I'm a Bookworm

After I read my first Charles Bukowski book, I picked up this one whilst on vacation. This novel was written by Bukowski later in life. It is semi-autobiographical and follows Henry (Hank) Chinaski, a semi-celebrity, writer and alcoholic.  As opposed to the portrayals of Chinaski in Factotum and Post Office, Hank Chinaski can subsist from the fruits of his pen, which leaves him time for more recreational pursuits, namely numerous semi-satisfying and debatably successful relationships with members of the opposite sex.

Bukowski’s autobiographical character is both involved with and interested in women, but not neccesarily fulfilled by them. It’s almost as if, once he’s fulfilled his basic needs for food & shelter, he begins to realise both the pleasure and the fruitlessness of the mating process to fulfill any of his higher needs.

There are all kinds of women in this book, several of which reflect actual women Bukowski knew in his life.  There’s the unstable and aggressive Lydia Vance, who is based on Bukowski’s actual ex-girlfriend (and writer) Linda King. There’s the adoring fan ‘Tanya’ who throws herself at her mentor. Tanya was based on a real life woman who published her own (differing) account of what happened between the two under the pseudonym ‘Amber O’Neil.’ Finally, there is the vegetarian-restaranteur who Bukowski eventually marries named ‘Sara,’ and based on Linda Lee Beighle.

It’s no exaggeration to say that this novel is not for the faint of heart. It has no obvious structure in terms of a beginning, middle and end. It begins somewhere in Chinaski’s life, and ends at some seemingly random point in the future. The women who come into his life pass in and out, sometimes returning and other times not.  Bukowski’s writing is as usual frank, unforgiving, unpretentious and at times graphic. But ultimately, if one is to contemplate postmodern living in Western literature, the one thing one definitely cannot be is faint of heart.

I recommend it.

–The Reader

[Image reproduced from bookcoverarchive.com. Permission provided under the Fair Dealing Act]