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joannaautumn's review against another edition
4.0
This is as clean as it gets – this is the collection of short stories, essays and other short writings from Bukowski: it’s very simple and very effective.
I have been reading his work since I was a teen, so I was about 15-16 or around that age. I knew nothing really.
But I had a will to learn and I learned from the books I read, at the period his books had helped me be more free than I was – in a sense to always keep my thoughts simple and how little it takes to make me full. I didn’t like injustice, lies and hypocrisy – I still don’t but as time goes I have come to realize you can’t escape that.
I have been fascinated with how much people try to conceal who they really are, be it bad or good. Then again, I still believe in the idea that you can do whatever you want as long as you don’t harm anyone by doing that – that’s how I go through in life, or at least try to live by that.
Bukowski is a voice for the voiceless, a voice for the people who society didn’t bother writing about.
He shows us the darker side of life, in both his prose and in his poetry – he wasn’t much of a fighter, all he did was write about the things he lived and the things that he loved and the things that repulsed him – in a way he wrote himself into his work. As he said about style – it’s not a shield, Style means ultimate naturalness. Style means one man alone with billions of men.
With this collection, I understood his intentions better and respect him more for fighting for a voice in the world, in the only way he knew how – by writing and disassociating.
His stories are far from perfect, his characters are not the type of men (I say men because he didn’t know how to write about a woman, except in his early poetry – in the poems for Jane, but that is not enough for me) I would like people to look up to, but they are not meant to be anybody’s role model, they are just meant to exist and be there as all of us.
Genius could be the ability to say a profound thing in a simple way, or even to say a simple thing in a simpler way – This part can’t be more true, and for this and many other statements that I deeply agree with, I still stick to this man and his writing even though I don’t agree with the portrayal of women and of different races (meaning anybody who isn’t white) in his work. Take caution with approaching his work.
I read John Fante, and I know he admired him very much – even wrote a short story in his honor and that one sentence where he said that although they are similar, Fante is a good guy while he is a bastard(rough translation, I don’t have an English version of that saying). That made me think for a while, Fante was forgotten while Bukowski remains the Icon for his work.
All in all, I am really glad I bought this book and read it. I shall see if I will raise it up to 5 stars, a solid 4,5 for now.
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4,5 maybe 5, one of his better collections, review to come.
I have been reading his work since I was a teen, so I was about 15-16 or around that age. I knew nothing really.
But I had a will to learn and I learned from the books I read, at the period his books had helped me be more free than I was – in a sense to always keep my thoughts simple and how little it takes to make me full. I didn’t like injustice, lies and hypocrisy – I still don’t but as time goes I have come to realize you can’t escape that.
I have been fascinated with how much people try to conceal who they really are, be it bad or good. Then again, I still believe in the idea that you can do whatever you want as long as you don’t harm anyone by doing that – that’s how I go through in life, or at least try to live by that.
Bukowski is a voice for the voiceless, a voice for the people who society didn’t bother writing about.
He shows us the darker side of life, in both his prose and in his poetry – he wasn’t much of a fighter, all he did was write about the things he lived and the things that he loved and the things that repulsed him – in a way he wrote himself into his work. As he said about style – it’s not a shield, Style means ultimate naturalness. Style means one man alone with billions of men.
With this collection, I understood his intentions better and respect him more for fighting for a voice in the world, in the only way he knew how – by writing and disassociating.
His stories are far from perfect, his characters are not the type of men (I say men because he didn’t know how to write about a woman, except in his early poetry – in the poems for Jane, but that is not enough for me) I would like people to look up to, but they are not meant to be anybody’s role model, they are just meant to exist and be there as all of us.
Genius could be the ability to say a profound thing in a simple way, or even to say a simple thing in a simpler way – This part can’t be more true, and for this and many other statements that I deeply agree with, I still stick to this man and his writing even though I don’t agree with the portrayal of women and of different races (meaning anybody who isn’t white) in his work. Take caution with approaching his work.
I read John Fante, and I know he admired him very much – even wrote a short story in his honor and that one sentence where he said that although they are similar, Fante is a good guy while he is a bastard(rough translation, I don’t have an English version of that saying). That made me think for a while, Fante was forgotten while Bukowski remains the Icon for his work.
All in all, I am really glad I bought this book and read it. I shall see if I will raise it up to 5 stars, a solid 4,5 for now.
-------------------------------------------------
4,5 maybe 5, one of his better collections, review to come.
manadabomb's review against another edition
5.0
One of the great things about Bukowski's essays and short stories is that you can read one or two and move on. It can take time to read a whole book, for me at least.
This collection is Un[b:collected Short Stories|18490|Frankenstein|Mary Shelley|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166956574s/18490.jpg|4836639] and Essays, 1944-1990. Some of the stories feel vaguely familiar, like I've read them before. I think I just recall the stories from Buk interviews and documentaries.
There are lots of stories to choose from but my favorites are his Notes from a Dirty Old Man, Just Passing Time, and I Meet the Master. I Meet The Master is about Chinaski meeting Bante...or Bukowski meeting Fante. A good piece of work about finally meeting your idol that includes some standout lines:
"It was obvious: what happened to people, good people, bad people, even terrible people, hardly seemed fair."
"It's when you hide things that you choke on them."
I ended up with a book that was underlined and dog-earred. Bukowski really sums up himself with "Genius could be the ability to say a profound thing in a simple way."
Not a wasted word in sight.
This collection is Un[b:collected Short Stories|18490|Frankenstein|Mary Shelley|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166956574s/18490.jpg|4836639] and Essays, 1944-1990. Some of the stories feel vaguely familiar, like I've read them before. I think I just recall the stories from Buk interviews and documentaries.
There are lots of stories to choose from but my favorites are his Notes from a Dirty Old Man, Just Passing Time, and I Meet the Master. I Meet The Master is about Chinaski meeting Bante...or Bukowski meeting Fante. A good piece of work about finally meeting your idol that includes some standout lines:
"It was obvious: what happened to people, good people, bad people, even terrible people, hardly seemed fair."
"It's when you hide things that you choke on them."
I ended up with a book that was underlined and dog-earred. Bukowski really sums up himself with "Genius could be the ability to say a profound thing in a simple way."
Not a wasted word in sight.
thekeziamartins's review against another edition
5.0
"Eu queria resistir a todas armadilhas, para morrer junto à maquina de escrever, uma garrafa de vinho à minha esquerda e o rádio tocando, quem sabe, Mozart, à direita"
Uma coletânea de contos e crônicas de temas diversos, desde a vida de um escritor até invasões extraterrestres. A escrita de Bukowski simples e rude como sempre, deixa os textos mais originais e fluidos de ler.
Nessa coletânea as crônicas tiveram um ar quase lírico no estilo Bukowski, me identifiquei bastante com os problemas de escritor que ele relata. "Escrevo para ter uma função. Sem isso cairei doente e morrerei."
Os contos foram divertidos e intrigantes com temas diversos como defecar, extraterrestres, brigas... Entrou para minha lista de um dos melhores livros do autor.
Uma coletânea de contos e crônicas de temas diversos, desde a vida de um escritor até invasões extraterrestres. A escrita de Bukowski simples e rude como sempre, deixa os textos mais originais e fluidos de ler.
Nessa coletânea as crônicas tiveram um ar quase lírico no estilo Bukowski, me identifiquei bastante com os problemas de escritor que ele relata. "Escrevo para ter uma função. Sem isso cairei doente e morrerei."
Os contos foram divertidos e intrigantes com temas diversos como defecar, extraterrestres, brigas... Entrou para minha lista de um dos melhores livros do autor.
leeeighv's review against another edition
5.0
A wonderful introduction to anyone interested in being introduced to the madness and genius that is Charles Bukowski. I buried my best friend, went to the bookstore, and bought this book. It will always be remembered as the words and stories that allowed me to step outside of myself during a rough patch of time and in so many ways helped bring me back to life.
poetloz's review against another edition
2.0
I get why these pieces were unpublished, but I really loved the short story about John Fante.
kezreading's review against another edition
5.0
"Eu queria resistir a todas armadilhas, para morrer junto à maquina de escrever, uma garrafa de vinho à minha esquerda e o rádio tocando, quem sabe, Mozart, à direita"
Uma coletânea de contos e crônicas de temas diversos, desde a vida de um escritor até invasões extraterrestres. A escrita de Bukowski simples e rude como sempre, deixa os textos mais originais e fluidos de ler.
Nessa coletânea as crônicas tiveram um ar quase lírico no estilo Bukowski, me identifiquei bastante com os problemas de escritor que ele relata. "Escrevo para ter uma função. Sem isso cairei doente e morrerei."
Os contos foram divertidos e intrigantes com temas diversos como defecar, extraterrestres, brigas... Entrou para minha lista de um dos melhores livros do autor.
Uma coletânea de contos e crônicas de temas diversos, desde a vida de um escritor até invasões extraterrestres. A escrita de Bukowski simples e rude como sempre, deixa os textos mais originais e fluidos de ler.
Nessa coletânea as crônicas tiveram um ar quase lírico no estilo Bukowski, me identifiquei bastante com os problemas de escritor que ele relata. "Escrevo para ter uma função. Sem isso cairei doente e morrerei."
Os contos foram divertidos e intrigantes com temas diversos como defecar, extraterrestres, brigas... Entrou para minha lista de um dos melhores livros do autor.
foxclouds's review against another edition
4.0
Bukowski is famous for his poetry but he also wrote novels, essays and short stories. I wanted to read his prose, so I picked up this book from the library (by the way for some reason GoodReads has a wrong number of pages in the system, so when I updated my current page to 178 my status was at 100% although I was 2/3 through).
I admit that I skipped the essays and focused on short stories.
Bukowski writes dirty and gritty stories, which seem to be mostly autobiographical than fictional, peppered with sex, alcohol and drug consumption, and swearing. He doesn't shy from diving into what some might consider porn (well, he did publish his stories in adult magazines too). His words are brutally honest. He doesn't hide anything. His writing resembles the stream of consciousness of a drunk and horny teenager trapped in the old man's body.
Not for the faint of heart.
I loved it, but you need to be in a certain mood for it.
I admit that I skipped the essays and focused on short stories.
Bukowski writes dirty and gritty stories, which seem to be mostly autobiographical than fictional, peppered with sex, alcohol and drug consumption, and swearing. He doesn't shy from diving into what some might consider porn (well, he did publish his stories in adult magazines too). His words are brutally honest. He doesn't hide anything. His writing resembles the stream of consciousness of a drunk and horny teenager trapped in the old man's body.
Not for the faint of heart.
I loved it, but you need to be in a certain mood for it.
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