Recent Review of Post Office
- Thread starter rjwink666
- Start date
Father Luke
Founding member
umm . . . huh?
Father Luke
Founding member
Yeah. . . and?
ok, click it now. I had to fix it.
i liked the buk story but i don't see him as an asshole as the author did(but that's a whole other debate that's been dicussed here, there, everywhere).
i also read a certain someone's story on the rolling stones album "exile on main st". very nice...you really didn't know the stones were british???
i also read a certain someone's story on the rolling stones album "exile on main st". very nice...you really didn't know the stones were british???
CarversDog
RIP
I have to say it was a well-written review but the reviewer's contempt for Bukowski is fairly palpable. Bukowski was not afraid of "work", for God's sake, he was frightened by the way mind-numbing jobs for the otherwise unskilled laboreres of the world siphon human souls away and swiftly into the grave.
That's why I wouldn't read any more of this guy's writings beyond that one, because he doesn't take time to slow down and attempt to peek under the surface of something.
CarversDog
RIP
Yeah, the writing was polished and professional enough but I also did not feel compelled to read more considering the ignorance and arrogance supplied by his review of "Post Office" (which, incidentally, is not my favorite Bukowski novel but that's neither here nor there, I suppose).
A fair use excerpt might shed some light on the reviewer's credibility:
"Like Bukowski, Chinaski worked for decades as a mail carrier for the U.S. Post Office."
First off, that doesn't make any sense, and Buk was only a letter-carrier for three years. So he cites the usual casual Buk stereotyper pastimes of drinking, gambling and womanizing and blah, blah, blah, but at least he liked the book.
So come on. You've got to admit that the scene where he eats the snails with Barbara Frye and says "EVEN PURPLE STICKPIN HAS AN ASSHOLE!" is pretty funny.
"Like Bukowski, Chinaski worked for decades as a mail carrier for the U.S. Post Office."
First off, that doesn't make any sense, and Buk was only a letter-carrier for three years. So he cites the usual casual Buk stereotyper pastimes of drinking, gambling and womanizing and blah, blah, blah, but at least he liked the book.
So come on. You've got to admit that the scene where he eats the snails with Barbara Frye and says "EVEN PURPLE STICKPIN HAS AN ASSHOLE!" is pretty funny.
Father Luke
Founding member
Bukfan
"The law is wrong; I am right"
Not a very nice description, and what's this about Buk tried being a writer for most of his life? With all the books Buk wrote in his lifetime he sure did more than just trying (Don't Try!), he actually made it as a writer. Oh, well...
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CarversDog
RIP
Buk as a McCarthy character? The absurdity of that just struck me. One associates Bukowski with L.A. and city grime, not some backwoods Faulknerian landscape.
Father Luke
Founding member
Bukowski and Faulkner ?
there's an odd couple - that's fucking funny.
there's an odd couple - that's fucking funny.
Not if you're buying the drinks. ;)
Gerard K H Love
Appreciate your friends
Look at it this way. Maybe the critic wants to be a supervisor or is one, therefore he thinks anyone who complains about a supervisor is an asshole. Just thought I'd give the guy a way out before we gather the torches and pitch forks. Onward to the old mill we have him cornered.
It actually does, with his third paragraph:
"When sober enough to hold a pen, he wrote various short stories and poems mimicking his life and current situations. Somewhere in his whiskey-soaked brain, he created the anti-hero to his problems: himself. The literary form of Bukowski's thinly-veiled alter ego is Henry Chinaski."
He acknowledges it. But that's the only time I'll make note of anything related to his writing. He could have done a better job with that aspect of the review.
The Chinaski character "worked for decades" in light fixture warehouses, making dog biscuits, packaging brake shoes, in slaughterhouses, changing advertisements in trolley cars...and yes, even for the post office. Never did Chinaski nor Bukowski work for decades as a letter carrier.
Ipso facto, it doesn't make any sense.
Ipso facto, it doesn't make any sense.
Gerard K H Love
Appreciate your friends
Absolutely agreed there. Some of the mail carriers that pass through my neighborhood look like Bukowski probably would have if he had worked decades as one.
Another review of Post Office
Nice front cover...
http://quarterlyconversation.com/post-office-by-charles-bukowski
Nice front cover...
http://quarterlyconversation.com/post-office-by-charles-bukowski
Perhaps we don't need alleged readers who look for the glitz finding the gold within?
Or did you two basically already say that?
Or did you two basically already say that?