Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3511 in Books
• Published on: 1992-11-06
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Uncut
'One of the funniest books ever written'

Bizarre
'Humour, wisdom and the elegance of simplicity come at you in equal measure'

Synopsis
Henry Chinaski is a low-life loser with a hand-to-mouth existence. His menial Post Office day job supports a life of beer, one-night stands and race tracks. First published in 1971, this was Charles Bukowski's debut novel.

Customer Reviews

simple and brilliant
Every Bukowski novel you are guaranteed to have a good time reading it and this one is no different. The simplicity of the writing allows his soul to shine through. I love easy reads that are also affecting and this is one of the finest examples.

"It began as a mistake"
Bukowski's writing is honest and sometimes brutal. This was the first time I had read someone who I didn't feel was messing around with me, the reader. He didn't 'flower up' his work by being superfluous, rather, he was more direct and to the point than anyone I've ever read (and talked to). To say it was a refreshing change would be an understatement.

After finishing Post Office, I read Factotum, Ham on Rye, Women, and two of his early poetry books, and finished them all within weeks. I suspect, though, that as with any good book, I'll be revisiting them often.

Bukowski's writing always fills me with inspiration. His short, seemingly uncombed, sentences penetrate my brain like spears, flow off the tongue with ease, and never fail to leave something behind, long after I am done with the book. I admire his style, his honesty, his raw nature, and his unique approach when it comes to portraying life in its purest. He does not try to impress with elaborate sentence structure or flowery vocabulary, he does not try to romanticize life. His views, his images, his words...are all real; as real as it gets.

Bukowski's alter ego, Henry Chinaski, is a man -- a simple, living, breathing man, playing whatever cards life had dealt him. He is a smoking, drinking, farting, gambling man struggling to maintain his head above water, while bound by the chains society ties him with. He is moving through life, seemingly with a certain nonchalance, yet suffering. Suffering from the all-too-human condition many of us know. For one, he is not attached enough to bleed when faced with a loss, yet, he is not completely detached to be indifferent when served a blow. And he is served plenty of blows.

Whoever put together this edition, decided to call it "one of the funniest books ever written" I disagree. Bukowski, and Henry Chinaski's "adventures" are humorous, but most of all, his stories are sad. Sad on the human level. While reading, we are bound to smile, laugh and grin, yet, below the surface, between the lines, is hidden human suffering. Suffering we can all relate to, whether dealing with an "impossible" life partner, or with the "evil" boss, we all have something in common with Chinaski. We may not drink as much, smoke as much, eat better, live in better conditions, but we can relate. And this is exactly what makes Bukowski as relevant today, as it did when the book was first published. It is the most precious of connections -- connecting with the author on a human level.

Along with Miller, Kerouac, and Raymond Carver, Bukowski remains one of my favorite authors; the sort of author I can go back to at any time and find his writing relevant and entertaining especially if i've had a few beers. If you never read Bukowski, get a beer, and give him a try. You won't be disappointed.

Regarding the incident where Chinaski the Postman apparently "rapes" a mentally unstable woman, it is quite funny. Lets just bear in mind that this is 'work of fiction'.

Excellent
While it is very much the norm in modern literature to focus on the self as the central theme of the writer's work, the novelist choses this motif at his own peril. Bukowski's grasp somewhat outstrips his reach; this is because his talent to describe a reality is so much more powerful than the material that he chooses to create that reality. Very few writers since Hemingway can set the scene and paint the stage with such remarkable economy of the written word. I see the main difference between a great writer and a good one (and Bukowski is a very good one)is the scope and breadth his material. But Hemingway's world was much larger while Bukowski binds himself too closely in his nutshell. He takes us into strange fields filled with enchanting flowers, only to describe, in breathtaking detail, a blade of grass. Bukowski's fearless approach to truth as a writer comes from (what one can only assume) is his relative poverty as a human being...however well he reveals to us in this novel the transcendental beauty of his blade of grass, we long to be able devour the scents and absorb the sunlight which we can only sense is just outside the writer's realm of experience!! I would also highly recommend reading Tino Georgiou's bestseller--The Fates--if you missed it!