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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
dark
funny
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
bukowski's a pretty famous writer, so i figured at some point I should probably read some of his stuff. this was pretty good. a bit of an older vibe mixed with a newer vibe. you can sense that he was one of the first to write with an american blue collar voice.
Hoewel Bukowski een goede schrijver is, ben ik niet helemaal fan van zijn stijl. Het is (zwaar) vrouw-onvriendelijk, cynisch en deprimerend (hoewel dat laatste niet per se iets slechts hoeft te zijn, voelde dit hier wel zo). Maar... Ondanks dit kan ik niet zeggen dat het ronduit slecht was, Bukowski neemt geen blad voor zijn mond en blijft op een rare manier wel boeien. En als ik zo naar de quotes kijk zijn er wel enkele die eruit springen en laten zien dat hij wel een goede dichter was, dus hier komen ze:
“In the morning it was morning and I was still alive.
Maybe I'll write a novel, I thought.
And then I did.”
“It was sad, it was sad, it was sad. When Betty came back we didn't sing or laugh, or even argue. We sat drinking in the dark, smoking cigarettes, and when we went to sleep, I didn't put my feet on her body or she on mine like we used to. We slept without touching.
We had both been robbed.”
“The ocean," I said, "look at it out there, battering, crawling up and down. And underneath all that, the fish, the poor fish fighting each other, eating each other. We're like those fish, only we're up here. One bad move and you're finished. It's nice to be a champion. It's nice to know your moves.”
En nog eentje die dit boek samenvat en waarom het mij zo tegen stond:
“God or somebody keeps creating women and tossing them out on the streets, and this one’s ass is too big and that one’s tits are too small, and this one is mad and that one is crazy and that one is a religionist and that one reads tea leaves and this one can’t control her farts, and that one has this big nose, and that one has boney legs … But now and then, a woman walks up, full blossom, a woman just bursting out of her dress … a sex creature, a curse, the end of it all.”
“In the morning it was morning and I was still alive.
Maybe I'll write a novel, I thought.
And then I did.”
“It was sad, it was sad, it was sad. When Betty came back we didn't sing or laugh, or even argue. We sat drinking in the dark, smoking cigarettes, and when we went to sleep, I didn't put my feet on her body or she on mine like we used to. We slept without touching.
We had both been robbed.”
“The ocean," I said, "look at it out there, battering, crawling up and down. And underneath all that, the fish, the poor fish fighting each other, eating each other. We're like those fish, only we're up here. One bad move and you're finished. It's nice to be a champion. It's nice to know your moves.”
En nog eentje die dit boek samenvat en waarom het mij zo tegen stond:
“God or somebody keeps creating women and tossing them out on the streets, and this one’s ass is too big and that one’s tits are too small, and this one is mad and that one is crazy and that one is a religionist and that one reads tea leaves and this one can’t control her farts, and that one has this big nose, and that one has boney legs … But now and then, a woman walks up, full blossom, a woman just bursting out of her dress … a sex creature, a curse, the end of it all.”
challenging
dark
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What a book. I went in to this not knowing the book is autobiographical, but only realized this when I read the very last line of the book. And boy, did this last line add many layers to a book I already thought was great.
The writing style is, of course, very unique. Bukowski was a drifter for all his life, going from job to job, from fuck to fuck, from drink to drink. Despite this type of life being more prevalent than people may realize, people from this class in life are usually not writing books about it, it's a part of society that seems people want to forget. So, Bukowski being able to both write about his life very eloquently and engaging, while also being firmly rooted in the language of this group was so sick to read. As someone from a pretty different walk of life, I thought I was drawn into his head and life to an extent I usually don't really experience.
As for flaws, I personally thought that chapters 4-6 felt a lot 'more of the same', with some of the newness of chapters 1-2 lost. This made it a bit more repetitive to read, and especially since I didn't realize I was reading an autobiography, I at first thought it was an odd choice to have your book be so repetitive. But this ends up being a great strength, because that must have been how Bukowski himself felt at that point.
What I liked best about the book is the dynamic between his extreme self-destructive tendencies (if I may call them like that; his drinking, his lifestyle, etc.) and his feelings toward them. He seems to sort of demonize but also romanticize his functional alcoholism and aimlessness in life. I have personally had some friends I suspect Bukowski may have played a part in romanticizing their own functional alcoholic periods. But alas, I thought this was very well put into words and extremely interesting to read about. I personally think this is most clearly evident in his first two chapters, and really it's an awesome read.
Most surprising was Bukowski's pretty nice views on women and people of different ethnicities. I really did expect the worst I guess, especially since I had read some of Bukowski's poetry in the past, and I had expected his sort of treating women as pieces of meat, of "bodies to mount", would translate into some 'icky' opinions and views. But really, for the person that he was in the time that he was, he gives women a lot of agency, and he treats people of different ethnicities with more respect than most. I was very pleasantly surprised by this, and I think it is evidence of the inner gentle soul that would be revealed in Bukowski so much later after the writing of this book. I loved these tender little occurrences whenever they popped up in the book!
The book is short and easy to read, it's unique and has also been important in the canon of American literature. All in all, it's definitely a recommendation.
The writing style is, of course, very unique. Bukowski was a drifter for all his life, going from job to job, from fuck to fuck, from drink to drink. Despite this type of life being more prevalent than people may realize, people from this class in life are usually not writing books about it, it's a part of society that seems people want to forget. So, Bukowski being able to both write about his life very eloquently and engaging, while also being firmly rooted in the language of this group was so sick to read. As someone from a pretty different walk of life, I thought I was drawn into his head and life to an extent I usually don't really experience.
As for flaws, I personally thought that chapters 4-6 felt a lot 'more of the same', with some of the newness of chapters 1-2 lost. This made it a bit more repetitive to read, and especially since I didn't realize I was reading an autobiography, I at first thought it was an odd choice to have your book be so repetitive. But this ends up being a great strength, because that must have been how Bukowski himself felt at that point.
What I liked best about the book is the dynamic between his extreme self-destructive tendencies (if I may call them like that; his drinking, his lifestyle, etc.) and his feelings toward them. He seems to sort of demonize but also romanticize his functional alcoholism and aimlessness in life. I have personally had some friends I suspect Bukowski may have played a part in romanticizing their own functional alcoholic periods. But alas, I thought this was very well put into words and extremely interesting to read about. I personally think this is most clearly evident in his first two chapters, and really it's an awesome read.
Most surprising was Bukowski's pretty nice views on women and people of different ethnicities. I really did expect the worst I guess, especially since I had read some of Bukowski's poetry in the past, and I had expected his sort of treating women as pieces of meat, of "bodies to mount", would translate into some 'icky' opinions and views. But really, for the person that he was in the time that he was, he gives women a lot of agency, and he treats people of different ethnicities with more respect than most. I was very pleasantly surprised by this, and I think it is evidence of the inner gentle soul that would be revealed in Bukowski so much later after the writing of this book. I loved these tender little occurrences whenever they popped up in the book!
The book is short and easy to read, it's unique and has also been important in the canon of American literature. All in all, it's definitely a recommendation.
Es una historia indecente y sórdida, pero extrañamente atrae mucho. Sin duda la personalidad de su protagonista es la clave del éxito de la historia. Creo que en algún momento de la vida todos queremos ser Hank Chinaski.
You are at a bar, beer in hand, drinking alone. You see a greying man with a gravelly voice order a scotch. Something about the way he carries himself catches your eye. You smile at him, he gets the glass, gulps it down, orders another, gets it, and then approaches you. After an exchange of pleasantries, glasses, and bottles, he starts talking about his old job. The more he speaks, the more you revolt. You are upset about his worldview, and how he treats men and women alike, and gets disgusted by his actions. There are battles of fight or flight in your head, but you try to focus on his story. It grasps you, you feel a belch of sincerity as he speaks with his face right next to yours. He is 'telling it like it is' or something, you tell yourself. You notice, the more he speaks, the more he drinks, the more he is willing to admit something new about himself. You have heard many drunk stories in the past, they all go in circles, but not this one. He rambles, never bores. You reject his personality, you reject his actions, you reject the way his mind works, but you don't reject his voice. You realize that it is plain, straightforward, and honest - at times obscured, but honest. He finishes his story, gets up, almost falls down, says thank you for listening to him, staggers out, and you sit there, picking apart the story for some nuggets of wisdom you could use. You want to believe that the entire story is unrefined gold. But you realize that it's just a few flakes glistening. During the ramblings, you thought it was a waste of time. Now the full tale in mind, you're content that you've heard it and want others to encounter this man. So you write this down and post it on Goodreads. And there it is.
