Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Post Office

This book is fabulous. Very inappropriate and raw. Has excellent commentary on how various groups of people are treated and how work takes advantage of people.

Content Warnings

lorenzo375's review against another edition

Go to review page

Strongly disliked the narrator and protagonist

Content Warnings

olijordan's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark medium-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

1.0

A coworker said to read this. I’ll promptly be throwing it at his head. Fuck this guy and the author

Content Warnings

h_motionless's review

Go to review page

fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Post Office is one of those books where absolutely nothing happens. Sometimes, this works, as long as the writing is great and the characters are lovable. This book had neither of those things. The writing felt juvenile (which is understandable, considering that this was Bukowski's first novel), and the protagonist is an asshole drunk rapist who treats women like slabs of meat and is surrounded by other assholes. I don't know about you, but these are not characters that I would consider lovable. The casual racism throughout the book also wasn't great. I acknowledge that this novel is unadulterated and uncensored, as is respected for these attributes, but that doesn't mean it's enjoyable. It's raw, but in the same way that uncooked chicken is raw. I am open to reading more Bukowski, but this one was just not pleasant in any way.

Content Warnings

writtenontheflyleaves's review

Go to review page

dark slow-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

2.5

Post Office by Charles Bukowski 📬
🌟🌟
-
I read this for a book club that convened on Sunday - it’s not a book I would have chosen to read otherwise, and to be honest, I don’t think I would have missed out on much if I hadn’t read it 🤷🏻‍♀️
-
✉️ The plot: Henry Chinaski is a postal worker in one of the largest cities in the United States. Across various roles, the exploitative and dreary nature of the job grinds Chinaski ever further into a cycle of depression and alcoholism, his only releases being in his (awful) relationships with women and in gambling.
-
The thing I enjoyed most about it was how easy it was to read, and how clearly it paints the dehumanisation of workers under capitalism. The thing I enjoyed the least was the treatment of women in the novel, which ranges from passive contempt and objectification to explicit sexual violence. Chinaski does not ascribe interiority to the women in his life, with the result not just that the women whirl through the novel notable mainly for their sexuality and shrill volatility, but that Chinaski himself becomes noticeably less human. Dismissing their fear and anguish requires him to bypass many of his own emotions, and you glimpse his pain mostly in the shadows of his actions - his passive responses to their departures, his arrangement of the funeral of an ex-girlfriend, resisting his suicidal urges by thinking of his newborn daughter.
-
📦 Read it if you have to? I guess? I’m not sure who I’d recommend this book to outside of an academic/ discussion setting - if you’re interested in the US post office, just listen to the Going Postal episode of You’re Wrong About, and if you want to read a funnier novel about absurd working conditions (albeit in the US army rather than the government, as the postal service was at this time) read Catch-22.
-
🚫 Avoid it if you are avoiding depictions of rape, sexual violence, alcoholism, exploitation, and suicidal thoughts.

Content Warnings

More...