What do you think?
Rate this book
爻丕賳丿賵賷趩 跇丕賲亘賵賳
丕賵賱蹖賳 趩蹖夭蹖 讴賴 蹖丕丿賲 賲蹖鈥屫③屫� 賲禺賮蹖 亘賵丿賳 夭蹖乇 趩蹖夭蹖鈥屫池�. 夭蹖乇 蹖讴 賲蹖夭. 賲賳 倬丕蹖賴鈥屰� 賲蹖夭 乇丕 賲蹖鈥屫屫�. 倬丕蹖 丌丿賲鈥屬囏� 乇丕貙 賵 亘禺卮蹖 丕夭 乇賵賲蹖夭蹖 乇丕 讴賴 丌賵蹖夭丕賳 亘賵丿. 丌賳 夭蹖乇 鬲丕乇蹖讴 亘賵丿 賵 賲賳 丌賳 夭蹖乇 亘賵丿賳 乇丕 丿賵爻鬲 丿丕卮鬲賲. 亘賴 诏賲丕賳賲 丿乇 丌賱賲丕賳 亘賵丿蹖賲. 賵 賲賳 蹖讴 蹖丕 丿賵 爻丕賱 亘蹖卮鬲乇 賳丿丕卮鬲賲. 爻丕賱 郾酃鄄鄄. 賲賳 夭蹖乇 賲蹖夭 丨爻 禺賵亘蹖 丿丕卮鬲賲. 賵 馗丕賴乇丕 賴蹖趩鈥屭┴� 丕夭 亘賵丿賳 賲賳 丿乇 丌賳鈥屫� 禺亘乇 賳丿丕卮鬲
400 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1982
3,345 people are currently reading
91.9k people want to read
About the author
Charles Bukowski
820听books29.2k听followersHenry Charles Bukowski (born as Heinrich Karl Bukowski) was a German-born American poet, novelist and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural and economic ambience of his home city of Los Angeles.It is marked by an emphasis on the ordinary lives of poor Americans, the act of writing, alcohol, relationships with women and the drudgery of work. Bukowski wrote thousands of poems, hundreds of short stories and six novels, eventually publishing over sixty books
Charles Bukowski was the only child of an American soldier and a German mother. At the age of three, he came with his family to the United States and grew up in Los Angeles. He attended Los Angeles City College from 1939 to 1941, then left school and moved to New York City to become a writer. His lack of publishing success at this time caused him to give up writing in 1946 and spurred a ten-year stint of heavy drinking. After he developed a bleeding ulcer, he decided to take up writing again. He worked a wide range of jobs to support his writing, including dishwasher, truck driver and loader, mail carrier, guard, gas station attendant, stock boy, warehouse worker, shipping clerk, post office clerk, parking lot attendant, Red Cross orderly, and elevator operator. He also worked in a dog biscuit factory, a slaughterhouse, a cake and cookie factory, and he hung posters in New York City subways.
Bukowski published his first story when he was twenty-four and began writing poetry at the age of thirty-five. His first book of poetry was published in 1959; he went on to publish more than forty-five books of poetry and prose, including (1994), (1993), and (1992).
He died of leukemia in San Pedro on March 9, 1994.
Charles Bukowski was the only child of an American soldier and a German mother. At the age of three, he came with his family to the United States and grew up in Los Angeles. He attended Los Angeles City College from 1939 to 1941, then left school and moved to New York City to become a writer. His lack of publishing success at this time caused him to give up writing in 1946 and spurred a ten-year stint of heavy drinking. After he developed a bleeding ulcer, he decided to take up writing again. He worked a wide range of jobs to support his writing, including dishwasher, truck driver and loader, mail carrier, guard, gas station attendant, stock boy, warehouse worker, shipping clerk, post office clerk, parking lot attendant, Red Cross orderly, and elevator operator. He also worked in a dog biscuit factory, a slaughterhouse, a cake and cookie factory, and he hung posters in New York City subways.
Bukowski published his first story when he was twenty-four and began writing poetry at the age of thirty-five. His first book of poetry was published in 1959; he went on to publish more than forty-five books of poetry and prose, including (1994), (1993), and (1992).
He died of leukemia in San Pedro on March 9, 1994.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 5,873 reviews
August 29, 2008
So what is a middle-class old woman who seldom drinks and never fights doing reading this book?
Enjoying the hell out of it.
Enjoying the hell out of it.
June 6, 2024
There is this eminent poem by Philip Larkin:
鈥淭hey fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had and add some extra, just for you. But they were fucked up in their turn by fools in old-style hats and coats, who half the time were soppy-stern and half at one another鈥檚 throats.鈥�
And everything in Ham on Rye develops under this scenario鈥�
So the mournful bitterness of his childhood turned Henry Chinaski 鈥� that is Charles Bukowski 鈥� into an impenitent and cynical insurgent for life.
Ham on Rye is a merciless and graphic story 鈥� a real death sentence to smug philistines.
And there is always the one who wants to stay outside the herd鈥�
鈥淭hey fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had and add some extra, just for you. But they were fucked up in their turn by fools in old-style hats and coats, who half the time were soppy-stern and half at one another鈥檚 throats.鈥�
And everything in Ham on Rye develops under this scenario鈥�
So, that鈥檚 what they wanted: lies. Beautiful lies. That鈥檚 what they needed. People were fools. It was going to be easy for me.
So the mournful bitterness of his childhood turned Henry Chinaski 鈥� that is Charles Bukowski 鈥� into an impenitent and cynical insurgent for life.
I was like a turd that drew flies instead of like a flower that butterflies and bees desired.
Ham on Rye is a merciless and graphic story 鈥� a real death sentence to smug philistines.
At the age of twenty five most people were finished. A whole god-damned nation of assholes driving automobiles, eating, having babies, doing everything in the worst way possible, like voting for the presidential candidate who reminded them most of themselves.
And there is always the one who wants to stay outside the herd鈥�
February 10, 2017
I was sixteen, tan, blonde and good looking, catching waves on my yellow surfboard along with all the other surfers, handsome guys and beautiful gals, each and every day that summer. Little did I know this mini-heaven would quickly end and hell would begin in September. Why? My smooth-skinned tan face turned into an acne-filled mess. I suffered pimple by pimple for three years straight; many fat red pimples popping up every day. Oh, yeah, on my forehead, temples, cheeks, jaw, chin and nose. Unlike Charles Bukowski, my father never beat me as a kid but this was one thing I did have in common with Bukowski 鈥� being a teenager with a wicked case of acne. You can read all about his in this novel, Ham and Rye. Bukowski said, 鈥淭he gods have really put a good shield over me man. I鈥檝e been toughened up at the right time and the right place." Maybe this was part of my own toughening up, those three teenage years of enduring the red face fire of acne.
Anyway, this is one of my connections with Bukowski, the king of the hill when it comes to American raw-boned, hard-boiled, tough-guy writers. And this novel of his years as a kid and teenager growing up in a house where he was continually beaten with a leather strap and receiving a torrent of emotional abuses, particularly at the hands of his callous, obsessive father, sets the stage for his alcoholic, hardscrabble adulthood, an adulthood where, other than drinking, his sole refuge from childhood memories of cruelty and his ongoing life on the down-and-out edge was sitting at his typewriter composing poetry and fiction.
Ham on Rye. Every single sentence of this book is clear, vivid, sharp and direct, as if the words were bullets shot from a 22 caliber rifle. Here are just a few rounds: 鈥溾€淲ords weren鈥檛 dull, words were things that could make your mind hum. If you read them and let yourself feel the magic, you could live without pain, with hope, no matter what happened to you.鈥� Again, 鈥淚 didn't like anybody in that school. I think they knew that. I think that's why they disliked me. I didn't like the way they walked or looked or talked, but I didn't like my mother or father either. I still had the feeling of being surrounded by white empty space. There was always a slight nausea in my stomach.鈥� And, again. 鈥淭he best thing about the bedroom was the bed. I liked to stay in bed for hours, even during the day with covers pulled up to my chin. It was good in there, nothing ever occurred in there, no people, nothing.鈥�
Ham on Rye. There are funny, belly-laughing scenes and scenes that will make you shudder, scenes that are tender and scenes filled with pain, but through it all, you will stick with Hank Chinaski aka Charles Bukowski, the ultimate tough-guy with the heart of a poet.
November 17, 2007
It is true that Ham on Rye lacks a serious plot. It is also true that Mr. Bukowski writes in a crude, whiskey soaked style. However, the novel makes up for its deficiencies with a well-honed theme on the bullshit realities of middle-class existence and the ugly truth of how our society deals with those who reject that path. Such a novel should necessarily cause the reader to taste a tinge of bile in his or her throat. If you don't finish the book weary and angry, then you missed the point. As to the comments below that disparage Mr. Bukowski as a mean-spirited asshole, I ask you to consider four possibilities: 1) you misread his skid row saintliness as something distasteful; 2) you forget that Mr. Bukowski wrote a novel, not a memoir; 3) you judge his offensive comments in a vacuum instead of its time and place; or 4) you are comfortable with the mediocrity shit can of existence that he laments.
January 8, 2013
Up until recently, all I knew about Charles Bukowski was what I learned in one of my all time favorite films, 鈥楤arfly,鈥� staring the incomparable Mickey Rourke as our antihero Henry Chinaski. If you haven鈥檛 seen it, you should remedy that immediately:
This is a world where everybodys gotta do something, gotta be something... sometimes I just get tired of thinking of all the things that I don't wanna do.. that I don't wanna be
***
Henry Chinaski is a bit of a dick. He doesn鈥檛 care about you, your causes, your morals, your dignity鈥� he doesn鈥檛 give a shit about anything but Henry Chinaski. And I鈥檓 not even so sure about that鈥�
I know it might sound odd coming from me, but I can totally relate to Henry. Don鈥檛 get me wrong, saying I can relate to Henry doesn鈥檛 mean that I approve of him and all his bravado, but I can relate. I can relate to his shitty childhood and his asociality and his lack of drive to 鈥渂e somebody.鈥� I鈥檒l refrain from getting too personal here, but I can say that he can thank his lucky stars for one thing: he wasn鈥檛 born a girl.
Ham on Rye follows our dear Henry from a childhood scarred by abuse and isolation through the muddy waters of adolescence to young adulthood. He eschews mainstream culture and all that it stands for, and really, who can blame him? By the end, part of me wanted to forget about all of this 鈥榬esponsibility鈥� nonsense and join him at the bar. Why? Because f*ck you. That鈥檚 why.
Bukowski isn鈥檛 for everyone. Actually, let me go out on a limb here and say Bukowski isn鈥檛 for most people. But if you鈥檝e been lucky enough to have struggled through childhood and adolescence and come out on the other end a little stronger, a little smarter, a little thicker skinned, then maybe, just maybe, Bukowski is for you.
Then again, maybe not. I'm sure Bukowski doesn't give a shit either way, and honestly, neither do I.
***
I raise my glass to you, Henry. To you and all my frieeeeennnddds!!!!!!!!!!!(Barfly joke).
***
Watch this scene -- when Henry walks over to Wanda, look who he passes at the bar:
Wanda: I can't stand people. I hate them. Do you hate them?
Henry: No. But I seem to feel better when they're not around...
July 13, 2017
螖蠀慰 尾蟻维未喂伪 魏蟻维蟿畏蟽蔚 伪蠀蟿蠈 蟿慰 蟿伪尉委未喂 魏伪喂 蔚委蠂伪 蟿畏谓 蟺蔚蟺慰委胃畏蟽畏 蟺蠅蟼 蟽蠀味畏蟿蠋 伪位位维 蟺蔚蟻喂蟽蟽蠈蟿蔚蟻慰 伪魏慰蠉蠅 渭蔚 伪蟺蠈位蠀蟿慰 蟽蔚尾伪蟽渭蠈 纬喂伪 蟿畏 味蠅萎 蔚谓蠈蟼 渭慰谓伪蠂喂魏慰蠉 渭慰蠀 蠁委位慰蠀.
韦蟻慰渭蔚蟻萎 伪渭蔚蟽蠈蟿畏蟿伪 魏伪喂 蠁慰尾蔚蟻蠈 蟿伪位苇谓蟿慰 蟺蟻慰蟽萎位蠅蟽畏蟼 蟺蟻慰蟼 蟿慰谓 伪蟺慰未苇魏蟿畏 蟿蠅谓 位蠈纬蠅谓 蟿慰蠀.
螒魏蠈渭畏 魏喂 伪谓 未蔚谓 苇蠂蔚喂蟼 蟽魏蔚蠁蟿蔚委 蟺慰蟿蔚 蟿畏 未喂魏萎 蟿慰蠀 蔚魏未慰蠂萎, 蟿畏谓 伪蟺伪蟻维位位伪蠂蟿畏 纬谓蠋渭畏 蟿慰蠀 萎 蟿畏谓 魏慰蟽渭慰胃蔚蠅蟻委伪 蟿慰蠀 蟽蔚 蟽蠂苇蟽畏 渭蔚 蟿畏谓 蠉蟺伪蟻尉畏 魏伪喂 蟿畏谓 蔚尉苇位喂尉畏 蟿慰蠀 伪谓胃蟻蠋蟺喂谓慰蠀 蔚委未慰蠀蟼 蟽蟿伪 蟽委纬慰蠀蟻伪 胃伪 蟺蔚喂蟽蟿蔚委蟼 蟺蠅蟼 慰 未喂魏蠈蟼 蟿慰蠀 慰委蟽蟿蟻慰蟼 蟺蟻慰蟼 蟿畏谓 渭伪蟿伪喂蠈蟿畏蟿伪 蔚喂谓伪喂 蟿蔚位喂魏维 慰 蟺蟻伪纬渭伪蟿喂魏蠈蟼.
螞蠀蟺萎胃畏魏伪 蟿慰蠀蟼 伪谓胃蟻蠋蟺慰蠀蟼 魏伪喂 蟿畏 渭喂味苇蟻喂伪 蟿慰蠀蟼 伪位位维 未蔚谓 苇谓喂蠅蟽伪 魏伪渭委伪 伪蟺慰位蠉蟿蠅蟼 胃位委蠄畏 纬喂伪 蟿慰谓 伪纬伪蟺畏渭苇谓慰 渭慰蠀 "蠁委位慰" 渭喂伪蟼 魏伪喂 渭苇蟽伪 伪蟺蠈 伪蠀蟿萎谓 蟿畏谓 蔚尉慰渭慰位蠈纬畏蟽畏 蟿畏蟼 未喂魏萎蟼 蟿慰蠀 味蠅萎蟼 蠈蟽慰 蟿蟻伪纬喂魏维, 慰未蠀谓畏蟻维, 伪蟽蟿蔚委伪,蟿蟻蠀蠁蔚蟻维 魏伪喂 魏蠀谓喂魏维 萎蟿伪谓 慰位伪 蟿伪 蟺蔚蟻喂蟽蟿伪蟿喂魏维,慰 委未喂慰蟼 萎蟿伪谓 蟺维谓蟿伪 慰 蔚位蔚蠉胃蔚蟻慰蟼 蟺慰位喂慰蟻魏畏渭苇谓慰蟼, 慰 伪蟽蠀渭尾委尾伪蟽蟿伪 蔚谓慰蠂喂魏蠈蟼, 慰 魏蠀谓喂魏蠈蟼 慰谓蔚喂蟻慰蟺蠈位慰蟼,慰 蟽魏位畏蟻蠈蟼 喂蟺蟺蠈蟿畏蟼, 慰 蔚蟻伪蟽蟿萎蟼 蟿畏蟼 慰渭慰蟻蠁喂维蟼 蟺慰蠀 蟺蔚蟻喂蟿蟻喂纬蠀蟻委味蔚蟿伪喂 渭蠈谓慰 伪蟺蠈 伪蟽蠂萎渭喂蔚蟼.
"....纬喂伪蟿委 渭喂伪 伪位萎胃蔚喂伪 蟺慰蠀 蟽慰蠀 蟿畏 位苇谓蔚 纬喂伪 蟺蟻蠋蟿畏 蠁慰蟻维 渭蟺慰蟻蔚委 谓伪 蔚喂谓伪喂 蟺慰位蠉 伪蟽蟿蔚委伪. 螌蟿伪谓 畏 伪位萎胃蔚喂伪 魏维蟺慰喂慰蠀 维位位慰蠀 蔚喂谓伪喂 委未喂伪 渭蔚 蟿畏 未喂魏萎 蟽慰蠀 蟿畏谓 伪位萎胃蔚喂伪, 魏伪喂 蔚喂谓伪喂 蟽伪谓 谓伪 蟿畏 位苇蔚喂 伪蟺慰魏位蔚喂蟽蟿喂魏维 蟽蔚 蔚蟽苇谓伪,蟿蠈蟿蔚 蔚喂谓伪喂 渭蔚纬伪位蔚委慰 ".
危蠀蟽蟿萎谓蔚蟿伪喂 伪谓蔚蟺喂蠁蠉位伪魏蟿伪.
螝伪位萎 伪谓维纬谓蠅蟽畏!!
螤慰位位慰蠉蟼 伪蟽蟺伪蟽渭慰蠉蟼!
韦蟻慰渭蔚蟻萎 伪渭蔚蟽蠈蟿畏蟿伪 魏伪喂 蠁慰尾蔚蟻蠈 蟿伪位苇谓蟿慰 蟺蟻慰蟽萎位蠅蟽畏蟼 蟺蟻慰蟼 蟿慰谓 伪蟺慰未苇魏蟿畏 蟿蠅谓 位蠈纬蠅谓 蟿慰蠀.
螒魏蠈渭畏 魏喂 伪谓 未蔚谓 苇蠂蔚喂蟼 蟽魏蔚蠁蟿蔚委 蟺慰蟿蔚 蟿畏 未喂魏萎 蟿慰蠀 蔚魏未慰蠂萎, 蟿畏谓 伪蟺伪蟻维位位伪蠂蟿畏 纬谓蠋渭畏 蟿慰蠀 萎 蟿畏谓 魏慰蟽渭慰胃蔚蠅蟻委伪 蟿慰蠀 蟽蔚 蟽蠂苇蟽畏 渭蔚 蟿畏谓 蠉蟺伪蟻尉畏 魏伪喂 蟿畏谓 蔚尉苇位喂尉畏 蟿慰蠀 伪谓胃蟻蠋蟺喂谓慰蠀 蔚委未慰蠀蟼 蟽蟿伪 蟽委纬慰蠀蟻伪 胃伪 蟺蔚喂蟽蟿蔚委蟼 蟺蠅蟼 慰 未喂魏蠈蟼 蟿慰蠀 慰委蟽蟿蟻慰蟼 蟺蟻慰蟼 蟿畏谓 渭伪蟿伪喂蠈蟿畏蟿伪 蔚喂谓伪喂 蟿蔚位喂魏维 慰 蟺蟻伪纬渭伪蟿喂魏蠈蟼.
螞蠀蟺萎胃畏魏伪 蟿慰蠀蟼 伪谓胃蟻蠋蟺慰蠀蟼 魏伪喂 蟿畏 渭喂味苇蟻喂伪 蟿慰蠀蟼 伪位位维 未蔚谓 苇谓喂蠅蟽伪 魏伪渭委伪 伪蟺慰位蠉蟿蠅蟼 胃位委蠄畏 纬喂伪 蟿慰谓 伪纬伪蟺畏渭苇谓慰 渭慰蠀 "蠁委位慰" 渭喂伪蟼 魏伪喂 渭苇蟽伪 伪蟺蠈 伪蠀蟿萎谓 蟿畏谓 蔚尉慰渭慰位蠈纬畏蟽畏 蟿畏蟼 未喂魏萎蟼 蟿慰蠀 味蠅萎蟼 蠈蟽慰 蟿蟻伪纬喂魏维, 慰未蠀谓畏蟻维, 伪蟽蟿蔚委伪,蟿蟻蠀蠁蔚蟻维 魏伪喂 魏蠀谓喂魏维 萎蟿伪谓 慰位伪 蟿伪 蟺蔚蟻喂蟽蟿伪蟿喂魏维,慰 委未喂慰蟼 萎蟿伪谓 蟺维谓蟿伪 慰 蔚位蔚蠉胃蔚蟻慰蟼 蟺慰位喂慰蟻魏畏渭苇谓慰蟼, 慰 伪蟽蠀渭尾委尾伪蟽蟿伪 蔚谓慰蠂喂魏蠈蟼, 慰 魏蠀谓喂魏蠈蟼 慰谓蔚喂蟻慰蟺蠈位慰蟼,慰 蟽魏位畏蟻蠈蟼 喂蟺蟺蠈蟿畏蟼, 慰 蔚蟻伪蟽蟿萎蟼 蟿畏蟼 慰渭慰蟻蠁喂维蟼 蟺慰蠀 蟺蔚蟻喂蟿蟻喂纬蠀蟻委味蔚蟿伪喂 渭蠈谓慰 伪蟺蠈 伪蟽蠂萎渭喂蔚蟼.
"....纬喂伪蟿委 渭喂伪 伪位萎胃蔚喂伪 蟺慰蠀 蟽慰蠀 蟿畏 位苇谓蔚 纬喂伪 蟺蟻蠋蟿畏 蠁慰蟻维 渭蟺慰蟻蔚委 谓伪 蔚喂谓伪喂 蟺慰位蠉 伪蟽蟿蔚委伪. 螌蟿伪谓 畏 伪位萎胃蔚喂伪 魏维蟺慰喂慰蠀 维位位慰蠀 蔚喂谓伪喂 委未喂伪 渭蔚 蟿畏 未喂魏萎 蟽慰蠀 蟿畏谓 伪位萎胃蔚喂伪, 魏伪喂 蔚喂谓伪喂 蟽伪谓 谓伪 蟿畏 位苇蔚喂 伪蟺慰魏位蔚喂蟽蟿喂魏维 蟽蔚 蔚蟽苇谓伪,蟿蠈蟿蔚 蔚喂谓伪喂 渭蔚纬伪位蔚委慰 ".
危蠀蟽蟿萎谓蔚蟿伪喂 伪谓蔚蟺喂蠁蠉位伪魏蟿伪.
螝伪位萎 伪谓维纬谓蠅蟽畏!!
螤慰位位慰蠉蟼 伪蟽蟺伪蟽渭慰蠉蟼!
April 4, 2017
Update: $1.99 Kindle special today --- Its not for everyone -- but I thought it was fantastic! -- I own it -- and couldn't pull away from it the first time I read it. I'd suggest reading high and low reviews. Then trust your gut! Its 'based' on a true story --but written as a novel.
"I had begun to dislike my father. He was always angry about something.
Wherever we went he got into arguments with people. But he didn't appear to frighten most people; they just stared at him, calmly, and he became more furious. If we ate out, which was seldom, he always found something wrong with the food and sometimes refuse to pay. "There's flyshit in this whipped cream! What the hell kind of place is this?"
"I'm sorry, sir, you needn't pay. Just leave."
"I'll leave, all right! But I'll be back! I'll burn this god-damned place down!
Yep, a real mensch of a father Henry Chinaski had.
From a very young age -- Henry was spoon fed...."children are seen and not to be heard". ( one of the more 'kind' things that came out of his father's mouth).
"Ham on Rye" alternates between being hilarious and horrendous.
The beatings from his father were so awful -- that just saying "this kid survived physical abuse in his insane - crazy dysfunctional household is not enough...( I felt so angry)!!!
His father was fucking brutal. The son-of-a-bitch deserved to be locked up for life.
So? What was hilarious?
Having acne and a gutless submissive mother--who can't stand up for Henry or herself isn't funny....
but Henry's cynicism is often funny...
It was very funny ( and cute), when Henry's little classmate, Lila Jane, ( a pretty girl), was proud of her clean pink panties - or blue ones--wanted to offer afternoon 'show and tell' for Henry's pleasure ....
however...this was the depression era in America ---Henry wasn't allowed to fulfill his other desires ... so he was often sexually frustrated. ('not' so funny)...but human.
The storytelling is wonderful ... It has everything...hitting us with a wide rage of emotions.
Terrific coming of age book involving family, school, other kids, teachers, struggles to survive --barely escaping poverty...Henry's anger, aloneness, rebelliousness, soooo much sadness it hurts....but also something beautiful was developing: Henry's love for literature. His time spent in the library reading D.H. Lawrence, Sinclair Lewis...etc.... 'He did that'!!! Awwww and what a phenomenal writer Charles Bukowski is. I'm aware this book is loosely based on his life story...but I read it as fiction!
The humanity in this book is extraordinary!!!!! I loved this book!!!!
"I had begun to dislike my father. He was always angry about something.
Wherever we went he got into arguments with people. But he didn't appear to frighten most people; they just stared at him, calmly, and he became more furious. If we ate out, which was seldom, he always found something wrong with the food and sometimes refuse to pay. "There's flyshit in this whipped cream! What the hell kind of place is this?"
"I'm sorry, sir, you needn't pay. Just leave."
"I'll leave, all right! But I'll be back! I'll burn this god-damned place down!
Yep, a real mensch of a father Henry Chinaski had.
From a very young age -- Henry was spoon fed...."children are seen and not to be heard". ( one of the more 'kind' things that came out of his father's mouth).
"Ham on Rye" alternates between being hilarious and horrendous.
The beatings from his father were so awful -- that just saying "this kid survived physical abuse in his insane - crazy dysfunctional household is not enough...( I felt so angry)!!!
His father was fucking brutal. The son-of-a-bitch deserved to be locked up for life.
So? What was hilarious?
Having acne and a gutless submissive mother--who can't stand up for Henry or herself isn't funny....
but Henry's cynicism is often funny...
It was very funny ( and cute), when Henry's little classmate, Lila Jane, ( a pretty girl), was proud of her clean pink panties - or blue ones--wanted to offer afternoon 'show and tell' for Henry's pleasure ....
however...this was the depression era in America ---Henry wasn't allowed to fulfill his other desires ... so he was often sexually frustrated. ('not' so funny)...but human.
The storytelling is wonderful ... It has everything...hitting us with a wide rage of emotions.
Terrific coming of age book involving family, school, other kids, teachers, struggles to survive --barely escaping poverty...Henry's anger, aloneness, rebelliousness, soooo much sadness it hurts....but also something beautiful was developing: Henry's love for literature. His time spent in the library reading D.H. Lawrence, Sinclair Lewis...etc.... 'He did that'!!! Awwww and what a phenomenal writer Charles Bukowski is. I'm aware this book is loosely based on his life story...but I read it as fiction!
The humanity in this book is extraordinary!!!!! I loved this book!!!!
August 24, 2020
The ultimate non-conformist
Wow. This is really something else. I was somewhat prepared for this after seeing the film "Barfly" which was based on Bukowski's alcoholic, pessimistic lifestyle - screenplay written by Charles Bukowski himself. But wow.
Bukowski, with Faye Dunaway and Mickey Rourke on the set of Barfly
Instead of Ham on Rye, this book should have been titled: "How I Became a Raging Drunk". Heavily autobiographical, this novel follows Bukowski's literary alter-ego Henry Chinaski through childhood and adolescence, and it isn't pretty.
鈥淓verything was eternally dreary, dismal, damned. Even the weather was insolent and bitchy.鈥�
Described as "the godfather of dirty realism", and fitting into the category of "transgressive fiction", Bukowski is a miserable sonofabitch who you can count on to a) not fit in, b) be unemployed, c) be drunk if at all possible, and d) get into a fist fight with someone double his size at any opportunity.
He's lazy, he's depressed, he's mean, he's negative. He puts close to zero effort into life. And let's not even start on his attitude towards women.
鈥淏ut I didn't want to be anything anyhow. And I was certainly succeeding.鈥�
At the same point though, you can't help but feel for the guy, because you can see why he became the person he is - he never got any love. His father beat him for no reason. His mother never protected him. His world was so harsh, poor, with no soft place to land, no light at the end of the tunnel. In his adolescence he suffered terribly from acne. No one wanted to look at him, let alone touch him.
In addition to the pathos, there's humour in these pages too. You sort of can't believe what you're reading - these crude, frank remembrances of a boy who calls it like he sees it. On family, poverty, the bleakness of working life, the salvation of the written word.
The miracle of all this is that someone so entrenched in his alcoholism and pessimism, someone who was punched in the head countless times, someone with no interest in being part of society and who had in fact, tremendous distain for those who were... the miracle is that this person, born a century ago, has had such a lasting effect on the literary world. I'm boggled that he was able to accomplish anything at all. The reality is, Charles Bukowski was a prolific poet and writer and, love him or hate him, his voice resonates for many. His disappointment with life, and people. His refusal to conform.
I'm glad that he didn't completely throw in the towel. I'm glad that time and time again, he turned to his typewriter, even if it was just to express another lament:
鈥淲hy is it always only a matter of choosing between something bad and something worse?鈥�
Wow. This is really something else. I was somewhat prepared for this after seeing the film "Barfly" which was based on Bukowski's alcoholic, pessimistic lifestyle - screenplay written by Charles Bukowski himself. But wow.
Bukowski, with Faye Dunaway and Mickey Rourke on the set of BarflyInstead of Ham on Rye, this book should have been titled: "How I Became a Raging Drunk". Heavily autobiographical, this novel follows Bukowski's literary alter-ego Henry Chinaski through childhood and adolescence, and it isn't pretty.
鈥淓verything was eternally dreary, dismal, damned. Even the weather was insolent and bitchy.鈥�
Described as "the godfather of dirty realism", and fitting into the category of "transgressive fiction", Bukowski is a miserable sonofabitch who you can count on to a) not fit in, b) be unemployed, c) be drunk if at all possible, and d) get into a fist fight with someone double his size at any opportunity.
He's lazy, he's depressed, he's mean, he's negative. He puts close to zero effort into life. And let's not even start on his attitude towards women.
鈥淏ut I didn't want to be anything anyhow. And I was certainly succeeding.鈥�
At the same point though, you can't help but feel for the guy, because you can see why he became the person he is - he never got any love. His father beat him for no reason. His mother never protected him. His world was so harsh, poor, with no soft place to land, no light at the end of the tunnel. In his adolescence he suffered terribly from acne. No one wanted to look at him, let alone touch him.
In addition to the pathos, there's humour in these pages too. You sort of can't believe what you're reading - these crude, frank remembrances of a boy who calls it like he sees it. On family, poverty, the bleakness of working life, the salvation of the written word.
The miracle of all this is that someone so entrenched in his alcoholism and pessimism, someone who was punched in the head countless times, someone with no interest in being part of society and who had in fact, tremendous distain for those who were... the miracle is that this person, born a century ago, has had such a lasting effect on the literary world. I'm boggled that he was able to accomplish anything at all. The reality is, Charles Bukowski was a prolific poet and writer and, love him or hate him, his voice resonates for many. His disappointment with life, and people. His refusal to conform.
I'm glad that he didn't completely throw in the towel. I'm glad that time and time again, he turned to his typewriter, even if it was just to express another lament:
鈥淲hy is it always only a matter of choosing between something bad and something worse?鈥�
July 18, 2024
A lo que yo alcanzo, este es el libro m谩s pol铆tico de su autor, aunque su pesimismo, am茅n de su misantrop铆a, su misoginia y su homofobia, le alejara de cualquier compromiso con causa alguna (como dice en uno de sus poemas 鈥淟a gente que cree en la Pol铆tica/ es como la gente que cree en dios鈥o hay dios/no hay pol铆tica/no hay paz/no hay amor/no hay control/no hay proyecto鈥�).
鈥淎 la edad de 25 la mayor铆a de la gente estaba acabada. Todo un maldito pa铆s repleto de gilipollas conduciendo autom贸viles, comiendo, pariendo ni帽os, haci茅ndolo todo de la peor manera posible, como votar por el candidato presidencial que m谩s les recordaba a ellos mismos鈥�Sin embargo, Bukowski expone aqu铆 con una sencillez aplastante las trampas del discurso neoliberal, empezando por la primera y fundamental, 鈥淎m茅rica es la gran tierra de la Oportunidad y cualquier hombre o mujer que lo desee tendr谩 茅xito鈥�. Por un lado, Bukowski nos advierte de que 鈥淪iempre hab铆a alguien controlando qui茅n pod铆a tener una oportunidad y qui茅n no鈥�, lo cual, incomprensiblemente, no empuja a la gente a rebelarse contra ese que controla las oportunidades, sino contra los inferiores que pelean tambi茅n por la suya. El otro punto crucial de la frase, que el esfuerzo garantiza el 茅xito, es contestado por Bukowski con una sencilla evidencia: 鈥渓os pobres normalmente permanecen en la pobreza鈥�. Por mucho que se desga帽iten grit谩ndolo todos aquellos que empezaron sus vidas desde posiciones privilegiadas, el esfuerzo por s铆 solo no es casi nunca suficiente y el origen familiar es el factor m谩s determinante de la pobreza o la riqueza futura de los individuos.
La segunda idea, pr谩cticamente un corolario de la anterior, Bukowski la resume con estas palabras: 鈥淢is padres quer铆an ser ricos as铆 que se imaginaban ser ricos鈥�. Una aspiraci贸n que los lleva a favorecer la posiciones pol铆ticas de esos ricos de los que, suponen err贸neamente, llegaran a formar parte no tardando mucho, y en contra de los m谩s desfavorecidos, esto es, en contra de sus propios intereses. Es m谩s, esos ricos han conseguido que muchos de esos desfavorecidos lleguen a pensar que recibir ayudas del estado es humillante (aunque esos mismos ricos peleen por las subvencionen a sus empresas), de la misma forma que en el barrio de Chinaski 鈥淐ualquiera que fuera visto con un paraguas o un impermeable era considerado un mariquita鈥�.
鈥淐oge la familia, m茅zclala con Dios y la Naci贸n, a帽ade diez horas de trabajo diario, y tienes todo lo que necesitas鈥�No es de extra帽ar que es este mundo sin futuro, Chinaski, como muchos j贸venes en la actualidad, llegue a pensar cosas del tipo 鈥淵o no ten铆a Libertad. No ten铆a nada. Con Hitler quiz谩s obtuviera un co帽o de cuando en cuando y una paga semanal de m谩s de un d贸lar鈥�. Una posici贸n que en plena SGM para 茅l ten铆a adem谩s el atractivo de enfrentarle a la hip贸crita sociedad que detestaba y le oprim铆a y que, en realidad, tampoco distaba tanto del pensamiento nazi.
鈥�(servicios m茅dicos) Experimentaban con los pobres y, si funcionaba, utilizaban el tratamiento con los ricos. Y si no funcionaba, a煤n hab铆a un mont贸n de pobres para experimentar sobre ellos鈥�Chinaski, sabiendo que nunca llegar铆a a ser un triunfador, se esfuerza por ser justo lo contrario (鈥淓l pensamiento de llegar a ser alguien no s贸lo no me atra铆a sino que me enfermaba鈥�), una inclinaci贸n que le forzaba a un aislamiento casi total, intensificado por dos circunstancias, un acn茅 monstruoso por todo el cuerpo y que le desfigur贸 la cara, y el empe帽o de su padre por mandarle a un instituto de ricos en el que Chinaski asist铆a cada d铆a a un estatus de vida que nunca ser铆a capaz de alcanzar.
鈥淟os odi茅. Odi茅 su belleza, su juventud sin problemas, y mientras los miraba danzar a trav茅s de los remansos de luz m谩gicamente coloreada, abraz谩ndose entre ellos, sinti茅ndose tan bien, como ni帽os inmaculados en gracia temporal, los odi茅 porque ten铆an algo que yo a煤n desconoc铆a鈥︹€�Los barrios bajos eran desagradables; la vida del hombre normal tediosa; la educaci贸n, una trampa que te acababa privando de la libertad de pensar y actuar por ti mismo; le ten铆a cari帽o a su cuerpo lleno de cicatrices y marcas, el suicidio quedaba descartado. Solo quedaba la soledad como refugio y el alcohol, los libros y la m煤sica sinf贸nica como 煤nicas compa帽铆as. Empez贸 a escribir, se inventaba personajes que le hac铆an sentirse menos solo.
鈥淯n hombre siempre necesita a alguien. No hab铆a nadie a mi alrededor, as铆 que ten铆a que construirme alguno, crearlo como debiera de ser realmente un hombre. No era una cuesti贸n de cre茅rmelo o fantasear, sino de no vivir la vida sin un hombre de ese tipo alrededor鈥�Y este es el milagro Chinaski, criado en una familia con un padre amargado y maltratador y una madre que lo consent铆a y se pon铆a siempre de su lado, ambos analfabetos culturales e ideol贸gicamente reaccionarios, pudo surgir un chaval con tales ideas y tales aficiones, alguien que ya desde sus primeras lecturas se decant贸 por escritores de la talla de Upton Sinclair, D.H. Lawrence, Sinclair Lewis o Sherwood Anderson, de los que llegaba a leer un libro cada d铆a.
鈥淟as palabras no eran abstrusas sino cosas que hac铆an vibrar tu mente. Si las le铆as y permit铆as que su hechizo te embargara, pod铆as vivir sin dolor, con esperanza, sin importarte lo que pudiera sucederte鈥�En definitiva, la mejor senda hacia la literatura directa, sencilla, honesta y descarnada de Charles Bukowski y una de las mejores novelas que he le铆do sobre la pesadilla que es para muchos el sue帽o americano.
March 4, 2023
鈥淚 hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me鈥濃€擧unter Thompson
鈥淎nd my own affairs were as bad, as dismal, as the day I had been born. The only difference was that now I could drink now and then, though never often enough. Drink was the only thing that kept a man from feeling forever stunned and useless. Everything else just kept picking and picking, hacking away. And nothing was interesting, nothing. The people were restrictive and careful, all alike. And I've got to live with these fuckers for the rest of my life, I thought. God, they all had assholes and sexual organs and their mouths and their armpits. They shit and they chattered and they were dull as horse dung. The girls looked good from a distance, the sun shining through their dresses, their hair. But get up close and listen to their minds running out of their mouths, you felt like digging in under a hill and hiding out with a tommy-gun. I would certainly never be able to be happy, to get married, I could never have children. Hell, I couldn't even get a job as a dishwasher鈥濃€擝ukowski
If the above paragraph offends you鈥攁nd I admit it could maybe offend on various levels鈥攖hen Bukowski is not for you. But this autobiographical novel focused on Henry Chinaski鈥檚 early years up until Pearl Harbor, has a kind of breathless drive and hilarity, with fresh working-class boy language. Henry is bullied, beaten by his bastard father, gets into multiple fights, lusts after girls, gets in trouble in school constantly. He grows up poor, with severe acne that develops into boils, so he鈥檚 early on looking like a loser with only losers for friends. Later he becomes a good boxer, but early on he fails at sports. He makes it through high school and college, but barely, as an English major, though he sometimes gets kicked out of classes:
鈥淵ou are thirty minutes late."
"Yes."
"Would you be thirty minutes late to a wedding or a funeral?"
"No."
"Why not, pray tell?"
"Well, if the funeral was mine I'd have to be on time. If the wedding was mine it would be my funeral.鈥�
It鈥檚 for a time mainly fighting and drinking that give him any kind of solace:
鈥淕etting drunk was good. I decided that I would always like getting drunk. It took away the obvious and maybe if you could get away from the obvious often enough, you wouldn't become so obvious yourself.鈥�
Chinaski finds reading as a resource, and he reads everything, respecting mainly straight-shooting guys like Hemingway. Unpretentious writers not of privileged classes.
鈥淔irst paycheck I get, I thought, I'm going to get myself a room near the downtown L.A. Public Library.鈥�
Finally, he finds solace in writing, which gets him thrown out of his house by his father, but:
鈥淚t was a joy! Words weren't dull, words were things that could make your mind hum. If you read them and let yourself feel the magic, you could live without pain, with hope, no matter what happened to you.鈥�
But he is still deeply cynical, hates almost everything and everyone:
鈥淭he problem was you had to keep choosing between one evil or another, and no matter what you chose, they sliced a little more off you, until there was nothing left. At the age of 25 most people were finished. A whole goddamned nation of assholes driving automobiles, eating, having babies, doing everything in the worst way possible, like voting for the presidential candidate who reminded them most of themselves.鈥�
So Chinaski sounds arrogant in his loathing everything around him, but he saves a great deal of tie self-loathing, too:
鈥淚 often stood in front of the mirror alone, wondering how ugly a person could get.鈥�
and
鈥淚 made practice runs down to skid row to get ready for my future.鈥�
鈥淢aybe I'd be a bank robber. Some god-damned thing. Something with flare, fire. You only had one shot. Why be a window washer?鈥�
Bukowski in this book is Hunter Thompson without the political black humor, with even greater nihilism, maybe, humorous without principles, living an early life of darkness shaped by his father and getting beaten up by everyone. This guy may not be the best American writer, but he is a very good one, at his best. At his best he is astonishingly honest and unsentimental. It was a great read. I laughed a lot.
鈥淎nd my own affairs were as bad, as dismal, as the day I had been born. The only difference was that now I could drink now and then, though never often enough. Drink was the only thing that kept a man from feeling forever stunned and useless. Everything else just kept picking and picking, hacking away. And nothing was interesting, nothing. The people were restrictive and careful, all alike. And I've got to live with these fuckers for the rest of my life, I thought. God, they all had assholes and sexual organs and their mouths and their armpits. They shit and they chattered and they were dull as horse dung. The girls looked good from a distance, the sun shining through their dresses, their hair. But get up close and listen to their minds running out of their mouths, you felt like digging in under a hill and hiding out with a tommy-gun. I would certainly never be able to be happy, to get married, I could never have children. Hell, I couldn't even get a job as a dishwasher鈥濃€擝ukowski
If the above paragraph offends you鈥攁nd I admit it could maybe offend on various levels鈥攖hen Bukowski is not for you. But this autobiographical novel focused on Henry Chinaski鈥檚 early years up until Pearl Harbor, has a kind of breathless drive and hilarity, with fresh working-class boy language. Henry is bullied, beaten by his bastard father, gets into multiple fights, lusts after girls, gets in trouble in school constantly. He grows up poor, with severe acne that develops into boils, so he鈥檚 early on looking like a loser with only losers for friends. Later he becomes a good boxer, but early on he fails at sports. He makes it through high school and college, but barely, as an English major, though he sometimes gets kicked out of classes:
鈥淵ou are thirty minutes late."
"Yes."
"Would you be thirty minutes late to a wedding or a funeral?"
"No."
"Why not, pray tell?"
"Well, if the funeral was mine I'd have to be on time. If the wedding was mine it would be my funeral.鈥�
It鈥檚 for a time mainly fighting and drinking that give him any kind of solace:
鈥淕etting drunk was good. I decided that I would always like getting drunk. It took away the obvious and maybe if you could get away from the obvious often enough, you wouldn't become so obvious yourself.鈥�
Chinaski finds reading as a resource, and he reads everything, respecting mainly straight-shooting guys like Hemingway. Unpretentious writers not of privileged classes.
鈥淔irst paycheck I get, I thought, I'm going to get myself a room near the downtown L.A. Public Library.鈥�
Finally, he finds solace in writing, which gets him thrown out of his house by his father, but:
鈥淚t was a joy! Words weren't dull, words were things that could make your mind hum. If you read them and let yourself feel the magic, you could live without pain, with hope, no matter what happened to you.鈥�
But he is still deeply cynical, hates almost everything and everyone:
鈥淭he problem was you had to keep choosing between one evil or another, and no matter what you chose, they sliced a little more off you, until there was nothing left. At the age of 25 most people were finished. A whole goddamned nation of assholes driving automobiles, eating, having babies, doing everything in the worst way possible, like voting for the presidential candidate who reminded them most of themselves.鈥�
So Chinaski sounds arrogant in his loathing everything around him, but he saves a great deal of tie self-loathing, too:
鈥淚 often stood in front of the mirror alone, wondering how ugly a person could get.鈥�
and
鈥淚 made practice runs down to skid row to get ready for my future.鈥�
鈥淢aybe I'd be a bank robber. Some god-damned thing. Something with flare, fire. You only had one shot. Why be a window washer?鈥�
Bukowski in this book is Hunter Thompson without the political black humor, with even greater nihilism, maybe, humorous without principles, living an early life of darkness shaped by his father and getting beaten up by everyone. This guy may not be the best American writer, but he is a very good one, at his best. At his best he is astonishingly honest and unsentimental. It was a great read. I laughed a lot.
August 8, 2016
Ham on Rye is flanked by sauces of happenstance and its delectability depends on the preferences of one鈥檚 reading tongue. Mine, for one, could not bear its sour, unsavoury ingredients.
In this bildungsroman, which is semi-autobiographical too, the protagonist, Henry Chinaski loads his bag of dilemma and expletives, and throws its weight around with nonchalance and non-disruptive disdain. The backdrop of the Great Depression, fuels the negative sentiments and Chinaski finds its shackles, throughout the novel, difficult to break away from.
This was my first Bukowski and it didn鈥檛 go entirely uneventful, thankfully. His brazenness and indifference met in a heady concoction, sending a mild swagger across the reading eye. His treatment of his family, friends, school, job and life at large, wasn鈥檛 without a stream of empathy which was successfully evoked with some explosive arrangement of words. Of his hopeless friends, he said,
It appears that Bukowski鈥檚 life was way bitter and the taste nailed anger and anguish into his deepest cores. But perhaps, he didn鈥檛 write this book to shed those rusty flakes. He wrote to keep them alive. Almost like a protest, like a defiance. And under my reading lens, that defiance grappled without inspiration.
In this bildungsroman, which is semi-autobiographical too, the protagonist, Henry Chinaski loads his bag of dilemma and expletives, and throws its weight around with nonchalance and non-disruptive disdain. The backdrop of the Great Depression, fuels the negative sentiments and Chinaski finds its shackles, throughout the novel, difficult to break away from.
This was my first Bukowski and it didn鈥檛 go entirely uneventful, thankfully. His brazenness and indifference met in a heady concoction, sending a mild swagger across the reading eye. His treatment of his family, friends, school, job and life at large, wasn鈥檛 without a stream of empathy which was successfully evoked with some explosive arrangement of words. Of his hopeless friends, he said,
It looked like it was my destiny to travel in their company through life. That didn鈥檛 bother me so much as the fact that I seemed irresistible to these dull idiot fellows. I was like a turd that drew flies instead of like a flower that butterflies and bees desired.The charms of the initial dilemmas and Chinaski鈥檚 attempts (or non-attempts) to fathom them, drowned into a sea of booze for the better part of the book. Nothing mattered as long as drinking was an option and the young Chinaski held nothing beyond the tinted bottle. Purposelessness pervaded the pages like a rigid plague and Bukowski鈥檚 pen remained, painfully, under-qualified to bulk up nothing. A case of plot and prose, pulling each other down.
It appears that Bukowski鈥檚 life was way bitter and the taste nailed anger and anguish into his deepest cores. But perhaps, he didn鈥檛 write this book to shed those rusty flakes. He wrote to keep them alive. Almost like a protest, like a defiance. And under my reading lens, that defiance grappled without inspiration.
August 26, 2020
A masterpiece of ennui, isolationism and vulgarity.
Charles Bukowski鈥檚 1982 semi-autobiographical coming of age story made me laugh, cringe and contemplate humanity 鈥� sometimes all on the same page.
Using as a vehicle his pseudonym and literary alter-ego Henry Chinaski, we follow the early years of a boy and young man who is outcast from society. Born in Germany after the first world war, he moves with his family to Los Angeles. The Chinaski鈥檚 are poverty stricken as are many during the depression years and young Hank grows up tough due in large part to his social ostracization and violent father.
What Bukowski has done is to reveal in Hank a universal dissatisfaction with the world order, an affirmative rejection of society and a determinism to escape what he sees as a hostile, meaningless culture.
Yet Bukowski does not so much embrace nihilism as just a robust resistance to a world that does not want him. He finds escape in music, literature, alcohol and casual violence. Though he longs for seedy sexual adventures, Bukowski describes Hank鈥檚 deep-seated ideas about right and wrong and even a fundamental propriety.
Not for everyone, but for those who are not easily offended, a hidden gem.
Charles Bukowski鈥檚 1982 semi-autobiographical coming of age story made me laugh, cringe and contemplate humanity 鈥� sometimes all on the same page.
Using as a vehicle his pseudonym and literary alter-ego Henry Chinaski, we follow the early years of a boy and young man who is outcast from society. Born in Germany after the first world war, he moves with his family to Los Angeles. The Chinaski鈥檚 are poverty stricken as are many during the depression years and young Hank grows up tough due in large part to his social ostracization and violent father.
What Bukowski has done is to reveal in Hank a universal dissatisfaction with the world order, an affirmative rejection of society and a determinism to escape what he sees as a hostile, meaningless culture.
Yet Bukowski does not so much embrace nihilism as just a robust resistance to a world that does not want him. He finds escape in music, literature, alcohol and casual violence. Though he longs for seedy sexual adventures, Bukowski describes Hank鈥檚 deep-seated ideas about right and wrong and even a fundamental propriety.
Not for everyone, but for those who are not easily offended, a hidden gem.
April 27, 2011
My life did not resemble Henry Chinaski's. No abusive father here. No ritualized beatings. No helpless mother. No culture of fighting. One lost fight was enough to teach me the purposelessness of all that. I liked school. Not that I go to the reunions. Sure there was the pimply phase, but nothing like the scourge of boils that rendered Henry a monster.
And yet...and yet...
Something rang so true reading this book. The sense of alienation. The understanding of the absurdity of it all. The rejection of class and mores. The resort to isolation. Somehow I got to the same godless, cynical place, where I can look back with a sense of inevitability.
You know how you pick a book up, flip a few pages, read the first sentence, perhaps, or a few strands of dialogue to get a sense of whether it will be worth the effort? I did that here and thought this would be trite, unsatisfying and nihilistic. But I bought it anyhow, couldn't put it down and feel that I've learned something about myself from reading about someone who isn't like me at all.
And yet...and yet...
Something rang so true reading this book. The sense of alienation. The understanding of the absurdity of it all. The rejection of class and mores. The resort to isolation. Somehow I got to the same godless, cynical place, where I can look back with a sense of inevitability.
You know how you pick a book up, flip a few pages, read the first sentence, perhaps, or a few strands of dialogue to get a sense of whether it will be worth the effort? I did that here and thought this would be trite, unsatisfying and nihilistic. But I bought it anyhow, couldn't put it down and feel that I've learned something about myself from reading about someone who isn't like me at all.
August 12, 2023
"The first thing I remember is being under something."
So begins this chronicle of the dirty old man's humble beginnings, his formative years, and the myriad oppressions he endured throughout his childhood, adolescence, and early adult life. In the most literal sense, this opening line represents baby Hank's first concrete memory, but it also sets the tone for the entire memoir to come. Dedicated to "all the fathers," Ham on Rye is both an indictment of and a tribute to every boss, bully, teacher, preacher, and dictator (foreign and domestic) to leave their mark on Chinaski's (Bukowski's) coming-of-age experience, charting his own way forward if only by counterexample.
"My father liked the slogan, 'Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.' But it hadn't done any of that for him. I decided that I might try to reverse the process."
Each loosely connected chapter finds Hank at some point in his troubled youth, from his earliest memories of Andernach, Germany, to the first of many rented rooms in Los Angeles, California. Most of the intervening narrative deals with his abysmal home life throughout his equally trying school years. Whether at the hands of his father or his peers, young Hank takes his lickings and learns to give a licking or two in kind. He fights back, carves out his niche, thinks about girls and yearns for safe haven.
"R.O.T.C. was for the misfits. Like I said, it was either that or gym."
As with any semi-autobiographical work, one has to wonder how much of it is true. Hank loses more fights than he wins, and his descriptions of failure should ring true for anyone accustomed to the experience. If Bukowski were to fictionalize anything here, you'd think that he might actually get laid somewhere in these 283 pages. Having said that, it's probably not much of a spoiler to reveal that he remains a virgin at least up until the bombing of Pearl Harbor, but anyone who's ever read Bukowski knows that he more than made up for this later in life (see , etc).
There's got to be some scholarly work out there that unpacks the fact from fiction, but if one exists I am not aware. With Buk and his parents long since dead, I suppose I could call up Linda Lee to ask. Stupid idea, I know, but maybe I could convince her to adopt me the same way she adopted Hank all those years ago. Despite , I have no doubt in my mind that she added at least an extra decade to his life, without which he may have never lived to see the publication of this book in the first place. But I digress, and my glass needs refilling. Goodnight...
For further reference:
"The father never leaves"
"That's called growing up"
Peace out, bitches!
This review is dedicated to Lila Jane.
So begins this chronicle of the dirty old man's humble beginnings, his formative years, and the myriad oppressions he endured throughout his childhood, adolescence, and early adult life. In the most literal sense, this opening line represents baby Hank's first concrete memory, but it also sets the tone for the entire memoir to come. Dedicated to "all the fathers," Ham on Rye is both an indictment of and a tribute to every boss, bully, teacher, preacher, and dictator (foreign and domestic) to leave their mark on Chinaski's (Bukowski's) coming-of-age experience, charting his own way forward if only by counterexample.
"My father liked the slogan, 'Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.' But it hadn't done any of that for him. I decided that I might try to reverse the process."
Each loosely connected chapter finds Hank at some point in his troubled youth, from his earliest memories of Andernach, Germany, to the first of many rented rooms in Los Angeles, California. Most of the intervening narrative deals with his abysmal home life throughout his equally trying school years. Whether at the hands of his father or his peers, young Hank takes his lickings and learns to give a licking or two in kind. He fights back, carves out his niche, thinks about girls and yearns for safe haven.
"R.O.T.C. was for the misfits. Like I said, it was either that or gym."
As with any semi-autobiographical work, one has to wonder how much of it is true. Hank loses more fights than he wins, and his descriptions of failure should ring true for anyone accustomed to the experience. If Bukowski were to fictionalize anything here, you'd think that he might actually get laid somewhere in these 283 pages. Having said that, it's probably not much of a spoiler to reveal that he remains a virgin at least up until the bombing of Pearl Harbor, but anyone who's ever read Bukowski knows that he more than made up for this later in life (see , etc).
There's got to be some scholarly work out there that unpacks the fact from fiction, but if one exists I am not aware. With Buk and his parents long since dead, I suppose I could call up Linda Lee to ask. Stupid idea, I know, but maybe I could convince her to adopt me the same way she adopted Hank all those years ago. Despite , I have no doubt in my mind that she added at least an extra decade to his life, without which he may have never lived to see the publication of this book in the first place. But I digress, and my glass needs refilling. Goodnight...
For further reference:
"The father never leaves"
"That's called growing up"
Peace out, bitches!
This review is dedicated to Lila Jane.
October 4, 2016
鈥淎t the age of 25 most people were finished. A whole god-damned nation of assholes driving automobiles, eating, having babies, doing everything in the worst way possible, like voting for the presidential candidate who reminded them most of themselves.鈥�
鈥� Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye
Reading Charles Bukowski in public is a rather curious thing. Every once in a while, you come across some line or paragraph that is suffused with such a potent strand of open misanthropy it makes you chuckle. You think to yourself: "Surely this man is exaggerating here, merely going for comedic or shock effect?" What do you do? You decide to test his theory. You look up, take in your surroundings, watch ordinary humans go about their daily business and return to the passage you just read. Then it hits you. "Oh shucks, he's kind of right here. What does that say about me? Am I turning into a -toned down- Bukowski myself?" The ones who appreciate Bukowski have this experience often, I presume (also hope).
Ham on Rye tells of the formative years (1920-45, roughly) of Bukowski's alter ego Henry Chinaski. In effect it is a loosely structured, even somewhat sloppy autobiography. Writing this book surely must have been emotionally punishing for Bukowski though. There is some serious, unresolved pain here, one supposes most of it not dealt with through any professional channels. Which would have been very unlike him, of course. Bukowski is the quintessential lone wolf, he dealt with his pain on his own terms. It wouldn't have given him the venom he needed, nor made him the figure he turned into.
He goes into lengthy detail about his horrendous childhood. The domineering and abusive father, the spineless mother, and the soul-crushing social alienation he experienced as a child and young adult. Dreams are shattered, any sense of self-worth is ground into the earth at inception and even the tiniest hint of human warmth displayed is slowly being squeezed out. Unsurprisingly, the only route open to the character is direct revolt and nihilism. A rejection of all social conventions, common "wisdoms" and, above all, expectations.
Yet for all the abject misery this is a supremely funny and vigorous book, if you know what to look for and share Bukowski's brand of humour. What really did surprise me though was that there is a tenderness here that I didn't find in either Post Office , Factotum or Women. At the ending of the book Bukowski seems to have found some degree of peace, some acceptance of his present state and past. Considering the tumultous, unpleasant life he had led up until then, this is one hell of a miracle.
You can level many accusations against Bukowski, both as a writer and as a person. Sure, his writing is blunt, unrefined, perhaps too reliant on cheap gross out effects. He was an alcoholic, a misanthrope, even a thoroughly vile man when he got you in his crosshairs, but what he surely wasn't was unfeeling. Underneath all that bravado and machismo there beat the heart of a disappointed, yet true, romantic. Sadly, that person never had a chance to flourish. That is the source of Bukowski's greatness and tragedy both.
鈥� Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye
Reading Charles Bukowski in public is a rather curious thing. Every once in a while, you come across some line or paragraph that is suffused with such a potent strand of open misanthropy it makes you chuckle. You think to yourself: "Surely this man is exaggerating here, merely going for comedic or shock effect?" What do you do? You decide to test his theory. You look up, take in your surroundings, watch ordinary humans go about their daily business and return to the passage you just read. Then it hits you. "Oh shucks, he's kind of right here. What does that say about me? Am I turning into a -toned down- Bukowski myself?" The ones who appreciate Bukowski have this experience often, I presume (also hope).
Ham on Rye tells of the formative years (1920-45, roughly) of Bukowski's alter ego Henry Chinaski. In effect it is a loosely structured, even somewhat sloppy autobiography. Writing this book surely must have been emotionally punishing for Bukowski though. There is some serious, unresolved pain here, one supposes most of it not dealt with through any professional channels. Which would have been very unlike him, of course. Bukowski is the quintessential lone wolf, he dealt with his pain on his own terms. It wouldn't have given him the venom he needed, nor made him the figure he turned into.
He goes into lengthy detail about his horrendous childhood. The domineering and abusive father, the spineless mother, and the soul-crushing social alienation he experienced as a child and young adult. Dreams are shattered, any sense of self-worth is ground into the earth at inception and even the tiniest hint of human warmth displayed is slowly being squeezed out. Unsurprisingly, the only route open to the character is direct revolt and nihilism. A rejection of all social conventions, common "wisdoms" and, above all, expectations.
Yet for all the abject misery this is a supremely funny and vigorous book, if you know what to look for and share Bukowski's brand of humour. What really did surprise me though was that there is a tenderness here that I didn't find in either Post Office , Factotum or Women. At the ending of the book Bukowski seems to have found some degree of peace, some acceptance of his present state and past. Considering the tumultous, unpleasant life he had led up until then, this is one hell of a miracle.
You can level many accusations against Bukowski, both as a writer and as a person. Sure, his writing is blunt, unrefined, perhaps too reliant on cheap gross out effects. He was an alcoholic, a misanthrope, even a thoroughly vile man when he got you in his crosshairs, but what he surely wasn't was unfeeling. Underneath all that bravado and machismo there beat the heart of a disappointed, yet true, romantic. Sadly, that person never had a chance to flourish. That is the source of Bukowski's greatness and tragedy both.
September 1, 2018
I feel like this kid is someone that I've known well, not just read a book about him.
June 10, 2020
鈥淲hat a weary time those years were -- to have the desire and the need to live but not the ability.鈥�
Imagine coming to a world where you're treated as an outsider, a misfit. A world where you don't have many friends, where your parents fail to understand you. A world where mental connection is rare. Charles Bukowski's entire career could be written down as a single story, the story of the misfits. At the center of it all, Ham on Rye is arguably the one story people will most connect with.
鈥淚 had noticed that both in the very poor and very rich extremes of society the mad were often allowed to mingle freely.鈥�
Twenty-odd years of a young man's life are documented in this semi-autobiographical novel. The central character, Chinaski, wanders along in his merry misanthropic way through school to reach adulthood. The story touches on themes of child abuse, bullying, animal cruelty and general alienation from society. Henry Chinaski's role of the sarcastic spectre that drifts around America is given a worthy back-story as he's shown to be frequently beaten down by society for being different.
鈥淚 guess the only time most people think about injustice is when it happens to them.鈥�
May 28, 2016
毓噩蹖亘 賳蹖爻鬲 讴賴 丌丿賲 丕夭 卮乇丨 賮賱丕讴鬲鈥屬囏й� 讴爻蹖 賱匕鬲 亘亘乇丿責 卮丕蹖丿 賳賴. 丕诏乇 丕蹖賳 卮乇丨 乇丕 趩丕乇賱夭 亘賵讴賵賮爻讴蹖 賳賵卮鬲賴 亘丕卮丿. 賵 丿乇 禺賵丕賳卮 卮乇丨 亘丿亘禺鬲蹖鈥屬囏й� 賴賳乇蹖 趩蹖賳丕讴爻蹖 丨鬲丕 丌丿賲 禺賳丿賴鈥屫ж� 賲蹖鈥屭屫必� 賲蹖鈥屫嗀�. 丕賱亘鬲賴 丕诏乇 賴賲賴 丕蹖賳 丕鬲賮丕賯丕鬲 丿乇 丿賳蹖丕蹖 賵丕賯毓蹖賽 亘賵讴賵賮爻讴蹖 丕鬲賮丕賯 丕賮鬲丕丿賴 亘丕卮賳丿貙 趩蹖夭蹖 卮亘蹖賴 讴丕亘賵爻 丕爻鬲 丕賲丕 禺賵丕賳丿賳 亘蹖鈥屫屫з勠� 卮禺氐蹖鬲蹖 讴賴 禺賱賯 讴乇丿賴貙 丿蹖丕賱賵诏鈥屬囏й� 亘丕賲夭賴鈥屫ж� 賵 賮囟丕蹖蹖 讴賴 丿乇 讴賱 乇賲丕賳 丕蹖噩丕丿 賲蹖鈥屭┵嗀� 亘賴 蹖讴 噩賵乇 胤賳夭 爻蹖丕賴 卮亘蹖賴 賲蹖鈥屫促堌�. 賴賳乇蹖 趩蹖賳丕爻讴蹖 賲乇丕賲 賵 賲爻賱讴 禺賵丿卮 乇丕 丿丕乇丿貙 賴蹖趩讴爻 噩匕亘卮 賳賲蹖鈥屫促堌� 賵 丿乇 賲賯丕亘賱 賴蹖趩鈥屭嗃屫槽� 丿乇 丿賳蹖丕 亘乇丕蹖卮 噩匕丕亘 賳蹖爻鬲. 賴賲蹖卮賴 丿乇 賮讴乇 丕賳鬲賯丕賲 诏乇賮鬲賳 丕爻鬲貙 丕夭 丿賳蹖丕貙 丕夭 丌丿賲鈥屬囏й� 倬賵賱丿丕乇貙 丕夭 夭賳丿诏蹖 賮賯蹖乇丕賳賴鈥屫ж� 賵賱蹖 賴蹖趩賵賯鬲 噩丕 賳賲蹖鈥屫操嗀� 賴蹖趩賵賯鬲 賵丕賯毓丕 噩丕 賳賲蹖鈥屫操嗀�.
亘乇丕蹖 賲賳 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 噩夭 亘賴鬲乇蹖賳鈥屬囏й� 亘賵讴賵賮爻讴蹖 丕爻鬲.
亘乇丕蹖 賲賳 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 噩夭 亘賴鬲乇蹖賳鈥屬囏й� 亘賵讴賵賮爻讴蹖 丕爻鬲.
July 9, 2021
Review to be posted on blog:
Dysfunction that Breaks the Heart Ten Times Over. Knowing, however, that You Can Break Free from the Chains.
Ham on Rye: My first read by Charles Bukowski, came highly recommended.
A semi-autobiographical coming of age story about a young man named Henry Chinaski.
There is angst, desperation, dysfunction, heartache, and pain and then there is hysterical laughter.
Growing up during the Great Depression, this is the story of a young man who learned to question his existence, during a time when such a thing was not acceptable.
A father who is an abusive, alcoholic and is also mentally unstable, from whom Henry learned the finer points of alcohol. A mother who is unable to stand up for herself or her son.
Bullied, covered in acne, and terrible with girls, Henry sort of becomes a bully himself. Can鈥檛 say I blamed him, all things considered.
Then there is Henry鈥檚 personality. His cynicism. His sexual frustration. His adoration of Panties (yes, I said panties) and finally, Miss Gredis鈥� classroom - thump, thump, thump. That, my friends, is where the hysterical laughter comes in.
What makes this novel so wholly realistic is the writing, which is inflected with honesty and sincerity and clearly comes from a place of both pain and salvation. From knowing that there is more to life than the hand that Henry Chinaski was dealt.
What is astounding is that at such a tender young age, Charles Bukowski as Henry Chinaski, was wise beyond his years, asking pertinent questions, including what he wanted out of life. Pushing boundaries, and rejecting social conventions, making others do the same. Though somewhat crude, rude, and brash, 鈥淗enry Chinaski鈥� was also brave, going where others had not gone before.
While I didn鈥檛 quite love this book, due to the way it was told, it resonated with me for a variety of reasons. At first, I found the writing to be a bit choppy though, thankfully it evened out as the story got going. Bold, and daring, Henry Chinaski is a 鈥渃haracter鈥� I won鈥檛 soon forget as he is one I identified with in many respects. Sadly, his parents, unfortunately, were quite like my own in many ways. The fact that this novel is semi-autobiographical broke my heart.
I have heard that Mr. Bukowski has written several other books that are a bit more profane, shocking, and vile. That remains to be seen.
3.85 Stars
Published on 欧宝娱乐, Twitter, and Instagram.
Dysfunction that Breaks the Heart Ten Times Over. Knowing, however, that You Can Break Free from the Chains.
Ham on Rye: My first read by Charles Bukowski, came highly recommended.
A semi-autobiographical coming of age story about a young man named Henry Chinaski.
There is angst, desperation, dysfunction, heartache, and pain and then there is hysterical laughter.
Growing up during the Great Depression, this is the story of a young man who learned to question his existence, during a time when such a thing was not acceptable.
A father who is an abusive, alcoholic and is also mentally unstable, from whom Henry learned the finer points of alcohol. A mother who is unable to stand up for herself or her son.
Bullied, covered in acne, and terrible with girls, Henry sort of becomes a bully himself. Can鈥檛 say I blamed him, all things considered.
Then there is Henry鈥檚 personality. His cynicism. His sexual frustration. His adoration of Panties (yes, I said panties) and finally, Miss Gredis鈥� classroom - thump, thump, thump. That, my friends, is where the hysterical laughter comes in.
What makes this novel so wholly realistic is the writing, which is inflected with honesty and sincerity and clearly comes from a place of both pain and salvation. From knowing that there is more to life than the hand that Henry Chinaski was dealt.
What is astounding is that at such a tender young age, Charles Bukowski as Henry Chinaski, was wise beyond his years, asking pertinent questions, including what he wanted out of life. Pushing boundaries, and rejecting social conventions, making others do the same. Though somewhat crude, rude, and brash, 鈥淗enry Chinaski鈥� was also brave, going where others had not gone before.
While I didn鈥檛 quite love this book, due to the way it was told, it resonated with me for a variety of reasons. At first, I found the writing to be a bit choppy though, thankfully it evened out as the story got going. Bold, and daring, Henry Chinaski is a 鈥渃haracter鈥� I won鈥檛 soon forget as he is one I identified with in many respects. Sadly, his parents, unfortunately, were quite like my own in many ways. The fact that this novel is semi-autobiographical broke my heart.
I have heard that Mr. Bukowski has written several other books that are a bit more profane, shocking, and vile. That remains to be seen.
3.85 Stars
Published on 欧宝娱乐, Twitter, and Instagram.
July 2, 2021
丕蹖賳 亘丕夭蹖 毓丕丿賱丕賳賴 賳蹖爻鬲.
賵 馗丕賱賲 丕賵賳蹖賴 讴賴 賵毓丿賴 毓丿丕賱鬲 賲蹖丿賴.
賵 丕丨賲賯 丕賵賳蹖 讴賴 丕賲蹖丿 亘賴 毓丿丕賱鬲 賲蹖亘賳丿賴.
賵 鬲乇爻賵 丕賵賳蹖 讴賴 亘賴 禺丕胤乇 賳丕毓丕丿賱丕賳賴 亘賵丿賳貙 丿爻鬲 丕夭 亘丕夭蹖 賲蹖讴卮賴.
毓賲賵賲丕 亘丕 卮賳蹖丿賳 讴賱賲賴 乇讴賵丿 亘夭乇诏 貙 鬲氐賵蹖乇蹖 讴賴 丿乇 匕賴賳 丕讴孬乇 賲丕 賳賯卮 賲蹖 亘賳丿賴貙 趩蹖夭蹖 卮亘蹖賴 鬲氐賵蹖乇 蹖讴 爻賯賵胤 丌夭丕丿 丿乇 賳賲賵丿丕乇 亘賵乇爻賴. 趩蹖夭蹖 讴賴 賲丕 丿乇讴 賳賲蹖 讴賳蹖賲貙 賵 丕賵賳 趩蹖夭蹖 讴賴 丕毓丿丕丿 賵 丕乇賯丕賲 讴鬲丕亘賴丕蹖 鬲丕乇蹖禺蹖 賵 丕賯鬲氐丕丿蹖 賳丕鬲賵丕賳 丕夭 亘蹖丕賳卮 賴爻鬲賳丿貙 乇賳噩 賵 丿乇丿 賴夭丕乇丕賳 賴夭丕乇 丕賳爻丕賳賴丕蹖蹖 賴爻鬲卮 讴賴 趩賴 亘爻丕 丕夭 卮丿鬲 賳丕丕賲蹖丿蹖 禺賵丿讴卮蹖 讴乇丿賳丿 蹖丕 夭賳丿诏蹖卮賵賳 鬲亘丕賴 卮丿 蹖丕 亘乇丕蹖 賴賲蹖卮賴 賲爻蹖乇卮 毓賵囟 卮丿. 丕蹖賳噩丕爻鬲 讴賴 賱丕夭賲 賲蹖卮賴 鬲丕 讴鬲丕亘賴丕蹖蹖 賲孬賱 禺賵卮賴 賴丕蹖 禺卮賲 蹖丕 爻丕賳丿賵蹖趩 跇丕賳亘賵賳 乇賵 禺賵賳丿 鬲丕 賲毓賳蹖 丕賵賳 蹖讴 讴賱賲賴 乇賵 賮賴賲蹖丿.
爻丕賳丿賵蹖趩 跇丕賳亘賵賳 爻乇诏匕卮鬲 讴賵丿讴蹖 賵 賳賵噩賵賵賳蹖 卮禺氐蹖鬲 "鬲賯乇蹖亘丕 禺蹖丕賱蹖" 賴賳乇蹖 趩蹖賳丕爻讴蹖 丿乇 丿賴賴 賴丕蹖 20 賵 30 賲蹖賱丕丿蹖 賴爻鬲卮. 夭賳丿诏蹖 禺賵丿 亘賵讴賵賮爻讴蹖 馗丕賴乇丕 鬲丕 丨丿 夭蹖丕丿蹖 丕賱賴丕賲 亘禺卮 倬乇丿丕禺鬲 卮禺氐蹖鬲 賴賳乇蹖 趩蹖賳丕爻讴蹖 亘賵丿賴 賵 丕夭 丕蹖賳 噩賴鬲 賱胤賮 禺賵賳丿賳 讴鬲丕亘 乇賵 亘蹖卮鬲乇 賲蹖 讴賳賴. 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 亘賴 卮讴賱 亘爻蹖丕乇 賴賳乇賲賳丿丕賳賴 丕蹖 丕孬乇丕鬲 賮賯乇 賵 禺卮賵賳鬲 亘乇 蹖讴 讴賵丿讴 乇賵 賳卮賵賳 賲蹖丿賴. 丕蹖賳讴賴 趩胤賵乇 蹖讴 乇賵丨 賲毓氐賵賲 丿乇蹖丿賴 賲蹖卮賴 賵 亘賴 卮讴賱 賳賵噩賵賵賳蹖 胤睾蹖丕賳诏乇 賵 爻乇讴卮 亘乇賵夭 倬蹖丿丕 賲蹖讴賳賴. 亘丕 丕蹖賳 賵噩賵丿 亘賴 丿爻鬲 丌賵乇丿賳 鬲乇丨賲 卮賲丕 丌禺乇蹖賳 趩蹖夭蹖賴 讴賴 亘賵讴賵賮爻讴蹖 丿賳亘丕賱卮賴. 賴丿賮 丕氐賱蹖 夭蹖乇 爻賵丕賱 亘乇丿賳 賵 亘賴 爻禺乇賴 诏乇賮鬲賳 丕乇夭卮賴丕蹖 丕噩鬲賲丕毓蹖賴. 丕乇夭卮賴丕蹖蹖 賲孬賱 丌夭丕丿蹖 賵 亘乇丕亘乇蹖. 賵 丕蹖賳讴賴 趩胤賵乇 賴乇讴爻蹖 丕夭 讴賲鬲乇蹖賳 賯丿乇鬲卮 亘乇 毓賱蹖賴 丿蹖诏乇蹖 爻賵丕爻鬲賮丕丿賴 賲蹖讴賳賴. 倬賵賱 蹖毓賳蹖 賯丿乇鬲. 賵 賯賵蹖 鬲乇 賴賲蹖卮賴 氐丕丨亘 賮乇氐鬲 賴丕蹖 亘蹖卮鬲乇蹖 賲蹖卮賴. 丨鬲蹖 賮乇氐鬲 噩賮鬲诏蹖乇蹖! 賴賲賵賳 賯賵丕賳蹖賳 爻丕丿賴 噩丕賲毓賴 亘丿賵蹖...
夭亘丕賳 讴鬲丕亘貙 夭亘丕賳蹖 胤賳夭丌賱賵丿 賵 倬賱卮鬲 賴爻鬲卮. 倬乇 丕夭 賮丨卮貙 鬲蹖讴賴 胤毓賳賴貙 賯賱丿乇亘丕夭蹖 賵 賲賵賴賵賲丕鬲 噩賳爻蹖 蹖讴 賳賵噩賵賵賳. 亘丕 丕蹖賳丨丕賱 讴鬲丕亘 亘禺賵亘蹖 鬲賵賳爻鬲賴 丨乇賮卮 乇賵 亘丿賵賳 丕蹖賳讴賴 卮毓丕乇诏賵賳賴 亘卮賴 蹖丕 丕夭 賯丕賱亘 讴鬲丕亘 亘蹖乇賵賳 亘夭賳賴 亘賴 賲禺丕胤亘 丕賱賯丕 讴賳賴. 丕賳夭賵丕貙 噩丕賲毓賴 诏乇蹖夭蹖 賵 夭賳 诏乇蹖夭蹖 賴賳乇蹖 趩蹖賳丕爻讴蹖 倬蹖丕賲丿 鬲賳賮乇 賵 亘蹖夭丕乇蹖 丕賵賳 丕夭 鬲賲丕賲 趩蹖夭賴丕蹖蹖 賴爻鬲卮 讴賴 噩丕賲毓賴 丕夭 丕賵賳 爻賱亘 讴乇丿賴. 丕賲丕 丌蹖丕 亘賵讴賵賮爻讴蹖 賲蹖禺賵丕丿 丕夭 賴賳乇蹖 趩蹖賳丕爻讴蹖 蹖讴 賯賴乇賲丕賳(囟丿賯賴乇賲丕賳) 亘爻丕夭賴責
丿乇 賲賵乇丿 讴蹖賮蹖鬲 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 氐賵鬲蹖 亘丕蹖丿 亘诏賲 讴賴 丕噩乇丕蹖 毓丕賱蹖 丌乇賲丕賳 爻賱胤丕賳 夭丕丿賴 賵 鬲丿賵蹖賳 禺賵亘 賲賵爻蹖賯蹖 讴賴 賲賳丕爻亘 亘丕 賮囟丕蹖 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 賴爻鬲貙 鬲噩乇亘賴 賮賵賯 丕賱毓丕丿賴 丕蹖 乇賵 亘賴 卮賳賵賳丿賴 丕賱賯丕 賲蹖讴賳賴 亘丕 丕蹖賳丨丕賱 鬲乇噩賲賴 爻丕賳爻賵乇 卮丿爻鬲 賵 丨丕賱 丌丿賲 乇賵 賲蹖诏蹖乇賴. 丕蹖賳賴 讴賴 丕诏乇 禺賵丕爻鬲蹖丿 亘禺賵賳蹖丿 丕夭 乇賵蹖 賲鬲賳 丕氐賱蹖 亘禺賵賳蹖丿 賳賴 鬲乇噩賲賴.
賵 馗丕賱賲 丕賵賳蹖賴 讴賴 賵毓丿賴 毓丿丕賱鬲 賲蹖丿賴.
賵 丕丨賲賯 丕賵賳蹖 讴賴 丕賲蹖丿 亘賴 毓丿丕賱鬲 賲蹖亘賳丿賴.
賵 鬲乇爻賵 丕賵賳蹖 讴賴 亘賴 禺丕胤乇 賳丕毓丕丿賱丕賳賴 亘賵丿賳貙 丿爻鬲 丕夭 亘丕夭蹖 賲蹖讴卮賴.
毓賲賵賲丕 亘丕 卮賳蹖丿賳 讴賱賲賴 乇讴賵丿 亘夭乇诏 貙 鬲氐賵蹖乇蹖 讴賴 丿乇 匕賴賳 丕讴孬乇 賲丕 賳賯卮 賲蹖 亘賳丿賴貙 趩蹖夭蹖 卮亘蹖賴 鬲氐賵蹖乇 蹖讴 爻賯賵胤 丌夭丕丿 丿乇 賳賲賵丿丕乇 亘賵乇爻賴. 趩蹖夭蹖 讴賴 賲丕 丿乇讴 賳賲蹖 讴賳蹖賲貙 賵 丕賵賳 趩蹖夭蹖 讴賴 丕毓丿丕丿 賵 丕乇賯丕賲 讴鬲丕亘賴丕蹖 鬲丕乇蹖禺蹖 賵 丕賯鬲氐丕丿蹖 賳丕鬲賵丕賳 丕夭 亘蹖丕賳卮 賴爻鬲賳丿貙 乇賳噩 賵 丿乇丿 賴夭丕乇丕賳 賴夭丕乇 丕賳爻丕賳賴丕蹖蹖 賴爻鬲卮 讴賴 趩賴 亘爻丕 丕夭 卮丿鬲 賳丕丕賲蹖丿蹖 禺賵丿讴卮蹖 讴乇丿賳丿 蹖丕 夭賳丿诏蹖卮賵賳 鬲亘丕賴 卮丿 蹖丕 亘乇丕蹖 賴賲蹖卮賴 賲爻蹖乇卮 毓賵囟 卮丿. 丕蹖賳噩丕爻鬲 讴賴 賱丕夭賲 賲蹖卮賴 鬲丕 讴鬲丕亘賴丕蹖蹖 賲孬賱 禺賵卮賴 賴丕蹖 禺卮賲 蹖丕 爻丕賳丿賵蹖趩 跇丕賳亘賵賳 乇賵 禺賵賳丿 鬲丕 賲毓賳蹖 丕賵賳 蹖讴 讴賱賲賴 乇賵 賮賴賲蹖丿.
爻丕賳丿賵蹖趩 跇丕賳亘賵賳 爻乇诏匕卮鬲 讴賵丿讴蹖 賵 賳賵噩賵賵賳蹖 卮禺氐蹖鬲 "鬲賯乇蹖亘丕 禺蹖丕賱蹖" 賴賳乇蹖 趩蹖賳丕爻讴蹖 丿乇 丿賴賴 賴丕蹖 20 賵 30 賲蹖賱丕丿蹖 賴爻鬲卮. 夭賳丿诏蹖 禺賵丿 亘賵讴賵賮爻讴蹖 馗丕賴乇丕 鬲丕 丨丿 夭蹖丕丿蹖 丕賱賴丕賲 亘禺卮 倬乇丿丕禺鬲 卮禺氐蹖鬲 賴賳乇蹖 趩蹖賳丕爻讴蹖 亘賵丿賴 賵 丕夭 丕蹖賳 噩賴鬲 賱胤賮 禺賵賳丿賳 讴鬲丕亘 乇賵 亘蹖卮鬲乇 賲蹖 讴賳賴. 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 亘賴 卮讴賱 亘爻蹖丕乇 賴賳乇賲賳丿丕賳賴 丕蹖 丕孬乇丕鬲 賮賯乇 賵 禺卮賵賳鬲 亘乇 蹖讴 讴賵丿讴 乇賵 賳卮賵賳 賲蹖丿賴. 丕蹖賳讴賴 趩胤賵乇 蹖讴 乇賵丨 賲毓氐賵賲 丿乇蹖丿賴 賲蹖卮賴 賵 亘賴 卮讴賱 賳賵噩賵賵賳蹖 胤睾蹖丕賳诏乇 賵 爻乇讴卮 亘乇賵夭 倬蹖丿丕 賲蹖讴賳賴. 亘丕 丕蹖賳 賵噩賵丿 亘賴 丿爻鬲 丌賵乇丿賳 鬲乇丨賲 卮賲丕 丌禺乇蹖賳 趩蹖夭蹖賴 讴賴 亘賵讴賵賮爻讴蹖 丿賳亘丕賱卮賴. 賴丿賮 丕氐賱蹖 夭蹖乇 爻賵丕賱 亘乇丿賳 賵 亘賴 爻禺乇賴 诏乇賮鬲賳 丕乇夭卮賴丕蹖 丕噩鬲賲丕毓蹖賴. 丕乇夭卮賴丕蹖蹖 賲孬賱 丌夭丕丿蹖 賵 亘乇丕亘乇蹖. 賵 丕蹖賳讴賴 趩胤賵乇 賴乇讴爻蹖 丕夭 讴賲鬲乇蹖賳 賯丿乇鬲卮 亘乇 毓賱蹖賴 丿蹖诏乇蹖 爻賵丕爻鬲賮丕丿賴 賲蹖讴賳賴. 倬賵賱 蹖毓賳蹖 賯丿乇鬲. 賵 賯賵蹖 鬲乇 賴賲蹖卮賴 氐丕丨亘 賮乇氐鬲 賴丕蹖 亘蹖卮鬲乇蹖 賲蹖卮賴. 丨鬲蹖 賮乇氐鬲 噩賮鬲诏蹖乇蹖! 賴賲賵賳 賯賵丕賳蹖賳 爻丕丿賴 噩丕賲毓賴 亘丿賵蹖...
夭亘丕賳 讴鬲丕亘貙 夭亘丕賳蹖 胤賳夭丌賱賵丿 賵 倬賱卮鬲 賴爻鬲卮. 倬乇 丕夭 賮丨卮貙 鬲蹖讴賴 胤毓賳賴貙 賯賱丿乇亘丕夭蹖 賵 賲賵賴賵賲丕鬲 噩賳爻蹖 蹖讴 賳賵噩賵賵賳. 亘丕 丕蹖賳丨丕賱 讴鬲丕亘 亘禺賵亘蹖 鬲賵賳爻鬲賴 丨乇賮卮 乇賵 亘丿賵賳 丕蹖賳讴賴 卮毓丕乇诏賵賳賴 亘卮賴 蹖丕 丕夭 賯丕賱亘 讴鬲丕亘 亘蹖乇賵賳 亘夭賳賴 亘賴 賲禺丕胤亘 丕賱賯丕 讴賳賴. 丕賳夭賵丕貙 噩丕賲毓賴 诏乇蹖夭蹖 賵 夭賳 诏乇蹖夭蹖 賴賳乇蹖 趩蹖賳丕爻讴蹖 倬蹖丕賲丿 鬲賳賮乇 賵 亘蹖夭丕乇蹖 丕賵賳 丕夭 鬲賲丕賲 趩蹖夭賴丕蹖蹖 賴爻鬲卮 讴賴 噩丕賲毓賴 丕夭 丕賵賳 爻賱亘 讴乇丿賴. 丕賲丕 丌蹖丕 亘賵讴賵賮爻讴蹖 賲蹖禺賵丕丿 丕夭 賴賳乇蹖 趩蹖賳丕爻讴蹖 蹖讴 賯賴乇賲丕賳(囟丿賯賴乇賲丕賳) 亘爻丕夭賴責
丿乇 賲賵乇丿 讴蹖賮蹖鬲 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 氐賵鬲蹖 亘丕蹖丿 亘诏賲 讴賴 丕噩乇丕蹖 毓丕賱蹖 丌乇賲丕賳 爻賱胤丕賳 夭丕丿賴 賵 鬲丿賵蹖賳 禺賵亘 賲賵爻蹖賯蹖 讴賴 賲賳丕爻亘 亘丕 賮囟丕蹖 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 賴爻鬲貙 鬲噩乇亘賴 賮賵賯 丕賱毓丕丿賴 丕蹖 乇賵 亘賴 卮賳賵賳丿賴 丕賱賯丕 賲蹖讴賳賴 亘丕 丕蹖賳丨丕賱 鬲乇噩賲賴 爻丕賳爻賵乇 卮丿爻鬲 賵 丨丕賱 丌丿賲 乇賵 賲蹖诏蹖乇賴. 丕蹖賳賴 讴賴 丕诏乇 禺賵丕爻鬲蹖丿 亘禺賵賳蹖丿 丕夭 乇賵蹖 賲鬲賳 丕氐賱蹖 亘禺賵賳蹖丿 賳賴 鬲乇噩賲賴.
June 12, 2022
"I would rather be a dishwasher, return alone to a tiny room and drink myself to sleep"
Just one of many brilliant lines from this brilliant autobiographical novel. It's probably Bukowski's best work for me. From his early roots as a troubled kid who was treated appallingly by his father, through to his angst teenage years, Bukowski simply doesn't hold back on anything. Chinaski's wallowing about the world gets more bitter as he physically gets stronger resulting in an angry and cocky young man who takes to cheap wine and motel rooms better than he does people. I will always remember this for the hilariously funny and rude bits rather than the sad, with one moment in particular where Henry and his friend Frank travel to an air show and end up under the Grandstand of spectators which had me in absolute stitches! I don't think I've laughed my socks off more over a scene than that one.
October 31, 2024
It's a fact that one's childhood and adolescence form one's world outlook, shape the character and, actually, condition one's future. The protagonist (the author) had a traumatizing childhood not because he was growing up during the Great Depression or because their family was poor, but because he had terrible parents.
'Ham on Rye' is about anger, pain, isolation and sadness of Henry's childhood and adolescence. Rough life means rough writing style which makes you feel uncomfortable because the author doesn't bother filtering the language used to honestly describe the hostile environment he has to survive and find his place in.
Bukowski is not quite my type of author but it was worth a try. By the way, some years ago I read some of his poetry and I liked it.
'The problem was you had to keep choosing between one evil or another, and no matter what you chose, they sliced a little bit more off you, until there was nothing left. At the age of 25 most people were finished. A whole god-damned nation of assholes driving automobiles, eating, having babies, doing everything in the worst way possible, like voting for the presidential candidate who reminded them most of themselves.'
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
'I could see the road ahead of me. I was poor and I was going to stay poor. But I didn鈥檛 particularly want money. I didn鈥檛 know what I wanted. Yes, I did. I wanted someplace to hide out, someplace where one didn鈥檛 have to do anything. The thought of being something didn鈥檛 only appall me, it
sickened me. The thought of being a lawyer or a councilman or an engineer, anything like that, seemed impossible to me. To get married, to have children, to get trapped in the family structure. To go someplace to work every day and to return. It was impossible. To do things, simple things, to be part of family picnics, Christmas, the 4th of July, Labor Day, Mother鈥檚 Day鈥as a man born just to endure those things and then die? I would rather be a dishwasher, return alone to a tiny room and drink myself to sleep.'
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
'I looked at my father, at his hands, his face, his eyebrows, and I knew that this man had nothing to do with me. He was a stranger. My mother was non-existent. I was cursed. Looking at my father I saw nothing but indecent dullness. Worse, he was even more afraid to fail than most others.'
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
'All my life, in that neighborhood, I had been walking into spider webs, I had been attacked by blackbirds, I had lived with my father. Everything was eternally dreary, dismal, damned. Even the weather was insolent and bitchy. It was either unbearably hot for weeks on end, or it rained, and
when it rained it rained for five or six days. The water came up over the lawns and poured into the houses. Who鈥檇 ever planned the drainage system had probably been well paid for his ignorance about such matters. And my own affairs were as bad, as dismal, as the day I had been born.'
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
'I made practice runs down to skid row to get ready for my future. I didn鈥檛 like what I saw down there. Those men and women had no special daring or brilliance. They wanted what everybody else wanted. There were also some obvious mental cases down there who were allowed to walk the
streets undisturbed. I had noticed that both in the very poor and very rich extremes of society the mad were often allowed to mingle freely. I knew that I wasn鈥檛 entirely sane. I still knew, as I had as a child, that there was something strange about myself. I felt as if I were destined to be a murderer,
a bank robber, a saint, a rapist, a monk, a hermit. I needed an isolated place to hide. Skid row was disgusting. The life of the sane, average man was dull, worse than death. There seemed to be no possible alternative. Education also seemed to be a trap. The little education I had allowed myself had made me more suspicious. What were doctors, lawyers, scientists? They were just men who allowed themselves to be deprived of their freedom to think and act as individuals. I went back to my shack and drank鈥�'
'Ham on Rye' is about anger, pain, isolation and sadness of Henry's childhood and adolescence. Rough life means rough writing style which makes you feel uncomfortable because the author doesn't bother filtering the language used to honestly describe the hostile environment he has to survive and find his place in.
Bukowski is not quite my type of author but it was worth a try. By the way, some years ago I read some of his poetry and I liked it.
'The problem was you had to keep choosing between one evil or another, and no matter what you chose, they sliced a little bit more off you, until there was nothing left. At the age of 25 most people were finished. A whole god-damned nation of assholes driving automobiles, eating, having babies, doing everything in the worst way possible, like voting for the presidential candidate who reminded them most of themselves.'
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
'I could see the road ahead of me. I was poor and I was going to stay poor. But I didn鈥檛 particularly want money. I didn鈥檛 know what I wanted. Yes, I did. I wanted someplace to hide out, someplace where one didn鈥檛 have to do anything. The thought of being something didn鈥檛 only appall me, it
sickened me. The thought of being a lawyer or a councilman or an engineer, anything like that, seemed impossible to me. To get married, to have children, to get trapped in the family structure. To go someplace to work every day and to return. It was impossible. To do things, simple things, to be part of family picnics, Christmas, the 4th of July, Labor Day, Mother鈥檚 Day鈥as a man born just to endure those things and then die? I would rather be a dishwasher, return alone to a tiny room and drink myself to sleep.'
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
'I looked at my father, at his hands, his face, his eyebrows, and I knew that this man had nothing to do with me. He was a stranger. My mother was non-existent. I was cursed. Looking at my father I saw nothing but indecent dullness. Worse, he was even more afraid to fail than most others.'
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
'All my life, in that neighborhood, I had been walking into spider webs, I had been attacked by blackbirds, I had lived with my father. Everything was eternally dreary, dismal, damned. Even the weather was insolent and bitchy. It was either unbearably hot for weeks on end, or it rained, and
when it rained it rained for five or six days. The water came up over the lawns and poured into the houses. Who鈥檇 ever planned the drainage system had probably been well paid for his ignorance about such matters. And my own affairs were as bad, as dismal, as the day I had been born.'
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
'I made practice runs down to skid row to get ready for my future. I didn鈥檛 like what I saw down there. Those men and women had no special daring or brilliance. They wanted what everybody else wanted. There were also some obvious mental cases down there who were allowed to walk the
streets undisturbed. I had noticed that both in the very poor and very rich extremes of society the mad were often allowed to mingle freely. I knew that I wasn鈥檛 entirely sane. I still knew, as I had as a child, that there was something strange about myself. I felt as if I were destined to be a murderer,
a bank robber, a saint, a rapist, a monk, a hermit. I needed an isolated place to hide. Skid row was disgusting. The life of the sane, average man was dull, worse than death. There seemed to be no possible alternative. Education also seemed to be a trap. The little education I had allowed myself had made me more suspicious. What were doctors, lawyers, scientists? They were just men who allowed themselves to be deprived of their freedom to think and act as individuals. I went back to my shack and drank鈥�'
February 23, 2019
"亘乇丕蹖 賴賲賴鈥屰� 倬丿乇賴丕"
丕夭 賴賲賵賳 鬲賯丿蹖賲 賳丕賲賴鈥屰� 讴鬲丕亘 賲蹖卮賴 賮賴賲蹖丿 丕蹖賳 亘丕乇 亘賵讴賮爻讴蹖 丕夭 趩蹖 賲蹖 禺賵丕丿 亘乇丕賲賵賳 亘诏賴. 丕夭 鬲噩乇亘賴 丕蹖 讴賴 禺蹖賱蹖 丕夭 賲丕賴丕 鬲賵蹖 丿賵乇丕賳 賳賵噩賵賵賳蹖 賲賵賳 丿丕卮鬲蹖賲. 噩丿丕賱 亘丕 賵丕賱丿賽 丕賱诏賵 賵 卮讴爻鬲賳賽 賯賴乇賲丕賳蹖 讴賴 丕夭 丕賵賳(倬丿乇/賲丕丿乇) 亘乇丕蹖 禺賵丿賲賵賳 爻丕禺鬲賴 亘賵丿蹖賲. 讴賴 賲毓賲賵賱丕賸 亘乇丕蹖 倬爻乇賴丕貙 倬丿乇 丕賱诏賵卅賴.
爻賽賳賾蹖 讴賴 丌丿賲 亘丕 禺賵丿卮 賲蹖诏賴 賲賳 丕夭卮{亘丕亘丕/賲丕賲丕賳} 亘蹖卮鬲乇 賲蹖 賮賴賲賲 賵 丕賵賳 丕賮讴丕乇卮 賯丿蹖賲蹖賴. 丕賮讴丕乇 讴賴賳賴鈥屫ж� 亘賴 丿乇丿 禺賵丿卮 賲蹖鈥屫堌辟�. 賲賳 賲蹖 禺賵丕賲 禺賵丿賲 亘丕卮賲 賵 亘乇丕蹖 禺賵丿賲 夭賳丿诏蹖 讴賳賲 賵 亘乇丕蹖 禺賵丿賲 鬲氐賲蹖賲 亘诏蹖乇賲.
賵 丕蹖賳噩賵乇蹖賴 讴賴 丌丿賲 蹖丕 丕夭 禺賵賳賴 亘蹖乇賵賳 丕賳丿丕禺鬲賴 賲蹖卮賴 蹖丕 賲噩亘賵乇 賲蹖卮賴 亘乇丕蹖 賳丿蹖丿賳 乇蹖禺鬲賽 丿蹖诏乇丕賳貙 禺賵丿卮 乇賵 鬲賵蹖 丕鬲丕賯卮 賲丨亘賵爻 讴賳賴. 丕蹖賳 賲乇丨賱賴 丿乇 貙 賴賵蹖鬲 丿乇 亘乇丕亘乇 爻乇丿乇诏賲蹖賽 賳賯卮 賳丕賲 丿丕乇賴.
丌禺乇爻乇 賴賲 亘毓丿 丕夭 趩賳丿 爻丕賱 夭賳丿诏蹖 賵 禺賵乇丿賳 爻乇賽 丌丿賲 亘賴 爻賳诏賽 夭賲賵賳賴貙 賲蹖 賮賴賲賴 讴賴 賳賴...貙 賴賲賵賳(亘丕亘丕/賲丕賲丕賳) 禺蹖賱蹖 噩丕賴丕 乇賵 丿乇爻鬲 賲蹖 诏賮鬲 賵 賱噩亘丕夭蹖賽 賲賳 丕夭 爻乇賽 亘蹖 鬲噩乇亘诏蹖 亘賵丿. 丕賲丕 亘丕 丕蹖賳 賵噩賵丿貙 亘乇賳丿賴 讴爻蹖賴 讴賴 亘乇 毓賱蹖賴 賯賴乇賲丕賳卮 毓氐蹖丕賳 讴乇丿賴 亘丕卮賴. 賵 亘賴 趩賳蹖賳 賳賵噩賵賵賳蹖 賲蹖卮賴 丕賲蹖丿賵丕乇 亘賵丿. 賵讴爻蹖 讴賴 丿乇 丕賵賳 爻賳 毓氐蹖丕賳 賳讴賳賴 賲毓賲賵賱丕賸 鬲丕 丌禺乇 毓賲乇卮 倬丿乇 賵 賲丕丿乇 賵 丿蹖诏乇丕賳 亘乇丕蹖 夭賳丿诏蹖卮 鬲氐賲蹖賲 禺賵丕賴賳丿 诏乇賮鬲.
丿爻鬲賵乇丌卮倬夭蹖賽 丿乇爻鬲 讴乇丿賳 爻丕賳丿賵蹖趩 跇丕賲亘賵賳
賮賯乇(亘賴 毓賳賵丕賳 賳丕賳) : 蹖讴 毓丿丿
夭卮鬲 亘賵丿賳賽 趩賴乇賴(亘賴 毓賳賵丕賳 賳丕賳) : 蹖讴 毓丿丿
亘賵讴賮爻讴蹖(亘賴 毓賳賵丕賳 跇丕賲亘賵賳) : 蹖讴 毓丿丿
讴鬲丕亘 賵 卮乇丕亘 賵 爻蹖诏丕乇: 亘賴 賲賯丿丕乇 讴丕賮蹖
亘賵讴賮爻讴蹖 丿乇 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 毓賱丕賵賴 亘乇 丿乇诏蹖乇蹖 賴丕蹖蹖 讴賴 亘丕 倬丿乇卮 丿丕卮鬲賴 賵 爻禺鬲诏蹖乇蹖 賴丕蹖 倬丿乇卮 讴賴 丕匕蹖鬲卮 賲蹖 讴乇丿賴貙 丕夭 賲丕噩乇丕賴丕蹖 賳賵噩賵賵賳蹖卮 賲蹖诏賴 賵 丕夭 丌亘賱賴鈥屫辟� 亘賵丿賳 禺賵丿卮 賲蹖诏賴 賵 丕夭 賮賯乇蹖 讴賴 亘丕賴丕卮 丿爻鬲 賵 倬賳噩賴 賳乇賲 賲蹖 讴乇丿賴 賲蹖诏賴.
賳賯氐 丿乇 趩賴乇賴 賵 賮賯乇 丿賵 毓丕賲賱蹖 賴爻鬲賳丿 讴賴 賴賲 賲蹖 鬲賵賳賳 丌丿賲 乇賵 賳丕亘賵丿 讴賳賳 賵 賴賲 賲蹖 鬲賵賳賳 丌丿賲 乇賵 亘賴 亘夭乇诏蹖 亘乇爻賵賳賳. 丌丿賲 賴丕蹖 賲賴賲蹖 讴賴 賳賯氐 毓囟賵 丿丕卮鬲賳 丕賲丕 亘賴 賲乇丕鬲亘 賵 賲丿丕乇噩 亘丕賱丕蹖蹖 乇爻蹖丿賴鈥屬� 讴賲 賳蹖爻鬲賳. 賲孬賱丕賸 賴賲蹖賳 跇賵夭賮 丕爻鬲丕賱蹖賳貙 丿丕卅賲 丌亘賱賴鈥屬囏й� 氐賵乇鬲卮 乇賵 鬲賵蹖 毓讴爻鈥屬囏� 乇賵鬲賵卮 賲蹖鈥屭┴必�. 丕賲丕 亘賴 噩丕蹖蹖 乇爻蹖丿賴 讴賴 亘乇丕蹖 賲乇诏 賵 夭賳丿诏蹖 趩賳丿 賲蹖賱蹖賵賳 丌丿賲 鬲氐賲蹖賲 賲蹖 诏乇賮鬲賴.
丕蹖賳 丿爻鬲賴 丕夭 丌丿賲 賴丕 锟斤拷賵賳 丕夭 噩丕賲毓賴 胤乇丿 賲蹖卮賳(賵 丕夭 賴賲賴 賲賴賲鈥屫� 丿乇 亘丕夭蹖 賴丕蹖 讴賵丿讴蹖 賵 賲丿乇爻賴 丕蹖賳 丕鬲賮丕賯 賲蹖 丕賮鬲賴. 蹖毓賳蹖 亘趩賴 賴丕蹖 丿蹖诏賴貙 亘趩賴鈥屰� 夭卮鬲 蹖丕 賮賯蹖乇 乇賵 亘賴 诏乇賵賴 禺賵丿卮賵賳 乇丕賴 賳賲蹖丿賳) 丕賵賳 亘趩賴 賳丕禺賵丿丌诏丕賴 鬲氐賲蹖賲 賲蹖 诏蹖乇賴 噩賵乇 丿蹖诏賴 丕蹖 鬲賵噩賴 丿蹖诏乇丕賳 乇賵 亘賴 禺賵丿卮 噩賱亘 讴賳賴 賵 鬲丨爻蹖賳 丕賵賳賴丕 乇賵 亘乇丕賳诏蹖夭賴.
亘賵讴賮爻讴蹖 賴賲 丕夭 丕賵賳 賲毓丿賵丿 丌丿賲 賴丕蹖蹖 讴賴 丿乇 賴乇 賯乇賳 賮賯胤 趩賳丿鬲丕 丕夭卮賵賳 倬蹖丿丕 賲蹖卮賳 亘賵丿賴 賵 鬲賵賳爻鬲賴 讴丕乇蹖 亘讴賳賴 讴賴 亘毓丿 丕夭 诏匕卮鬲 趩賳丿蹖賳 爻丕賱 倬爻 丕夭 賲乇诏卮 丿乇 丕賵賳 爻乇賽 丿賳蹖丕貙 賲賳 丕蹖賳噩丕 丿乇亘丕乇賴鈥屰� 夭賳丿诏蹖卮 賲胤賱亘 亘賳賵蹖爻賲!
讴鬲丕亘 爻丕賳丿賵蹖趩 跇丕賲亘賵賳貙 亘乇丕蹖 賲賳 趩賴 趩蹖夭蹖 乇賵 鬲丿丕毓蹖 賲蹖鈥屭┵嗁囏�
賴蹖趩蹖貨 蹖讴 鬲噩乇亘賴鈥屰� 鬲賱禺.
爻賴 爻丕賱 倬蹖卮貙 趩丕倬 丕賵賱 爻丕賳丿賵蹖趩 跇丕賲亘賵賳 乇賵 亘蹖鈥屫辟嗂� 禺乇蹖丿賲 賵 卮乇賵毓 讴乇丿賲 亘賴 賲胤丕賱毓賴 讴乇丿賳 丕賲丕 丿乇 丨蹖賳 賲胤丕賱毓賴 讴乇丿賳貙 賲鬲賵噩賴 睾賱胤鈥屬囏й� 賳诏丕乇卮蹖 賵 丕賲賱丕蹖蹖 賮乇丕賵賵賳蹖 鬲賵蹖 賲鬲賳 鬲乇噩賲賴鈥屰� 讴鬲丕亘 卮丿賲 賵 丕蹖賳 卮丿 讴賴 賮乇丿丕蹖 丕賵賳 乇賵夭 亘丕 賳丕卮乇 讴鬲丕亘 鬲賲丕爻 诏乇賮鬲賲 賵 丕賵賳丕 丕夭賲 禺賵丕爻鬲賳 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 乇賵 賵蹖乇丕蹖卮 讴賳賲. 賲賳 賴賲 亘賴 噩賴鬲 毓賱丕賯賴鈥屫й� 讴賴 亘賴 亘賵讴賮爻讴蹖 丿丕卮鬲賲 丕蹖賳 讴丕乇 乇賵 賯亘賵賱 讴乇丿賲 賵 亘丕 賵噩賵丿 賲卮睾賱賴鈥屫й� 讴賴 丿丕卮鬲賲貙 讴丕乇 乇賵 卮乇賵毓 讴乇丿賲. 亘毓丿 丕夭 诏匕卮鬲 蹖讴 賴賮鬲賴貙 讴丕乇 亘賴 倬丕蹖丕賳 乇爻蹖丿 賵 亘乇丕蹖 賳丕卮乇 丕乇爻丕賱 讴乇丿賲. 蹖讴 賲丕賴 诏匕卮鬲 禺亘乇蹖 丕夭 賳丕卮乇 賳卮丿. 丿賵 賲丕賴 诏匕卮鬲 禺亘乇蹖 賳卮丿. 鬲丕 丕蹖賳讴賴 鬲氐賲蹖賲 诏乇賮鬲賲 丿賵亘丕乇賴 鬲賲丕爻 亘诏蹖乇賲. 賵賯鬲蹖 鬲賲丕爻 诏乇賮鬲賲貙 丕賵賳賴丕 亘賴 賴賲蹖賳 噩賵丕亘 亘爻賳丿賴 讴乇丿賳 讴賴: 芦賵蹖乇丕蹖卮鈥屫堎� 丕毓賲丕賱 卮丿賴.禄 亘賴 爻乇毓鬲 趩丕倬 噩丿蹖丿 乇賵 鬲賴蹖賴 讴乇丿賲(賴乇 趩賳丿 丕賳鬲馗丕乇 丿丕卮鬲賲 賳丕卮乇 丿爻鬲鈥屭┵� 蹖讴 賳爻禺賴 亘乇丕賲 丕乇爻丕賱 讴賳賴) 丕賲丕 丿蹖丿賲 丿乇 卮賳丕爻賳丕賲賴鈥屰� 賳爻禺賴鈥屰� 噩丿蹖丿 讴鬲丕亘貙 賳丕賲蹖 丕夭 賲賳 丌賵乇丿賴 賳卮丿賴. 禺蹖賱蹖 賳丕乇丕丨鬲 卮丿賲. 鬲氐賲蹖賲 诏乇賮鬲賲 丨囟賵乇蹖 亘賴 丿賮鬲乇 丕賳鬲卮丕乇丕鬲 亘乇賲 賵 乇賮鬲賲 賵 賲毓鬲乇囟 卮丿賲貙 丕賲丕 丕毓鬲乇丕囟賲 賴蹖趩 賮丕蹖丿賴 丕蹖 賳丿丕卮鬲.
丕賱丕賳 賴乇 賵賯鬲 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 乇賵 鬲賵蹖 讴鬲丕亘賮乇賵卮蹖 賴丕 蹖丕 诏賵丿乇蹖丿夭 賲蹖 亘蹖賳賲 丕賵賳 禺丕胤乇賴 蹖 鬲賱禺 丿乇 匕賴賳賲 鬲丿丕毓蹖 賲蹖卮賴.賳丕卮乇 丿爻鬲鈥屭┵� 亘丕蹖丿 丕爻賲賲 乇賵 亘賴 毓賳賵丕賳 賵蹖乇丕爻鬲丕乇 丕賵賱 讴鬲丕亘 賲蹖匕丕卮鬲. 讴賴 賳匕丕卮鬲 丿蹖诏賴.
賳賲賵賳賴鈥屬囏й� 賯亘賱 賵 亘毓丿 丕夭 賵蹖乇丕蹖卮 乇賵 丕蹖賳 倬丕蹖蹖賳 诏匕丕卮鬲賲:
丕夭 賴賲賵賳 鬲賯丿蹖賲 賳丕賲賴鈥屰� 讴鬲丕亘 賲蹖卮賴 賮賴賲蹖丿 丕蹖賳 亘丕乇 亘賵讴賮爻讴蹖 丕夭 趩蹖 賲蹖 禺賵丕丿 亘乇丕賲賵賳 亘诏賴. 丕夭 鬲噩乇亘賴 丕蹖 讴賴 禺蹖賱蹖 丕夭 賲丕賴丕 鬲賵蹖 丿賵乇丕賳 賳賵噩賵賵賳蹖 賲賵賳 丿丕卮鬲蹖賲. 噩丿丕賱 亘丕 賵丕賱丿賽 丕賱诏賵 賵 卮讴爻鬲賳賽 賯賴乇賲丕賳蹖 讴賴 丕夭 丕賵賳(倬丿乇/賲丕丿乇) 亘乇丕蹖 禺賵丿賲賵賳 爻丕禺鬲賴 亘賵丿蹖賲. 讴賴 賲毓賲賵賱丕賸 亘乇丕蹖 倬爻乇賴丕貙 倬丿乇 丕賱诏賵卅賴.
爻賽賳賾蹖 讴賴 丌丿賲 亘丕 禺賵丿卮 賲蹖诏賴 賲賳 丕夭卮{亘丕亘丕/賲丕賲丕賳} 亘蹖卮鬲乇 賲蹖 賮賴賲賲 賵 丕賵賳 丕賮讴丕乇卮 賯丿蹖賲蹖賴. 丕賮讴丕乇 讴賴賳賴鈥屫ж� 亘賴 丿乇丿 禺賵丿卮 賲蹖鈥屫堌辟�. 賲賳 賲蹖 禺賵丕賲 禺賵丿賲 亘丕卮賲 賵 亘乇丕蹖 禺賵丿賲 夭賳丿诏蹖 讴賳賲 賵 亘乇丕蹖 禺賵丿賲 鬲氐賲蹖賲 亘诏蹖乇賲.
賵 丕蹖賳噩賵乇蹖賴 讴賴 丌丿賲 蹖丕 丕夭 禺賵賳賴 亘蹖乇賵賳 丕賳丿丕禺鬲賴 賲蹖卮賴 蹖丕 賲噩亘賵乇 賲蹖卮賴 亘乇丕蹖 賳丿蹖丿賳 乇蹖禺鬲賽 丿蹖诏乇丕賳貙 禺賵丿卮 乇賵 鬲賵蹖 丕鬲丕賯卮 賲丨亘賵爻 讴賳賴. 丕蹖賳 賲乇丨賱賴 丿乇 貙 賴賵蹖鬲 丿乇 亘乇丕亘乇 爻乇丿乇诏賲蹖賽 賳賯卮 賳丕賲 丿丕乇賴.
丌禺乇爻乇 賴賲 亘毓丿 丕夭 趩賳丿 爻丕賱 夭賳丿诏蹖 賵 禺賵乇丿賳 爻乇賽 丌丿賲 亘賴 爻賳诏賽 夭賲賵賳賴貙 賲蹖 賮賴賲賴 讴賴 賳賴...貙 賴賲賵賳(亘丕亘丕/賲丕賲丕賳) 禺蹖賱蹖 噩丕賴丕 乇賵 丿乇爻鬲 賲蹖 诏賮鬲 賵 賱噩亘丕夭蹖賽 賲賳 丕夭 爻乇賽 亘蹖 鬲噩乇亘诏蹖 亘賵丿. 丕賲丕 亘丕 丕蹖賳 賵噩賵丿貙 亘乇賳丿賴 讴爻蹖賴 讴賴 亘乇 毓賱蹖賴 賯賴乇賲丕賳卮 毓氐蹖丕賳 讴乇丿賴 亘丕卮賴. 賵 亘賴 趩賳蹖賳 賳賵噩賵賵賳蹖 賲蹖卮賴 丕賲蹖丿賵丕乇 亘賵丿. 賵讴爻蹖 讴賴 丿乇 丕賵賳 爻賳 毓氐蹖丕賳 賳讴賳賴 賲毓賲賵賱丕賸 鬲丕 丌禺乇 毓賲乇卮 倬丿乇 賵 賲丕丿乇 賵 丿蹖诏乇丕賳 亘乇丕蹖 夭賳丿诏蹖卮 鬲氐賲蹖賲 禺賵丕賴賳丿 诏乇賮鬲.
丿爻鬲賵乇丌卮倬夭蹖賽 丿乇爻鬲 讴乇丿賳 爻丕賳丿賵蹖趩 跇丕賲亘賵賳
賮賯乇(亘賴 毓賳賵丕賳 賳丕賳) : 蹖讴 毓丿丿
夭卮鬲 亘賵丿賳賽 趩賴乇賴(亘賴 毓賳賵丕賳 賳丕賳) : 蹖讴 毓丿丿
亘賵讴賮爻讴蹖(亘賴 毓賳賵丕賳 跇丕賲亘賵賳) : 蹖讴 毓丿丿
讴鬲丕亘 賵 卮乇丕亘 賵 爻蹖诏丕乇: 亘賴 賲賯丿丕乇 讴丕賮蹖
亘賵讴賮爻讴蹖 丿乇 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 毓賱丕賵賴 亘乇 丿乇诏蹖乇蹖 賴丕蹖蹖 讴賴 亘丕 倬丿乇卮 丿丕卮鬲賴 賵 爻禺鬲诏蹖乇蹖 賴丕蹖 倬丿乇卮 讴賴 丕匕蹖鬲卮 賲蹖 讴乇丿賴貙 丕夭 賲丕噩乇丕賴丕蹖 賳賵噩賵賵賳蹖卮 賲蹖诏賴 賵 丕夭 丌亘賱賴鈥屫辟� 亘賵丿賳 禺賵丿卮 賲蹖诏賴 賵 丕夭 賮賯乇蹖 讴賴 亘丕賴丕卮 丿爻鬲 賵 倬賳噩賴 賳乇賲 賲蹖 讴乇丿賴 賲蹖诏賴.
賳賯氐 丿乇 趩賴乇賴 賵 賮賯乇 丿賵 毓丕賲賱蹖 賴爻鬲賳丿 讴賴 賴賲 賲蹖 鬲賵賳賳 丌丿賲 乇賵 賳丕亘賵丿 讴賳賳 賵 賴賲 賲蹖 鬲賵賳賳 丌丿賲 乇賵 亘賴 亘夭乇诏蹖 亘乇爻賵賳賳. 丌丿賲 賴丕蹖 賲賴賲蹖 讴賴 賳賯氐 毓囟賵 丿丕卮鬲賳 丕賲丕 亘賴 賲乇丕鬲亘 賵 賲丿丕乇噩 亘丕賱丕蹖蹖 乇爻蹖丿賴鈥屬� 讴賲 賳蹖爻鬲賳. 賲孬賱丕賸 賴賲蹖賳 跇賵夭賮 丕爻鬲丕賱蹖賳貙 丿丕卅賲 丌亘賱賴鈥屬囏й� 氐賵乇鬲卮 乇賵 鬲賵蹖 毓讴爻鈥屬囏� 乇賵鬲賵卮 賲蹖鈥屭┴必�. 丕賲丕 亘賴 噩丕蹖蹖 乇爻蹖丿賴 讴賴 亘乇丕蹖 賲乇诏 賵 夭賳丿诏蹖 趩賳丿 賲蹖賱蹖賵賳 丌丿賲 鬲氐賲蹖賲 賲蹖 诏乇賮鬲賴.
丕蹖賳 丿爻鬲賴 丕夭 丌丿賲 賴丕 锟斤拷賵賳 丕夭 噩丕賲毓賴 胤乇丿 賲蹖卮賳(賵 丕夭 賴賲賴 賲賴賲鈥屫� 丿乇 亘丕夭蹖 賴丕蹖 讴賵丿讴蹖 賵 賲丿乇爻賴 丕蹖賳 丕鬲賮丕賯 賲蹖 丕賮鬲賴. 蹖毓賳蹖 亘趩賴 賴丕蹖 丿蹖诏賴貙 亘趩賴鈥屰� 夭卮鬲 蹖丕 賮賯蹖乇 乇賵 亘賴 诏乇賵賴 禺賵丿卮賵賳 乇丕賴 賳賲蹖丿賳) 丕賵賳 亘趩賴 賳丕禺賵丿丌诏丕賴 鬲氐賲蹖賲 賲蹖 诏蹖乇賴 噩賵乇 丿蹖诏賴 丕蹖 鬲賵噩賴 丿蹖诏乇丕賳 乇賵 亘賴 禺賵丿卮 噩賱亘 讴賳賴 賵 鬲丨爻蹖賳 丕賵賳賴丕 乇賵 亘乇丕賳诏蹖夭賴.
亘賵讴賮爻讴蹖 賴賲 丕夭 丕賵賳 賲毓丿賵丿 丌丿賲 賴丕蹖蹖 讴賴 丿乇 賴乇 賯乇賳 賮賯胤 趩賳丿鬲丕 丕夭卮賵賳 倬蹖丿丕 賲蹖卮賳 亘賵丿賴 賵 鬲賵賳爻鬲賴 讴丕乇蹖 亘讴賳賴 讴賴 亘毓丿 丕夭 诏匕卮鬲 趩賳丿蹖賳 爻丕賱 倬爻 丕夭 賲乇诏卮 丿乇 丕賵賳 爻乇賽 丿賳蹖丕貙 賲賳 丕蹖賳噩丕 丿乇亘丕乇賴鈥屰� 夭賳丿诏蹖卮 賲胤賱亘 亘賳賵蹖爻賲!
讴鬲丕亘 爻丕賳丿賵蹖趩 跇丕賲亘賵賳貙 亘乇丕蹖 賲賳 趩賴 趩蹖夭蹖 乇賵 鬲丿丕毓蹖 賲蹖鈥屭┵嗁囏�
賴蹖趩蹖貨 蹖讴 鬲噩乇亘賴鈥屰� 鬲賱禺.
爻賴 爻丕賱 倬蹖卮貙 趩丕倬 丕賵賱 爻丕賳丿賵蹖趩 跇丕賲亘賵賳 乇賵 亘蹖鈥屫辟嗂� 禺乇蹖丿賲 賵 卮乇賵毓 讴乇丿賲 亘賴 賲胤丕賱毓賴 讴乇丿賳 丕賲丕 丿乇 丨蹖賳 賲胤丕賱毓賴 讴乇丿賳貙 賲鬲賵噩賴 睾賱胤鈥屬囏й� 賳诏丕乇卮蹖 賵 丕賲賱丕蹖蹖 賮乇丕賵賵賳蹖 鬲賵蹖 賲鬲賳 鬲乇噩賲賴鈥屰� 讴鬲丕亘 卮丿賲 賵 丕蹖賳 卮丿 讴賴 賮乇丿丕蹖 丕賵賳 乇賵夭 亘丕 賳丕卮乇 讴鬲丕亘 鬲賲丕爻 诏乇賮鬲賲 賵 丕賵賳丕 丕夭賲 禺賵丕爻鬲賳 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 乇賵 賵蹖乇丕蹖卮 讴賳賲. 賲賳 賴賲 亘賴 噩賴鬲 毓賱丕賯賴鈥屫й� 讴賴 亘賴 亘賵讴賮爻讴蹖 丿丕卮鬲賲 丕蹖賳 讴丕乇 乇賵 賯亘賵賱 讴乇丿賲 賵 亘丕 賵噩賵丿 賲卮睾賱賴鈥屫й� 讴賴 丿丕卮鬲賲貙 讴丕乇 乇賵 卮乇賵毓 讴乇丿賲. 亘毓丿 丕夭 诏匕卮鬲 蹖讴 賴賮鬲賴貙 讴丕乇 亘賴 倬丕蹖丕賳 乇爻蹖丿 賵 亘乇丕蹖 賳丕卮乇 丕乇爻丕賱 讴乇丿賲. 蹖讴 賲丕賴 诏匕卮鬲 禺亘乇蹖 丕夭 賳丕卮乇 賳卮丿. 丿賵 賲丕賴 诏匕卮鬲 禺亘乇蹖 賳卮丿. 鬲丕 丕蹖賳讴賴 鬲氐賲蹖賲 诏乇賮鬲賲 丿賵亘丕乇賴 鬲賲丕爻 亘诏蹖乇賲. 賵賯鬲蹖 鬲賲丕爻 诏乇賮鬲賲貙 丕賵賳賴丕 亘賴 賴賲蹖賳 噩賵丕亘 亘爻賳丿賴 讴乇丿賳 讴賴: 芦賵蹖乇丕蹖卮鈥屫堎� 丕毓賲丕賱 卮丿賴.禄 亘賴 爻乇毓鬲 趩丕倬 噩丿蹖丿 乇賵 鬲賴蹖賴 讴乇丿賲(賴乇 趩賳丿 丕賳鬲馗丕乇 丿丕卮鬲賲 賳丕卮乇 丿爻鬲鈥屭┵� 蹖讴 賳爻禺賴 亘乇丕賲 丕乇爻丕賱 讴賳賴) 丕賲丕 丿蹖丿賲 丿乇 卮賳丕爻賳丕賲賴鈥屰� 賳爻禺賴鈥屰� 噩丿蹖丿 讴鬲丕亘貙 賳丕賲蹖 丕夭 賲賳 丌賵乇丿賴 賳卮丿賴. 禺蹖賱蹖 賳丕乇丕丨鬲 卮丿賲. 鬲氐賲蹖賲 诏乇賮鬲賲 丨囟賵乇蹖 亘賴 丿賮鬲乇 丕賳鬲卮丕乇丕鬲 亘乇賲 賵 乇賮鬲賲 賵 賲毓鬲乇囟 卮丿賲貙 丕賲丕 丕毓鬲乇丕囟賲 賴蹖趩 賮丕蹖丿賴 丕蹖 賳丿丕卮鬲.
丕賱丕賳 賴乇 賵賯鬲 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 乇賵 鬲賵蹖 讴鬲丕亘賮乇賵卮蹖 賴丕 蹖丕 诏賵丿乇蹖丿夭 賲蹖 亘蹖賳賲 丕賵賳 禺丕胤乇賴 蹖 鬲賱禺 丿乇 匕賴賳賲 鬲丿丕毓蹖 賲蹖卮賴.賳丕卮乇 丿爻鬲鈥屭┵� 亘丕蹖丿 丕爻賲賲 乇賵 亘賴 毓賳賵丕賳 賵蹖乇丕爻鬲丕乇 丕賵賱 讴鬲丕亘 賲蹖匕丕卮鬲. 讴賴 賳匕丕卮鬲 丿蹖诏賴.
賳賲賵賳賴鈥屬囏й� 賯亘賱 賵 亘毓丿 丕夭 賵蹖乇丕蹖卮 乇賵 丕蹖賳 倬丕蹖蹖賳 诏匕丕卮鬲賲:
December 6, 2019
Ham on Rye, Charles Bukowski
The novel focuses on the protagonist, Henry Chinaski, between the years of 1920 and 1941. It begins with Chinaski's early memories. As the story progresses the reader follows his life through the school years and into young adulthood. Chinaski relates that he has an abusive father, and his mother does nothing to stop his father's abuse. She is, in fact, a victim of her husband's brutality as well. Henry is not athletic but wants to be and therefore tries hard to improve. Football is difficult for him, but he enjoys the violence that comes with it. He has only slightly better results in baseball. As Chinaski progresses through grammar school, the focus of Henry's attention is on sports, violence, and girls. As Henry grinds his way through Junior High School, he discovers the manifold pleasures of alcohol and masturbation. As Henry begins High School, his father, who is experiencing downward inter-generational socioeconomic mobility, makes him go to a private school where he fits in even less amongst all the well-heeled, spoiled rich kids with their flashy, colorful, convertible sports cars and beautiful girlfriends. To make matters worse, Chinaski develops horrible acne so severe that he has to undergo painful, and mostly ineffective, treatments, essentially becoming a human guinea pig for various experiments thought up by his uninterested doctors. The reader eventually follows Chinaski to college and reads of Henry's attempt to find a worthwhile occupation.
鬲丕乇蹖禺 賳禺爻鬲蹖賳 禺賵丕賳卮: 乇賵夭 卮卮賲 賲丕賴 爻倬鬲丕賲亘乇 爻丕賱 2016 賲蹖賱丕丿蹖
毓賳賵丕賳: 爻丕賳丿賵蹖趩 跇丕賲亘賵賳貨 賳賵蹖爻賳丿賴: 趩丕乇賱夭 亘賵讴賵賮爻讴蹖貨 賲鬲乇噩賲: 毓賱蹖鈥� 丕賲蹖乇鈥屫臂屫ж屫� 鬲賴乇丕賳: 賳诏丕賴貙 鈥�1394貨 丿乇 400 氐貨 卮丕亘讴: 9786003760806貨 趩丕倬 賳賴賲 賵 丿賴賲 1397貨 賲賵囟賵毓: 丿丕爻鬲丕賳賴丕蹖 賳賵蹖爻賳丿诏丕賳 丌賱賲丕賳蹖 鬲亘丕乇 丌賲乇蹖讴丕蹖蹖 - 爻丿賴 20 賲
爻丕賳丿賵蹖趩 跇丕賲亘賵賳 蹖讴蹖 丕夭 乇賲丕賳鈥屬囏й� 卮丕毓乇 賵 賳賵蹖爻賳丿賴 丌賱賲丕賳蹖 鬲亘丕乇 丌賲乇蹖讴丕蹖蹖 芦趩丕乇賱夭 亘賵讴賵賮爻讴蹖禄 丕爻鬲貨 讴賴 賳禺爻鬲蹖賳 亘丕乇 丿乇 爻丕賱 1982 賲蹖賱丕丿蹖 賲賳鬲卮乇 卮丿. 丕蹖賳 乇賲丕賳 丿乇 賵丕賯毓 蹖讴 丕鬲賵亘蹖賵诏乇丕賮蹖 丕夭 夭賳丿诏蹖 賳賵蹖爻賳丿賴鈥� 丕爻鬲. 芦趩丕乇賱夭 亘賵讴賵賮爻讴蹖禄 丿乇 丕蹖賳 乇賲丕賳 亘賴 乇賵丕蹖鬲 夭賳丿诏蹖鈥� 禺賵蹖卮 賲蹖鈥屬矩必ж藏�. 乇賲丕賳 亘丕 乇丕賵蹖 丕賵賱 卮禺氐蹖 亘賴 賳丕賲 芦賴賳乇蹖 趩蹖賳丕爻讴蹖禄 倬蹖卮 賲蹖鈥屫辟堌� 賵 乇賵丕蹖鬲鈥屭� 爻丕賱鈥屬囏й� 賳禺爻鬲蹖賳 夭賳丿诏蹖 芦亘賵讴賵賮爻讴蹖禄 丕爻鬲. 賳賯賱 賳賲賵賳賴 賴丕蹖蹖 丕夭 賲鬲賳 讴鬲丕亘: 芦丕睾賱亘 丕夭 倬丿乇賲 亘丕亘鬲 亘蹖乇賵賳 乇賮鬲賳 亘丕 賮乇賳讴 讴賲蹖 讴鬲讴 賲蹖禺賵乇丿賲貙 丕賲丕 賮賴賲蹖丿賲 讴賴 賲賳 亘賴 賴乇 丨丕賱 爻賴賲蹖賴 讴鬲讴賲 乇丕 禺賵丕賴賲 丿丕卮鬲 倬爻 亘賴鬲乇 丕爻鬲 讴丕乇賴丕蹖蹖 讴賴 丿賵爻鬲 丿丕乇賲 丕賳噩丕賲 亘丿賴賲.禄貨 芦賴乇 讴爻蹖 賲蹖鬲賵丕賳爻鬲 禺賵亘 亘丕卮丿貙 丕蹖賳讴賴 噩乇卅鬲 賳賲蹖禺賵丕爻鬲!禄貨 芦禺蹖賱蹖 禺亘 禺丿丕貙 賮乇囟 賲蹖讴賳蹖賲 鬲賵 賵丕賯毓丕 賲乇丕 丿乇 丕蹖賳 卮乇丕蹖胤 賯乇丕乇 丿丕丿賴 丕蹖 鬲丕 丕賲鬲丨丕賳賲 讴賳蹖. 鬲賵 賲乇丕 亘丕 賲卮讴賱鬲乇蹖賳 丕賲鬲丨丕賳賴丕 蹖毓賳蹖 倬丿乇 賵 賲丕丿乇貙 賵 噩賵卮賴丕蹖賲 亘賴 丌夭賲賵賳 讴卮蹖丿蹖. 賮讴乇 讴賳賲 丕賲鬲丨丕賳鬲 乇丕 賯亘賵賱 卮丿賲鈥� 讴卮蹖卮 亘賴 賲丕 诏賮鬲 讴賴 賴蹖趩賵賯鬲 卮讴 賳讴賳蹖丿. 亘賴 趩蹖 卮讴 賳讴賳蹖賲責 賴賲蹖卮賴 亘蹖卮 丕夭 丨丿 亘賴 賲賳 爻禺鬲 诏乇賮鬲賴 丕蹖貙 倬爻 賲賳 丕夭鬲 賲蹖禺賵丕賴賲 讴賴 亘蹖丕蹖蹖 倬丕蹖蹖賳 賵 卮讴 賲乇丕 亘乇胤乇賮 讴賳蹖!禄貨 芦賳賲蹖卮丿 亘賴 丌丿賲賴丕 丕毓鬲賲丕丿 讴乇丿. 賴乇 胤賵乇 丨爻丕亘 賲蹖讴乇丿蹖 亘丕夭 丌丿賲賴丕 丕乇夭卮 丕毓鬲賲丕丿 讴乇丿賳 賳丿丕卮鬲賳丿.禄貨 芦丿乇 讴鬲丕亘禺丕賳賴 乇丕賴 賲蹖乇賮鬲賲 賵 讴鬲丕亘賴丕 乇丕 賳诏丕賴 賲蹖讴乇丿賲. 蹖讴蹖 蹖讴蹖 丕夭 賯賮爻賴 丿乇 賲蹖丌賵乇丿賲. 賴賲賴 卮丕賳 丕丨賲賯丕賳賴 賵 亘蹖 乇賵丨 亘賵丿賳丿. 氐賮丨賴 賴丕 倬乇 丕夭 讴賱賲丕鬲 亘賵丿賳丿貙 賵賱蹖 趩蹖夭蹖 亘乇丕蹖 诏賮鬲賳 賵噩賵丿 賳丿丕卮鬲. 丕诏乇 賴賲 丨乇賮蹖 丿丕卮鬲賳丿貙 丌賳賯丿乇 讴卮 賲蹖丿丕丿賳丿 讴賴 賵賯鬲蹖 亘賴 丌賳 丨乇賮 賲蹖乇爻蹖丿蹖 丿蹖诏乇 丨爻丕亘蹖 丕夭 丨賵氐賱賴 丕賮鬲丕丿賴 亘賵丿蹖.禄貨 倬丕蹖丕賳 賳賯賱. 丕. 卮乇亘蹖丕賳蹖
The novel focuses on the protagonist, Henry Chinaski, between the years of 1920 and 1941. It begins with Chinaski's early memories. As the story progresses the reader follows his life through the school years and into young adulthood. Chinaski relates that he has an abusive father, and his mother does nothing to stop his father's abuse. She is, in fact, a victim of her husband's brutality as well. Henry is not athletic but wants to be and therefore tries hard to improve. Football is difficult for him, but he enjoys the violence that comes with it. He has only slightly better results in baseball. As Chinaski progresses through grammar school, the focus of Henry's attention is on sports, violence, and girls. As Henry grinds his way through Junior High School, he discovers the manifold pleasures of alcohol and masturbation. As Henry begins High School, his father, who is experiencing downward inter-generational socioeconomic mobility, makes him go to a private school where he fits in even less amongst all the well-heeled, spoiled rich kids with their flashy, colorful, convertible sports cars and beautiful girlfriends. To make matters worse, Chinaski develops horrible acne so severe that he has to undergo painful, and mostly ineffective, treatments, essentially becoming a human guinea pig for various experiments thought up by his uninterested doctors. The reader eventually follows Chinaski to college and reads of Henry's attempt to find a worthwhile occupation.
鬲丕乇蹖禺 賳禺爻鬲蹖賳 禺賵丕賳卮: 乇賵夭 卮卮賲 賲丕賴 爻倬鬲丕賲亘乇 爻丕賱 2016 賲蹖賱丕丿蹖
毓賳賵丕賳: 爻丕賳丿賵蹖趩 跇丕賲亘賵賳貨 賳賵蹖爻賳丿賴: 趩丕乇賱夭 亘賵讴賵賮爻讴蹖貨 賲鬲乇噩賲: 毓賱蹖鈥� 丕賲蹖乇鈥屫臂屫ж屫� 鬲賴乇丕賳: 賳诏丕賴貙 鈥�1394貨 丿乇 400 氐貨 卮丕亘讴: 9786003760806貨 趩丕倬 賳賴賲 賵 丿賴賲 1397貨 賲賵囟賵毓: 丿丕爻鬲丕賳賴丕蹖 賳賵蹖爻賳丿诏丕賳 丌賱賲丕賳蹖 鬲亘丕乇 丌賲乇蹖讴丕蹖蹖 - 爻丿賴 20 賲
爻丕賳丿賵蹖趩 跇丕賲亘賵賳 蹖讴蹖 丕夭 乇賲丕賳鈥屬囏й� 卮丕毓乇 賵 賳賵蹖爻賳丿賴 丌賱賲丕賳蹖 鬲亘丕乇 丌賲乇蹖讴丕蹖蹖 芦趩丕乇賱夭 亘賵讴賵賮爻讴蹖禄 丕爻鬲貨 讴賴 賳禺爻鬲蹖賳 亘丕乇 丿乇 爻丕賱 1982 賲蹖賱丕丿蹖 賲賳鬲卮乇 卮丿. 丕蹖賳 乇賲丕賳 丿乇 賵丕賯毓 蹖讴 丕鬲賵亘蹖賵诏乇丕賮蹖 丕夭 夭賳丿诏蹖 賳賵蹖爻賳丿賴鈥� 丕爻鬲. 芦趩丕乇賱夭 亘賵讴賵賮爻讴蹖禄 丿乇 丕蹖賳 乇賲丕賳 亘賴 乇賵丕蹖鬲 夭賳丿诏蹖鈥� 禺賵蹖卮 賲蹖鈥屬矩必ж藏�. 乇賲丕賳 亘丕 乇丕賵蹖 丕賵賱 卮禺氐蹖 亘賴 賳丕賲 芦賴賳乇蹖 趩蹖賳丕爻讴蹖禄 倬蹖卮 賲蹖鈥屫辟堌� 賵 乇賵丕蹖鬲鈥屭� 爻丕賱鈥屬囏й� 賳禺爻鬲蹖賳 夭賳丿诏蹖 芦亘賵讴賵賮爻讴蹖禄 丕爻鬲. 賳賯賱 賳賲賵賳賴 賴丕蹖蹖 丕夭 賲鬲賳 讴鬲丕亘: 芦丕睾賱亘 丕夭 倬丿乇賲 亘丕亘鬲 亘蹖乇賵賳 乇賮鬲賳 亘丕 賮乇賳讴 讴賲蹖 讴鬲讴 賲蹖禺賵乇丿賲貙 丕賲丕 賮賴賲蹖丿賲 讴賴 賲賳 亘賴 賴乇 丨丕賱 爻賴賲蹖賴 讴鬲讴賲 乇丕 禺賵丕賴賲 丿丕卮鬲 倬爻 亘賴鬲乇 丕爻鬲 讴丕乇賴丕蹖蹖 讴賴 丿賵爻鬲 丿丕乇賲 丕賳噩丕賲 亘丿賴賲.禄貨 芦賴乇 讴爻蹖 賲蹖鬲賵丕賳爻鬲 禺賵亘 亘丕卮丿貙 丕蹖賳讴賴 噩乇卅鬲 賳賲蹖禺賵丕爻鬲!禄貨 芦禺蹖賱蹖 禺亘 禺丿丕貙 賮乇囟 賲蹖讴賳蹖賲 鬲賵 賵丕賯毓丕 賲乇丕 丿乇 丕蹖賳 卮乇丕蹖胤 賯乇丕乇 丿丕丿賴 丕蹖 鬲丕 丕賲鬲丨丕賳賲 讴賳蹖. 鬲賵 賲乇丕 亘丕 賲卮讴賱鬲乇蹖賳 丕賲鬲丨丕賳賴丕 蹖毓賳蹖 倬丿乇 賵 賲丕丿乇貙 賵 噩賵卮賴丕蹖賲 亘賴 丌夭賲賵賳 讴卮蹖丿蹖. 賮讴乇 讴賳賲 丕賲鬲丨丕賳鬲 乇丕 賯亘賵賱 卮丿賲鈥� 讴卮蹖卮 亘賴 賲丕 诏賮鬲 讴賴 賴蹖趩賵賯鬲 卮讴 賳讴賳蹖丿. 亘賴 趩蹖 卮讴 賳讴賳蹖賲責 賴賲蹖卮賴 亘蹖卮 丕夭 丨丿 亘賴 賲賳 爻禺鬲 诏乇賮鬲賴 丕蹖貙 倬爻 賲賳 丕夭鬲 賲蹖禺賵丕賴賲 讴賴 亘蹖丕蹖蹖 倬丕蹖蹖賳 賵 卮讴 賲乇丕 亘乇胤乇賮 讴賳蹖!禄貨 芦賳賲蹖卮丿 亘賴 丌丿賲賴丕 丕毓鬲賲丕丿 讴乇丿. 賴乇 胤賵乇 丨爻丕亘 賲蹖讴乇丿蹖 亘丕夭 丌丿賲賴丕 丕乇夭卮 丕毓鬲賲丕丿 讴乇丿賳 賳丿丕卮鬲賳丿.禄貨 芦丿乇 讴鬲丕亘禺丕賳賴 乇丕賴 賲蹖乇賮鬲賲 賵 讴鬲丕亘賴丕 乇丕 賳诏丕賴 賲蹖讴乇丿賲. 蹖讴蹖 蹖讴蹖 丕夭 賯賮爻賴 丿乇 賲蹖丌賵乇丿賲. 賴賲賴 卮丕賳 丕丨賲賯丕賳賴 賵 亘蹖 乇賵丨 亘賵丿賳丿. 氐賮丨賴 賴丕 倬乇 丕夭 讴賱賲丕鬲 亘賵丿賳丿貙 賵賱蹖 趩蹖夭蹖 亘乇丕蹖 诏賮鬲賳 賵噩賵丿 賳丿丕卮鬲. 丕诏乇 賴賲 丨乇賮蹖 丿丕卮鬲賳丿貙 丌賳賯丿乇 讴卮 賲蹖丿丕丿賳丿 讴賴 賵賯鬲蹖 亘賴 丌賳 丨乇賮 賲蹖乇爻蹖丿蹖 丿蹖诏乇 丨爻丕亘蹖 丕夭 丨賵氐賱賴 丕賮鬲丕丿賴 亘賵丿蹖.禄貨 倬丕蹖丕賳 賳賯賱. 丕. 卮乇亘蹖丕賳蹖
March 29, 2010
It all started in 7th grade with these stupid clubs they made us join. Some kind of 鈥済et involved鈥� self esteem horseshit. Every other Friday was club day. An hour before school let out everyone had to pick a club to go to. They gave us a list. I left mine blank, so they put me in the Sports Cards Collecting Club. Better than the Baking Club, I guess. My friend Joe, whose dad was president of the Charles County fire department, didn鈥檛 leave his blank. He actually chose the Sports Card Collecting Club. The first Friday came. Same boring shit classes as usual. Then it was time to meet for our clubs. I had smoked a few cigarettes in the boys room before showing up, and was late. They gave us free football cards. I only like football when it鈥檚 tackle in the street without pads. Pads are for pussies. On top of that they gave us Redskin cards. Everybody was a Redskin fan, so I hated the Redskins. These cards: burning material.
Joe spent that night at my house. Usually we stayed up trying to watch porn. HBO tits and an occasion bush through a fuzzy screen, because my cheap parents wouldn鈥檛 get pay channels. Softcore stuff was all there was then. No internet. This softcore stuff never showed cock though. That was good. I hate seeing another guy鈥檚 cock.
But that night all we could think about was lighting those Redskins on fire. After polishing off my Dad鈥檚 bottle of Wild Turkey, we went to bed. When we woke up the next morning, Joe threw up. I probably drank twice as much as he did. That shit for brains can鈥檛 ever hold his liquor. He didn鈥檛 even eat the scrambled eggs my mom made for breakfast. So I ate his too. My mother always told me that she loved me. I didn鈥檛 love her, but she made good eggs. When my mom went upstairs Joe said I ate those eggs like they were Marilyn Monroe鈥檚 cunt. Now I don鈥檛 mind having my dick sucked, but I never eat pussy, so I punched him in the face. Now he had a black eye and his headache hurt worse; because while I may have small hands, I always hit hard. People remember it when I hit them.
After this we went into the woods behind my house to burn those cards. We started cautious because it was windy and there were lots of leaves on the ground. It was so sweet watching those cards melt and burn. But that got old, so I said, 鈥淛oe, this burning football cards is for goddamn children.鈥� Joe just shrugged his shoulders. All he ever did was shrug his fucking shoulders. I kind of liked that about him.
I decided to light a few small piles of leaves. Now that鈥檚 a fire. Burn baby, burn. I was starting to feel alive. We found a bucket and put the fires out with water from the creek. No problem. I couldn鈥檛 get enough though. Who could? Fire is life. Things need to burn, wither, and be destroyed. Life is this type of destruction: a fire slowly charring us until we鈥檙e seven feet under hanging with the worms.....
So I made larger, better fires. BURN BABY, BURN, BURN, BURN. If only there had been whiskey left for this occasion. Then one of the fires got out of control. The wind took it into more leaves and then into some trees. Joe tried throwing water on it, but there was no putting out this fire. I just stood and watched the beautiful destruction I had created. Joe started coughing from the smoke and threw up again. Then he ran back up to my house. I just stayed and watched, waiting on the sirens.....
It finally took nine fire trucks to take that sucker down. I wanted to see a house burn. Came close, but no cigar. I was always coming close but never really getting anywhere, it seemed. It was Mr. Robinson's house that almost got it. Twenty more yards and it would have happened. But I at least had seven acres to my credit.
The whole neighborhood showed up for the event. I didn鈥檛 run or act like it wasn鈥檛 me. Only pussies run. Joe showed up too. And would you believe that he was crying? Others were crying too. Like Mrs Robinson. And my mother. And people actually tried hugging me. I guess they felt sorry for me. I didn鈥檛 feel sorry for myself. A friend鈥檚 mom gave me a big hug, told me she knew I wasn鈥檛 really a bad kid deep down. I got a nice hold of her ass as she hugged me. It wasn鈥檛 bad for her age.
I went home and my parents tried to ground me. But that shit never works. I had had my fun. I even had a few beers in my coat pockets that I had taken from Mr. Robinson鈥檚 garage. It was a better day than most.
Joe spent that night at my house. Usually we stayed up trying to watch porn. HBO tits and an occasion bush through a fuzzy screen, because my cheap parents wouldn鈥檛 get pay channels. Softcore stuff was all there was then. No internet. This softcore stuff never showed cock though. That was good. I hate seeing another guy鈥檚 cock.
But that night all we could think about was lighting those Redskins on fire. After polishing off my Dad鈥檚 bottle of Wild Turkey, we went to bed. When we woke up the next morning, Joe threw up. I probably drank twice as much as he did. That shit for brains can鈥檛 ever hold his liquor. He didn鈥檛 even eat the scrambled eggs my mom made for breakfast. So I ate his too. My mother always told me that she loved me. I didn鈥檛 love her, but she made good eggs. When my mom went upstairs Joe said I ate those eggs like they were Marilyn Monroe鈥檚 cunt. Now I don鈥檛 mind having my dick sucked, but I never eat pussy, so I punched him in the face. Now he had a black eye and his headache hurt worse; because while I may have small hands, I always hit hard. People remember it when I hit them.
After this we went into the woods behind my house to burn those cards. We started cautious because it was windy and there were lots of leaves on the ground. It was so sweet watching those cards melt and burn. But that got old, so I said, 鈥淛oe, this burning football cards is for goddamn children.鈥� Joe just shrugged his shoulders. All he ever did was shrug his fucking shoulders. I kind of liked that about him.
I decided to light a few small piles of leaves. Now that鈥檚 a fire. Burn baby, burn. I was starting to feel alive. We found a bucket and put the fires out with water from the creek. No problem. I couldn鈥檛 get enough though. Who could? Fire is life. Things need to burn, wither, and be destroyed. Life is this type of destruction: a fire slowly charring us until we鈥檙e seven feet under hanging with the worms.....
So I made larger, better fires. BURN BABY, BURN, BURN, BURN. If only there had been whiskey left for this occasion. Then one of the fires got out of control. The wind took it into more leaves and then into some trees. Joe tried throwing water on it, but there was no putting out this fire. I just stood and watched the beautiful destruction I had created. Joe started coughing from the smoke and threw up again. Then he ran back up to my house. I just stayed and watched, waiting on the sirens.....
It finally took nine fire trucks to take that sucker down. I wanted to see a house burn. Came close, but no cigar. I was always coming close but never really getting anywhere, it seemed. It was Mr. Robinson's house that almost got it. Twenty more yards and it would have happened. But I at least had seven acres to my credit.
The whole neighborhood showed up for the event. I didn鈥檛 run or act like it wasn鈥檛 me. Only pussies run. Joe showed up too. And would you believe that he was crying? Others were crying too. Like Mrs Robinson. And my mother. And people actually tried hugging me. I guess they felt sorry for me. I didn鈥檛 feel sorry for myself. A friend鈥檚 mom gave me a big hug, told me she knew I wasn鈥檛 really a bad kid deep down. I got a nice hold of her ass as she hugged me. It wasn鈥檛 bad for her age.
I went home and my parents tried to ground me. But that shit never works. I had had my fun. I even had a few beers in my coat pockets that I had taken from Mr. Robinson鈥檚 garage. It was a better day than most.
June 7, 2007
I hate Charles Bukowski.
January 1, 2018
賲賵噩毓 賴匕丕 丕賱賳氐 鬲毓丕胤賮鬲 賲毓 賴賳乇賷 (氐丕丨亘賳丕 亘賵賰賵賮爻賰賷) 賵賰匕賱賰 賲毓 賵丕賱丿丞 賴賳乇賷 賵賴賷 鬲毓丕賳賷 賲賳 爻賵亍 鬲氐乇賮 賵丕賱丿賴丕 賵亘丿兀鬲 兀毓賷 丨噩賲 丕賱賲毓丕賳丕丞 丕賱鬲賷 賵賱丿 賵爻胤賴丕 賴匕丕 丕賱亘賵賰賵賮爻賰賷 賵爻胤 廿賳賭賴賷丕乇 賵丕賱丿賴 鬲噩丕乇賷賸丕 賮賷 兀賱賲丕賳賷丕 亘毓丿 丕賱丨乇亘 丕賱毓丕賱賲賷丞 丕賱兀賵賱賶 賵廿爻鬲賯乇丕乇賴賲 賮賷 賱賵爻 兀賳噩賱賵爻 賵賰賷賮 兀孬乇 賵丕賱丿賴 毓賱賷賴 亘鬲氐乇賮賴 鬲噩丕賴 賵丕賱丿鬲賴 賵亘丿丕賷丞 丕賱賲禺夭賵賳 丕賱賱睾賵賷 丕賱賯匕乇 丕賱匕賷 爻噩賱賴 賮賷 爻賷乇鬲賴 丕賱乇賵丕卅賷丞 賮賷 賰賱 兀毓賲丕賱賴 賱賲毓丕賳丕丞 賵丕賱丿賴 亘爻亘亘 毓丿賲 賵噩賵丿 毓賲賱 賷毓賷賳賴. 賴匕丕 睾賷乇 賰賲賷丞 爻賵亍 丕賱賲毓丕賲賱丞 賲賳 廿賴丕賳丞 賵囟乇亘 鬲賱賯鬲賴丕 丕賱兀賲 賵丕賱兀亘賳丕亍 賲毓賸丕.
賮賷 賴匕丕 丕賱噩夭亍 賷毓賵丿 亘賵賰賵賮爻賰賷 兀賵 賳賯賱 亘胤賱 丕賱賳氐 "賴賳乇賷 鬲卮賷賳丕爻賰賷" 賱賱噩匕賵乇 鈥� 丕賱賵賱丕丿丞. 賷賯賵賲 亘鬲卮乇賷丨 丕賱賲賰丕賳 賵丕賱夭賲丕賳 賲賳 禺賱丕賱 丕賱毓丕卅賱丞貙 賵丕賱兀賮毓丕賱 丕賱鬲賷 爻賵賮 鬲毓卮卮 賮賷 匕丕賰乇鬲賴 賱爻賳賵丕鬲 胤賵賷賱丞. 賴賳丕 兀毓鬲賯丿 亘丿兀鬲 兀毓賷 亘毓囟 兀賮賰丕乇 賵丨賷丕丞 亘賵賰賵賮爻賰賷... 賴賳丕 賮賷 賴匕丕 丕賱噩夭亍 丕賱胤賮賵賱丞 賵丕賱賲乇丕賴賯丞 賵丕賱囟乇亘 亘賵丕爻胤丞 丨夭丕賲 丕賱亘賳胤賱賵賳 - 賷亘丿賵 兀賳賴 兀丿丕丞 丕賱囟乇亘 丕賱賵丨賷丿丞 賷 匕賱賰 丕賱賵賯鬲- 賵丕賱鬲毓乇賮 毓賱賶 丕賱賰丨賵賱 丕賱胤乇賷賯 丕賱匕賷 爻賷賵噩毓賳丕 亘賴 亘賵賰賵賮爻賰賷. 胤賵丕賱 丨賷丕鬲賴. 賰匕賱賰 鬲賵孬賯 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 賱兀孬乇 丕賱賰爻丕丿 丕賱匕賷 囟乇亘 兀賲乇賷賰丕 賵睾賷乇賴丕 亘爻亘亘 丕賱丨乇亘 丕賱毓丕賱賲賷丞 丕賱锟斤拷丕賳賷丞. 賰匕賱賰 卮亘丕亘 亘賵賰賵賮爻賰賷 丕賱賲囟胤乇亘 鬲噩丿賴 賮賷 賰賱 賴匕賴 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 亘賷賳 兀賱賲丕賳賷丕 賵丕賲乇賷賰丕.
丕賱鬲胤賵乇 丕賱匕賷 丨丿孬 賮賷 賲爻鬲賵賶 丕賱賱睾丞 丕賱卮毓乇賷丞 毓賳丿 亘賵賰賵賮爻賰賷 賷賳胤賱賯 賲賳 胤丕賵賱丕鬲 賲丿乇爻鬲賴 賵賴賵 氐睾賷乇 賵賲賳 賲賳夭賱賴 丨賷孬 賵丕賱丿賴 丕賱匕賷 賷亘丿賵 兀賳賴 賵乇孬 毓賳賴 賯丕賲賵爻賸丕 兀囟丕賮 賱賴 丕賱賰孬賷乇. 賰賳鬲 兀賯賮 賲爻鬲睾乇亘賸丌 亘賷賳 賯丿乇丞 賴匕丕 丕賱乇噩賱 毓賱賶 丕賱鬲賲丕丿賷 賮賷 丕賱卮鬲賲 賵丕賱賱毓賳 賵匕賰乇 鬲賮丕氐賷賱 丕賱丨賷丕丞 丕賱噩賳爻賷丞.. 兀毓鬲賯丿 賰賳鬲 兀卮毓乇 亘賴 賷賮噩賾乇 匕賱賰 丕賱睾囟亘 毓賱賶 丕賱賵乇賯 賵兀鬲禺賷賱 賷毓賱賲 兀賳賴 賷賰乇乇 賳賮爻賴 賱賰賳 賷兀亘賶 丕賱賵賯賵賮.
爻賷乇 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 賲賳 賳丕丨賷丞 丕賱亘賳丕亍 噩賷丿 噩丿賸丕.
賷氐賾賵乇 胤賮賵賱鬲賴 賵丕賱丨賷丕丞 丕賱廿賲乇賷賰賷丞 廿亘丕賳 丕賱丨乇亘 丕賱毓丕賱賲賷丞 丕賱孬丕賳賷丞 賮賷 賱睾丞 爻乇丿賷丞 乇丕卅毓丞貙 賵乇睾賲 卮丕毓乇賷丞 亘賵賰賮爻賰賷 廿賱丕 兀賳賴 匕賰賷 賮賷 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 賱丕 賷鬲賰賱賮 賮賷 丕賱賳氐. 賯乇兀鬲 賱賴 乇賵丕賷鬲丕賳 亘賱睾鬲賴丕 丕賱兀賲. 丨賯賷賯丞 賱丕 賷鬲賰賱賮 乇睾賲 兀賳 賱丿賷賴 賲氐胤賱丨丕鬲 禺丕氐丞 亘丕賱丨賷丕丞 丕賱兀賲乇賷賰賷丞 賵禺丕氐丞 亘丨賷丕丞 丕賱兀賲乇賷賰賷賷賳 鈥� 丕賱毓丕賲丞 鈥� 乇賵丕丿 丕賱丨丕賳丕鬲 賵爻丕賰賳賵 丕賱丨賲丕乇丕鬲.
廿爻鬲賲乇丕乇賷丞 廿爻鬲賴賱丕賰 賰賱賲丕鬲 丕賱亘匕丕亍丞 亘丿兀鬲 兀賲賱賾賴購 禺氐賵氐賸丕 賵兀賳丕 賯乇兀鬲 賰賱 爻賷乇鬲賴 丕賱乇賵丕卅賷丞 (賲鬲賵丕氐賱丞) 賵賴匕丕 丕賱噩夭亍 丕賱乇丕亘毓 賱匕丕 兀卮毓乇 亘賯賷賲丞 賲丕 兀賺賵賱 賲賳 鬲匕賰乇賷 賱賰孬乇丞 丨丿賷孬 丕賱噩賳爻 賵丕賱賳爻丕亍 賵賰兀賳賴 賮賷賱賲 廿亘丕丨賷 鬲毓賷丿 賲卮丕賴丿鬲賴 賲乇丞 鬲賱賵 賲乇丞 鬲賱賵 賲乇丞. 賱賵賱丕 丕賱賰賵賰賷丿賷丕 丕賱爻丕禺乇丞 丕賱鬲賷 鬲賳鬲卮乇 亘賷賳 賲賯丕胤毓 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賱賰丕賳 丕賱賵囟毓 賲禺鬲賱賮.
賮賷 賴匕丕 丕賱噩夭亍 賷毓賵丿 亘賵賰賵賮爻賰賷 兀賵 賳賯賱 亘胤賱 丕賱賳氐 "賴賳乇賷 鬲卮賷賳丕爻賰賷" 賱賱噩匕賵乇 鈥� 丕賱賵賱丕丿丞. 賷賯賵賲 亘鬲卮乇賷丨 丕賱賲賰丕賳 賵丕賱夭賲丕賳 賲賳 禺賱丕賱 丕賱毓丕卅賱丞貙 賵丕賱兀賮毓丕賱 丕賱鬲賷 爻賵賮 鬲毓卮卮 賮賷 匕丕賰乇鬲賴 賱爻賳賵丕鬲 胤賵賷賱丞. 賴賳丕 兀毓鬲賯丿 亘丿兀鬲 兀毓賷 亘毓囟 兀賮賰丕乇 賵丨賷丕丞 亘賵賰賵賮爻賰賷... 賴賳丕 賮賷 賴匕丕 丕賱噩夭亍 丕賱胤賮賵賱丞 賵丕賱賲乇丕賴賯丞 賵丕賱囟乇亘 亘賵丕爻胤丞 丨夭丕賲 丕賱亘賳胤賱賵賳 - 賷亘丿賵 兀賳賴 兀丿丕丞 丕賱囟乇亘 丕賱賵丨賷丿丞 賷 匕賱賰 丕賱賵賯鬲- 賵丕賱鬲毓乇賮 毓賱賶 丕賱賰丨賵賱 丕賱胤乇賷賯 丕賱匕賷 爻賷賵噩毓賳丕 亘賴 亘賵賰賵賮爻賰賷. 胤賵丕賱 丨賷丕鬲賴. 賰匕賱賰 鬲賵孬賯 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 賱兀孬乇 丕賱賰爻丕丿 丕賱匕賷 囟乇亘 兀賲乇賷賰丕 賵睾賷乇賴丕 亘爻亘亘 丕賱丨乇亘 丕賱毓丕賱賲賷丞 丕賱锟斤拷丕賳賷丞. 賰匕賱賰 卮亘丕亘 亘賵賰賵賮爻賰賷 丕賱賲囟胤乇亘 鬲噩丿賴 賮賷 賰賱 賴匕賴 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 亘賷賳 兀賱賲丕賳賷丕 賵丕賲乇賷賰丕.
丕賱鬲胤賵乇 丕賱匕賷 丨丿孬 賮賷 賲爻鬲賵賶 丕賱賱睾丞 丕賱卮毓乇賷丞 毓賳丿 亘賵賰賵賮爻賰賷 賷賳胤賱賯 賲賳 胤丕賵賱丕鬲 賲丿乇爻鬲賴 賵賴賵 氐睾賷乇 賵賲賳 賲賳夭賱賴 丨賷孬 賵丕賱丿賴 丕賱匕賷 賷亘丿賵 兀賳賴 賵乇孬 毓賳賴 賯丕賲賵爻賸丕 兀囟丕賮 賱賴 丕賱賰孬賷乇. 賰賳鬲 兀賯賮 賲爻鬲睾乇亘賸丌 亘賷賳 賯丿乇丞 賴匕丕 丕賱乇噩賱 毓賱賶 丕賱鬲賲丕丿賷 賮賷 丕賱卮鬲賲 賵丕賱賱毓賳 賵匕賰乇 鬲賮丕氐賷賱 丕賱丨賷丕丞 丕賱噩賳爻賷丞.. 兀毓鬲賯丿 賰賳鬲 兀卮毓乇 亘賴 賷賮噩賾乇 匕賱賰 丕賱睾囟亘 毓賱賶 丕賱賵乇賯 賵兀鬲禺賷賱 賷毓賱賲 兀賳賴 賷賰乇乇 賳賮爻賴 賱賰賳 賷兀亘賶 丕賱賵賯賵賮.
爻賷乇 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 賲賳 賳丕丨賷丞 丕賱亘賳丕亍 噩賷丿 噩丿賸丕.
賷氐賾賵乇 胤賮賵賱鬲賴 賵丕賱丨賷丕丞 丕賱廿賲乇賷賰賷丞 廿亘丕賳 丕賱丨乇亘 丕賱毓丕賱賲賷丞 丕賱孬丕賳賷丞 賮賷 賱睾丞 爻乇丿賷丞 乇丕卅毓丞貙 賵乇睾賲 卮丕毓乇賷丞 亘賵賰賮爻賰賷 廿賱丕 兀賳賴 匕賰賷 賮賷 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 賱丕 賷鬲賰賱賮 賮賷 丕賱賳氐. 賯乇兀鬲 賱賴 乇賵丕賷鬲丕賳 亘賱睾鬲賴丕 丕賱兀賲. 丨賯賷賯丞 賱丕 賷鬲賰賱賮 乇睾賲 兀賳 賱丿賷賴 賲氐胤賱丨丕鬲 禺丕氐丞 亘丕賱丨賷丕丞 丕賱兀賲乇賷賰賷丞 賵禺丕氐丞 亘丨賷丕丞 丕賱兀賲乇賷賰賷賷賳 鈥� 丕賱毓丕賲丞 鈥� 乇賵丕丿 丕賱丨丕賳丕鬲 賵爻丕賰賳賵 丕賱丨賲丕乇丕鬲.
廿爻鬲賲乇丕乇賷丞 廿爻鬲賴賱丕賰 賰賱賲丕鬲 丕賱亘匕丕亍丞 亘丿兀鬲 兀賲賱賾賴購 禺氐賵氐賸丕 賵兀賳丕 賯乇兀鬲 賰賱 爻賷乇鬲賴 丕賱乇賵丕卅賷丞 (賲鬲賵丕氐賱丞) 賵賴匕丕 丕賱噩夭亍 丕賱乇丕亘毓 賱匕丕 兀卮毓乇 亘賯賷賲丞 賲丕 兀賺賵賱 賲賳 鬲匕賰乇賷 賱賰孬乇丞 丨丿賷孬 丕賱噩賳爻 賵丕賱賳爻丕亍 賵賰兀賳賴 賮賷賱賲 廿亘丕丨賷 鬲毓賷丿 賲卮丕賴丿鬲賴 賲乇丞 鬲賱賵 賲乇丞 鬲賱賵 賲乇丞. 賱賵賱丕 丕賱賰賵賰賷丿賷丕 丕賱爻丕禺乇丞 丕賱鬲賷 鬲賳鬲卮乇 亘賷賳 賲賯丕胤毓 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賱賰丕賳 丕賱賵囟毓 賲禺鬲賱賮.
August 16, 2016
Holy shit!
This is the story of Henry Chenaski, Charles Bukowski鈥檚 alter ego, who had a helluva depressing childhood in large part due to a father who was a real son of a bitch and whom I blame for Henry鈥檚 later love of the bottle, to a lesser extent due to the Depression that hit the States, and Los Angeles, when Henry grew up.
My heart bled for young Henry; like when his father forced him to mow the lawn when all the other kids on the street were out playing. When Henry was done, his father put his head down on the lawn, cheek on grass, spotted a stray blade of grass and .
There was something about his loneliness and his plight, in the first part of the book, which reminded me of Holden Cauldfield (). Both Henry and Holden throw around goddamned tough language whenever possible but are essentially lost kids. (There鈥檚 even the word 鈥榬ye鈥� in the titles of both stories, surely two of the only titles in literary history to use that word).
Apart from his pestilential father, Henry suffered from the meanest boils imaginable and went through a horrible ordeal for years trying to get rid of them while being painfully aware that a head full of boils (not to mention a back) didn鈥檛 exactly attract the girls. At this point he met one of the few good people to cross his path during his childhood, the nurse who treated him for the boils: 鈥楽he was the kindest person I鈥檇 met in eight years.鈥� (Henry鈥檚 mother wasn鈥檛 unkind to Henry; she just didn鈥檛 stop Henry鈥檚 father but rather joined Henry in his victimhood).
As Henry grew up, the graphic details increased. There were perhaps one or two of these I could have done without, but you sense it鈥檚 part of the honesty project here; if Henry (a.k.a. Charles) thought about these things 鈥� as there鈥檚 evidence to support he did, excessively so 鈥� they went into the book. He got more obsessed with girls (and their legs, and their hair, and their鈥�.), and as he grew older, he became obsessed with women. And with booze. He turned into the Bukowski I鈥檇 read about. This novel provided much of the background.
Here鈥檚 another classic and perhaps even defining situation: Right after his high school graduation, Henry鈥檚 father is 鈥� once again 鈥� on Henry鈥檚 case about not amounting to much. 鈥榃hy did I have a son like you?鈥� he says to Henry, comparing him to some other kid. 鈥楬ow come you never applied yourself?鈥� etc. etc. No congratulations, no 鈥榞ood job, son 鈥� you did what I never managed to do鈥�. None of that. I found myself saying out loud,
While I felt for the kid Henry Chenaski, I felt increasingly annoyed with his unpleasant adult self who, perhaps unsurprisingly, seemed bent on drinking himself into a stupor and general oblivion whenever possible, picking fights and heading deliberately for the low life on skid row. As a young man he seemed determined to become a loser while disdaining anyone who wasn鈥檛. Though somehow: Who could blame him?
It felt good to sit alone in a small space and smoke and drink. I had always been good company for myself.
Henry鈥檚 existential derailment seemed circular and monotonous towards the end, which perhaps underlines the authenticity and the tragedy of his life if not the sense of literary appreciation on my part. Still, there were many linguistic gems 鈥� in that completely non-show-off-y kind of way, which in some ways also characterizes Catcher: an informal, mid-20th century, colloquial tone which lays bare a life, sometimes annoys, sometimes draws on your sympathy, sometimes makes you laugh and often gives you glimpses of what kind of writer Hank/Charles was to become.
Potential landlord: You working?
Henry: I鈥檓 a writer
PL: You don鈥檛 look like a writer
H: What do they look like?
Even in Henry鈥檚 increasing feeling of alienation, we sense something else underneath the scarred surface, an energy with which he might learn to suppress his apparent death wish.
Words weren鈥檛 dull, words were things that could make your mind hum. If you read them and let yourself feel the magic, you could live without pain, with hope, no matter what happened to you.
This is the story of Henry Chenaski, Charles Bukowski鈥檚 alter ego, who had a helluva depressing childhood in large part due to a father who was a real son of a bitch and whom I blame for Henry鈥檚 later love of the bottle, to a lesser extent due to the Depression that hit the States, and Los Angeles, when Henry grew up.
My heart bled for young Henry; like when his father forced him to mow the lawn when all the other kids on the street were out playing. When Henry was done, his father put his head down on the lawn, cheek on grass, spotted a stray blade of grass and .
There was something about his loneliness and his plight, in the first part of the book, which reminded me of Holden Cauldfield (). Both Henry and Holden throw around goddamned tough language whenever possible but are essentially lost kids. (There鈥檚 even the word 鈥榬ye鈥� in the titles of both stories, surely two of the only titles in literary history to use that word).
Apart from his pestilential father, Henry suffered from the meanest boils imaginable and went through a horrible ordeal for years trying to get rid of them while being painfully aware that a head full of boils (not to mention a back) didn鈥檛 exactly attract the girls. At this point he met one of the few good people to cross his path during his childhood, the nurse who treated him for the boils: 鈥楽he was the kindest person I鈥檇 met in eight years.鈥� (Henry鈥檚 mother wasn鈥檛 unkind to Henry; she just didn鈥檛 stop Henry鈥檚 father but rather joined Henry in his victimhood).
As Henry grew up, the graphic details increased. There were perhaps one or two of these I could have done without, but you sense it鈥檚 part of the honesty project here; if Henry (a.k.a. Charles) thought about these things 鈥� as there鈥檚 evidence to support he did, excessively so 鈥� they went into the book. He got more obsessed with girls (and their legs, and their hair, and their鈥�.), and as he grew older, he became obsessed with women. And with booze. He turned into the Bukowski I鈥檇 read about. This novel provided much of the background.
Here鈥檚 another classic and perhaps even defining situation: Right after his high school graduation, Henry鈥檚 father is 鈥� once again 鈥� on Henry鈥檚 case about not amounting to much. 鈥榃hy did I have a son like you?鈥� he says to Henry, comparing him to some other kid. 鈥楬ow come you never applied yourself?鈥� etc. etc. No congratulations, no 鈥榞ood job, son 鈥� you did what I never managed to do鈥�. None of that. I found myself saying out loud,
While I felt for the kid Henry Chenaski, I felt increasingly annoyed with his unpleasant adult self who, perhaps unsurprisingly, seemed bent on drinking himself into a stupor and general oblivion whenever possible, picking fights and heading deliberately for the low life on skid row. As a young man he seemed determined to become a loser while disdaining anyone who wasn鈥檛. Though somehow: Who could blame him?
It felt good to sit alone in a small space and smoke and drink. I had always been good company for myself.
Henry鈥檚 existential derailment seemed circular and monotonous towards the end, which perhaps underlines the authenticity and the tragedy of his life if not the sense of literary appreciation on my part. Still, there were many linguistic gems 鈥� in that completely non-show-off-y kind of way, which in some ways also characterizes Catcher: an informal, mid-20th century, colloquial tone which lays bare a life, sometimes annoys, sometimes draws on your sympathy, sometimes makes you laugh and often gives you glimpses of what kind of writer Hank/Charles was to become.
Potential landlord: You working?
Henry: I鈥檓 a writer
PL: You don鈥檛 look like a writer
H: What do they look like?
Even in Henry鈥檚 increasing feeling of alienation, we sense something else underneath the scarred surface, an energy with which he might learn to suppress his apparent death wish.
Words weren鈥檛 dull, words were things that could make your mind hum. If you read them and let yourself feel the magic, you could live without pain, with hope, no matter what happened to you.
June 9, 2024
"Lo mejor del dormitorio era la cama. Me gustaba estar en la cama durante horas, incluso de d铆a, con las s谩banas subidas hasta la barbilla. All铆 se estaba bien, nunca ocurr铆a nada. No hab铆a gente, nada."
Por fin me decido a leer algo de este controvertido escritor norteamericano.
Y la experiencia, aunque no ha cubierto del todo las expectativas que ten铆a, s铆 me ha parecido una buena lectura para comenzar a leer a este autor.
"No val铆a la pena confiar en ning煤n otro ser humano. Los hombres no se merec铆an esa confianza, fueran quienes fueran.'
Nacido como Heinrich Karl Bukowski un 16 de agosto de 1920 en听Andernach, Alemania,听fue un escritor que represent贸 al realismo sucio y que enfatiz贸 su perspectiva del mundo a trav茅s de historias llenas de esos excesos que le rodearon durante toda su vida,听tales como el alcoholismo, la pobreza y una vida al margen de la sociedad que tanto le caracteriz贸.
Narra la infancia, adolescencia y primeros a帽os de juventud de Henry (芦Hank禄) Chinaski, como un alter ego del propio autor, siendo esta novela y otras donde Chinaski es el protagonista, una narraci贸n autobiogr谩fica; dura y contundente.
En ella aborda multitud de temas que marcaron su vida; la pobreza, el mito del sue帽o americano, la violencia, los abusos dom茅sticos, la crueldad, el alcohol en tanto que le sirvi贸 como una v谩lvula de escape, la sexualidad precoz y el desencanto por la vida en general. Algo en lo que contribuy贸 en demas铆a la relaci贸n con sus padres, en especial con su padre que por menos que nada le estaba arreando con una badana de cuero por hechos tan nimios como no cortar el c茅sped a la perfecci贸n, este extracto me pareci贸 brutal, no daba cr茅dito a lo que mis ojos le铆an. Y tambi茅n su madre en una constante posici贸n sumisa en la crianza de Chinaski, casi venerando el comportamiento del padre y justificando su comportamiento y nunca apoyando a su hijo. Todo esto ambientado en los barrios bajos de una gran urbe como Los 脕ngeles, tenemos el caldo de cultivo perfecto para crear a personajes sin esperanzas ni motivaci贸n en sus vidas, donde la norma es estar en paro y andar de un lado para otro sin saber exactamente en qu茅 malgastar tu tiempo.
Como tel贸n de fondo tenemos en primer lugar a la Gran Depresi贸n para luego pasar a la participaci贸n de los Estados Unidos en la Segunda Guerra Mundial.
"Mi madre iba cada ma帽ana a su mal pagado trabajo y mi padre, que no ten铆a trabajo, tambi茅n sal铆a cada ma帽ana. Aunque la mayor铆a de los vecinos estaban sin empleo, 茅l no quer铆a que advirtieran que estaba parado."
Es una novela con un estilo directo, sin recurrir a ning煤n tipo de artificios ni estrategias literarias, te narra lo que se le pasa por la cabeza as铆, tal cual. Con frases cortas, directas y una gran multitud de di谩logos donde demuestra su absoluta falta de fe en el ser humano, que hacen de esta una lectura muy din谩mica aunque no redonda.
Otra cosa que me ha encantado es ese humor 谩cido y mordaz que rezuman sus p谩ginas, adem谩s de las m煤ltiples reflexiones sobre la vida que nos encontramos; "Todo lo que necesitaba una persona era una听oportunidad. Siempre hab铆a alguien controlando qui茅n pod铆a tener una oportunidad y qui茅n no."
Por otra parte he sentido el estilo un tanto repetitivo sobre todo en lo concerniente a situaciones en las que el sexo, las peleas y el alcohol son protagonistas.
La traducci贸n tampoco me ha parecido nada destacable.
A煤n as铆 es una lectura que recomiendo a todo aquel que quiera acercarse a la prosa del controvertido Charles Bukowski y conocer as铆 a su alter ego Henry Chinaski; un joven que vive sometido a las continuas palizas de su padre, un adolescente al que la vida y sus circunstancias lo han hecho ser duro, solitario, excluido socialmente por un severo caso de acn茅, un proyecto de alcoh贸lico, de ciudadano de segunda y tambi茅n de escritor.
"La vida del hombre normal y sano era tediosa, peor que la muerte. Parec铆a no haber alternativa posible. Y la educaci贸n tambi茅n era una trampa. La poca educaci贸n a la que me hab铆a permitido acceder me hab铆a hecho m谩s suspicaz. 驴Qu茅 es lo que eran los doctores, abogados y cient铆ficos? Tan solo eran hombres que hab铆an permitido que los privaran de su libertad de pensar y actuar como individuos."
驴Te animas a leerlo? Si lo has hecho ya, 驴qu茅 te pareci贸?, 驴con qu茅 novela deber铆a seguir leyendo al autor? 馃
馃摑 "Todos proven铆amos de familias v铆ctimas de la Depresi贸n y la mayor铆a hab铆amos sido mal alimentados, aunque por una extra帽a paradoja hab铆amos crecido enormemente. La mayor铆a de nosotros, creo, no hab铆a recibido el menor amor por parte de su familia, y tampoco lo necesitaba de nadie".
馃摑 "- 隆Ya est谩 bien de malditos libros! 隆Apaga las luces!.
Para m铆, esos hombres que se hab铆an introducido en mi vida provenientes de la nada, eran mi 煤nica oportunidad. Las 煤nicas voces que me hablaban."
馃枻馃摉
Por fin me decido a leer algo de este controvertido escritor norteamericano.
Y la experiencia, aunque no ha cubierto del todo las expectativas que ten铆a, s铆 me ha parecido una buena lectura para comenzar a leer a este autor.
"No val铆a la pena confiar en ning煤n otro ser humano. Los hombres no se merec铆an esa confianza, fueran quienes fueran.'
Nacido como Heinrich Karl Bukowski un 16 de agosto de 1920 en听Andernach, Alemania,听fue un escritor que represent贸 al realismo sucio y que enfatiz贸 su perspectiva del mundo a trav茅s de historias llenas de esos excesos que le rodearon durante toda su vida,听tales como el alcoholismo, la pobreza y una vida al margen de la sociedad que tanto le caracteriz贸.
Narra la infancia, adolescencia y primeros a帽os de juventud de Henry (芦Hank禄) Chinaski, como un alter ego del propio autor, siendo esta novela y otras donde Chinaski es el protagonista, una narraci贸n autobiogr谩fica; dura y contundente.
En ella aborda multitud de temas que marcaron su vida; la pobreza, el mito del sue帽o americano, la violencia, los abusos dom茅sticos, la crueldad, el alcohol en tanto que le sirvi贸 como una v谩lvula de escape, la sexualidad precoz y el desencanto por la vida en general. Algo en lo que contribuy贸 en demas铆a la relaci贸n con sus padres, en especial con su padre que por menos que nada le estaba arreando con una badana de cuero por hechos tan nimios como no cortar el c茅sped a la perfecci贸n, este extracto me pareci贸 brutal, no daba cr茅dito a lo que mis ojos le铆an. Y tambi茅n su madre en una constante posici贸n sumisa en la crianza de Chinaski, casi venerando el comportamiento del padre y justificando su comportamiento y nunca apoyando a su hijo. Todo esto ambientado en los barrios bajos de una gran urbe como Los 脕ngeles, tenemos el caldo de cultivo perfecto para crear a personajes sin esperanzas ni motivaci贸n en sus vidas, donde la norma es estar en paro y andar de un lado para otro sin saber exactamente en qu茅 malgastar tu tiempo.
Como tel贸n de fondo tenemos en primer lugar a la Gran Depresi贸n para luego pasar a la participaci贸n de los Estados Unidos en la Segunda Guerra Mundial.
"Mi madre iba cada ma帽ana a su mal pagado trabajo y mi padre, que no ten铆a trabajo, tambi茅n sal铆a cada ma帽ana. Aunque la mayor铆a de los vecinos estaban sin empleo, 茅l no quer铆a que advirtieran que estaba parado."
Es una novela con un estilo directo, sin recurrir a ning煤n tipo de artificios ni estrategias literarias, te narra lo que se le pasa por la cabeza as铆, tal cual. Con frases cortas, directas y una gran multitud de di谩logos donde demuestra su absoluta falta de fe en el ser humano, que hacen de esta una lectura muy din谩mica aunque no redonda.
Otra cosa que me ha encantado es ese humor 谩cido y mordaz que rezuman sus p谩ginas, adem谩s de las m煤ltiples reflexiones sobre la vida que nos encontramos; "Todo lo que necesitaba una persona era una听oportunidad. Siempre hab铆a alguien controlando qui茅n pod铆a tener una oportunidad y qui茅n no."
Por otra parte he sentido el estilo un tanto repetitivo sobre todo en lo concerniente a situaciones en las que el sexo, las peleas y el alcohol son protagonistas.
La traducci贸n tampoco me ha parecido nada destacable.
A煤n as铆 es una lectura que recomiendo a todo aquel que quiera acercarse a la prosa del controvertido Charles Bukowski y conocer as铆 a su alter ego Henry Chinaski; un joven que vive sometido a las continuas palizas de su padre, un adolescente al que la vida y sus circunstancias lo han hecho ser duro, solitario, excluido socialmente por un severo caso de acn茅, un proyecto de alcoh贸lico, de ciudadano de segunda y tambi茅n de escritor.
"La vida del hombre normal y sano era tediosa, peor que la muerte. Parec铆a no haber alternativa posible. Y la educaci贸n tambi茅n era una trampa. La poca educaci贸n a la que me hab铆a permitido acceder me hab铆a hecho m谩s suspicaz. 驴Qu茅 es lo que eran los doctores, abogados y cient铆ficos? Tan solo eran hombres que hab铆an permitido que los privaran de su libertad de pensar y actuar como individuos."
驴Te animas a leerlo? Si lo has hecho ya, 驴qu茅 te pareci贸?, 驴con qu茅 novela deber铆a seguir leyendo al autor? 馃
馃摑 "Todos proven铆amos de familias v铆ctimas de la Depresi贸n y la mayor铆a hab铆amos sido mal alimentados, aunque por una extra帽a paradoja hab铆amos crecido enormemente. La mayor铆a de nosotros, creo, no hab铆a recibido el menor amor por parte de su familia, y tampoco lo necesitaba de nadie".
馃摑 "- 隆Ya est谩 bien de malditos libros! 隆Apaga las luces!.
Para m铆, esos hombres que se hab铆an introducido en mi vida provenientes de la nada, eran mi 煤nica oportunidad. Las 煤nicas voces que me hablaban."
馃枻馃摉
May 21, 2023
"亘蹖卮鬲乇 丌丿賲鈥屬囏� 丿乇 鄄鄣 爻丕賱诏蹖 鬲賲丕賲 賲蹖鈥屫促堎嗀�
賵 亘毓丿 鬲亘丿蹖賱 賲蹖鈥屫促堎嗀� 亘賴 賲賱鬲蹖 亘蹖卮毓賵乇 讴賴 乇丕賳賳丿诏蹖 賲蹖讴賳丿貙 睾匕丕 賲蹖鈥屫堌必� 亘趩賴 丿丕乇 賲蹖鈥屫促堌� 賵 賴乇讴丕乇蹖 乇丕 亘賴 亘丿鬲乇蹖賳 卮讴賱卮 丕賳噩丕賲 賲蹖鈥屫囏� 賲丕賳賳丿 乇丕蹖 丿丕丿賳 亘賴 讴丕賳丿蹖丿丕蹖 乇蹖丕爻鬲 噩賲賴賵乇蹖貙 讴賴 丌賳鈥屬囏� 乇丕 蹖丕丿 禺賵丿卮丕賳 賲蹖鈥屸€屫з嗀ж藏�."
胤賳夭 鬲賱禺卮 賵 氐乇丕丨鬲 亘蹖 丨丿卮 賵 夭賴乇 讴賱丕賲卮 亘蹖 丕賳丿丕夭賴 亘乇丕賲 丕賮爻乇丿賴 讴賳賳丿賴 亘賵丿 :((
赖賲蹖賳.
賵 亘毓丿 鬲亘丿蹖賱 賲蹖鈥屫促堎嗀� 亘賴 賲賱鬲蹖 亘蹖卮毓賵乇 讴賴 乇丕賳賳丿诏蹖 賲蹖讴賳丿貙 睾匕丕 賲蹖鈥屫堌必� 亘趩賴 丿丕乇 賲蹖鈥屫促堌� 賵 賴乇讴丕乇蹖 乇丕 亘賴 亘丿鬲乇蹖賳 卮讴賱卮 丕賳噩丕賲 賲蹖鈥屫囏� 賲丕賳賳丿 乇丕蹖 丿丕丿賳 亘賴 讴丕賳丿蹖丿丕蹖 乇蹖丕爻鬲 噩賲賴賵乇蹖貙 讴賴 丌賳鈥屬囏� 乇丕 蹖丕丿 禺賵丿卮丕賳 賲蹖鈥屸€屫з嗀ж藏�."
胤賳夭 鬲賱禺卮 賵 氐乇丕丨鬲 亘蹖 丨丿卮 賵 夭賴乇 讴賱丕賲卮 亘蹖 丕賳丿丕夭賴 亘乇丕賲 丕賮爻乇丿賴 讴賳賳丿賴 亘賵丿 :((
赖賲蹖賳.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 5,873 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.