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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The appeal of Bukowski is so difficult to describe and even to justify. It’s unbelievably vulgar, crass, disturbing, and downright gross, yet it’s genuinely fascinating. The quality of the writing itself is great, and many of the poems reflecting on alcoholism, wasting your life away, and the process of writing are poignant and memorable. What disrupts this is the blatant and entirely overt paedophilia and oversexualisation of women - it’s commonly accepted that Bukowski writes women absolutely terribly so I come to expect this when picking up his work, but as soon as he sexualises children with no suggestion that it isn’t autobiographical or satirical, he loses me entirely.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, Sexual harassment
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really like Bukowski when he’s existential and cynical. I really hate Bukowski when he makes me read about all his weird sex.
dark
fast-paced
medium-paced
picked this up bcs Jack gave it a 5 star (regret it)
"people need me. I fill/ them. if they can't see me/ for a while they get desperate, they get/ sick. but if I see them too often/ I get sick. it's hard to feed/ without getting fed."
Bukowski seems simple to me. He was just a crazy old man with a lot of swelled up insanity in him who tried to show the society is way more insane than himself. I'd cherish some of the poems in this anthology for my lifetime.
"they disgust me
the way they wait for death
with as much passion
as a traffic signal.
these are the people who believe advertisements
these are the people who buy dentures on credit
these are the people who celebrate holidays
these are the people who have grandchildren
these are the people who vote
these are the people who have funerals
these are the dead
the smog
the stink in the air
the lepers.
these are almost everybody
finally.
seagulls are better
seaweed is better
dirty sand is better
if I could turn that old cannon
on them
and make it work
I would.
they disgust me.
"they disgust me
the way they wait for death
with as much passion
as a traffic signal.
these are the people who believe advertisements
these are the people who buy dentures on credit
these are the people who celebrate holidays
these are the people who have grandchildren
these are the people who vote
these are the people who have funerals
these are the dead
the smog
the stink in the air
the lepers.
these are almost everybody
finally.
seagulls are better
seaweed is better
dirty sand is better
if I could turn that old cannon
on them
and make it work
I would.
they disgust me.