason. It’s not uplifting, but it gives the me the courage to face whatever life throws at me. For that …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2009/07/11/ham-on-rye-by-charles-bukowski/

The Captain Is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship by Charles Bukowski

This is Bukowski at the end of his life sounding the notes that have become all too familiar: he is a hero for living on his own terms and everyone else is a soulless moron. This theme is continued with a few variations page after page until the very end. As Bukowski himself acknowledges, many …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2009/06/03/the-captain-is-out-to-lunch-and-the-sailors-have-taken-over-the-ship-by-charles-bukowski/

Post Office by Charles Bukowski

This is a memoir of the soul-killing job that sucked nearly twelve years out of Bukowski’s life, with a lot of booze and women thrown in for good measure. I had read it before, but it was actually funnier the second time around. It does have a certain serious social relevance: what do people with …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2009/03/14/post-office-by-charles-bukowski/