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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
More 3.5. Great economical prose and some hilarious encounters. I read Hollywood before and the style was just the same.
Wow. This book made me feel. Real feelings: dirty, glad, miserable, ecstatic and empty. I would compare it favourably against Kerouac: he also makes me feel so much when I'm reading, but afterwards leaves me feeling somewhat cheated and hollow; Bukowski is more honest. Each line was simple but delicious for the mind.
My introduction to Bukowski, certainly a welcome change in style from the norm. The raw, punctuated style pulses with honesty; yet not an honesty one can entirely trust. Perhaps it is the semi-autobiographical nature of the work, but the way Chinaski lives is by turns seemingly hyperbole of his depravity and then too absurd to be anything but the grainy truth.
In terms of personal application, Post Office perhaps helped me come to terms with fringe elements within myself, kind of interesting to think about. I'd recommend reading it, particularly if you have yet to read anything long form by Mr. Bukowski.
In terms of personal application, Post Office perhaps helped me come to terms with fringe elements within myself, kind of interesting to think about. I'd recommend reading it, particularly if you have yet to read anything long form by Mr. Bukowski.
adventurous
funny
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A brilliantly bawdy, raucous and disreputable account of working for The Man and redeeming a brutish, dissolute life through art. I quite liked Dustin Hoffmann's One Hundred Knuckled Fist (a 2017 Michigan Notable Books honoree, I might add), but Bukowski's visceral, plainspoken, and, yes, frequently repulsive and regressive, account of life at the lowest rungs of the civil service system rings truer, and might just be better recognized as documentary truth by the workers in the system than Hoffmann's explicitly "literary" account of blue-collar work. Braid with Studs Terkel's Working and a generous helping of Harvey Pekar's American Splendor to create a mosaic of a particular moment in the American class and employment system.
dark
funny
reflective
fast-paced
Bukowski has a great style of writing that really draws you into his mind and life. An interesting, albeit slow at times read from start to finish.