Amber -- a fine piece of work. I'm no professor, but you get an A on this one. It's honest, sincerely, lean, filled with light and humor. That scene in the bar where Bukowski says "You know, I don't look so bad," revealing his insecurity about his appearance -- that is remarkable. You resisted the temptation to make yourself look good, and were very open about your own insecurities. As a result, we learn you are short, shy, worry a lot, don't like your front teeth, don't consider yourself beautiful -- like a "prom queen" -- and it all makes you so likeable, so real. Bukowski was lucky to be involved with you. The unadorned firsthand observations in your memoir are the reason why an account like yours is so valuable to understanding Bukowski. The book may be only a few pages, but it tells us things we'll never read in biographies written by people who didn't know the man personally. By the way -- I didn't even miss the cut-out Bukowski letters. The book doesn't need them. Sure, they would have been a nice extra, but your memoir stands on it's own. It deserves far wider readship. Thanks for sharing your story with us, and for your patient, articulate and insightful posts here.
