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Vishal's Reviews > Hot Water Music
Hot Water Music
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The key to understanding what makes Bukowski (in my opinion at least) one of the greatest writers that ever lived lies in this very book, in an often-repeated quote which reads:
'Genius might be the ability to say a profound thing in a simple way'
The best art (again in my opinion at least) can evoke a certain time and a place so vividly that though you may not even have experienced it, you still live it, clearly visualise it, breathe it. For instance, there is a downtempo electronic music band called Boards of Canada, that make music that reminds me of my childhood. This is despite the fact that I first listened to Boards of Canada when I was 29.
Similarly, when I read about Bukowski's LA, I feel I've been to those very same shady bars, those dusty racetracks and lonely motel rooms.
It's hard to pick a favourite from this collection. I could choose between You Kissed Lily, where a marital spat takes a number of extreme turns, In and Out and Over where Bukowski takes us through the highs and lows of the writer's day and makes you feel it is a privileged life after all, the road-rage revenge fantasy of Broken Merchandise, and many more. If I was pushed into a corner, I would choose Beer at the Corner Bar, a fine piece of work that embodies the deep loneliness of the misfit, rather like Camus' The Stranger. There is a very amusing quote about Camus in a different story here, to the effect that Camus spoke of misery as if he had just finished a steak dinner and a bottle of wine i.e. with a sort of detached elegance. There is no such compromise from him here. Or ever.
Bukowski's prose as of itself isn't particularly explosive or beautiful in that flowery way. Like Dostoyevsky though, he has the ability to sum up the nature of existence in a way that shocks you with the beauty of its simplicity. He takes aim from his subconscious to yours with a deadly accuracy. He is also the voice of every societal outcast who still stands proud because his soul and his integrity is still intact. I've never really fit in with the masses, but when I read Bukowski I don't feel particularly bad that I don't.
Hot Water Music is a terrific collection of stories that shock, amuse, and illuminate the way for a lonely soul to find his place in the world.
'Genius might be the ability to say a profound thing in a simple way'
The best art (again in my opinion at least) can evoke a certain time and a place so vividly that though you may not even have experienced it, you still live it, clearly visualise it, breathe it. For instance, there is a downtempo electronic music band called Boards of Canada, that make music that reminds me of my childhood. This is despite the fact that I first listened to Boards of Canada when I was 29.
Similarly, when I read about Bukowski's LA, I feel I've been to those very same shady bars, those dusty racetracks and lonely motel rooms.
It's hard to pick a favourite from this collection. I could choose between You Kissed Lily, where a marital spat takes a number of extreme turns, In and Out and Over where Bukowski takes us through the highs and lows of the writer's day and makes you feel it is a privileged life after all, the road-rage revenge fantasy of Broken Merchandise, and many more. If I was pushed into a corner, I would choose Beer at the Corner Bar, a fine piece of work that embodies the deep loneliness of the misfit, rather like Camus' The Stranger. There is a very amusing quote about Camus in a different story here, to the effect that Camus spoke of misery as if he had just finished a steak dinner and a bottle of wine i.e. with a sort of detached elegance. There is no such compromise from him here. Or ever.
Bukowski's prose as of itself isn't particularly explosive or beautiful in that flowery way. Like Dostoyevsky though, he has the ability to sum up the nature of existence in a way that shocks you with the beauty of its simplicity. He takes aim from his subconscious to yours with a deadly accuracy. He is also the voice of every societal outcast who still stands proud because his soul and his integrity is still intact. I've never really fit in with the masses, but when I read Bukowski I don't feel particularly bad that I don't.
Hot Water Music is a terrific collection of stories that shock, amuse, and illuminate the way for a lonely soul to find his place in the world.
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