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taylorklong 's review for:
Factotum
by Charles Bukowski
This is the first Bukowski novel I read - I chose it because the movie version was coming out, and I wanted to read the book first.
As a first Bukowski novel, it's a wise choice, because it's a quick read. I blew through it in 2-3 days. It's a very conflicting book, because in some regards it's depressing to see how he lived, what his relationships were like, but on other levels, it's inspiring, because he was so dirt poor and bounced around from job to job, but was able to support himself and his career, even if the quality of life was so low. He did what he had to do to make it work.
My one qualm with this book is that I know a lot of people who read this and think they get the basic gist of Bukowski, when that is so very much not the case. Bukowski had a very tumultuous home life (which he supposedly addresses in Ham on Rye, which I have yet to read), especially with his father, which is accountable for a lot of the reasons why he is who he is. There's only one scene in Factotum that illustrates his father's treatment of him and his mothers' unwillingness to restrain his father - and it's one of the most memorable of the book. This is also low on the social commentary factor which, believe it or not, Bukowski actually does plenty of elsewhere - it's just that it's generally over-shadowed by all the raunchier aspects of his work.
Absolutely pick this up, but don't let this be the only thing of his that you read.
As a first Bukowski novel, it's a wise choice, because it's a quick read. I blew through it in 2-3 days. It's a very conflicting book, because in some regards it's depressing to see how he lived, what his relationships were like, but on other levels, it's inspiring, because he was so dirt poor and bounced around from job to job, but was able to support himself and his career, even if the quality of life was so low. He did what he had to do to make it work.
My one qualm with this book is that I know a lot of people who read this and think they get the basic gist of Bukowski, when that is so very much not the case. Bukowski had a very tumultuous home life (which he supposedly addresses in Ham on Rye, which I have yet to read), especially with his father, which is accountable for a lot of the reasons why he is who he is. There's only one scene in Factotum that illustrates his father's treatment of him and his mothers' unwillingness to restrain his father - and it's one of the most memorable of the book. This is also low on the social commentary factor which, believe it or not, Bukowski actually does plenty of elsewhere - it's just that it's generally over-shadowed by all the raunchier aspects of his work.
Absolutely pick this up, but don't let this be the only thing of his that you read.