Product Description
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Customer Reviews (8)

Dangling............
If you've read Bukowksi, then you know how he feels about the "critics".I, for one, find that is later work after 77 or so is his best.This book and "you get so along at times...." are my 2 absolute favorites.You should own this one!

Bukowski Made it Look Easy
The biggest gripe I have against Charles Bukowski is that he made it look so easy.He's responsible for spawning thousands of second-rate immitators.I am no exception.Because I've spent some time in San Pedro, this collection in particular resonates with me since many of the poems come out of his stay in that harbor city.It's all here: women, booze, puking, classical music, barking dogs, war, annoying groupies, disasterous book readings, etc.If you were to choose one Bukowski book of poetry to read, this is it.

The essence of Bukowski as I see him
The poems in this volume consistently present Bukowski as I've come to see him -- perceptive, self-deprecating, and frequently and unexpectedly funny as hell.There isn't really a bad or wasted line in here.This opinion is based on my knowledge of Bukowski derived from having read maybe 90 percent of his books.If you can have only one volume of Bukowski poetry, this should be it, in good part because it includes musings from his East Hollywood period and the affluent San Pedro days.In this regard, You may notice that Bukowski almost never mentions money or personal finances in his earlier work, but in San Pedro, mortgages, tax accountants, and the price of automobiles enter his view.

some ofbukowski's best work
classic bukowski
long narrative thoughtful poetry carefully planned and executed regardless of how he may have described his own techniqe here
the ending short poem is classic

gripping reality
an amazing look at the reality of life as illustrated by one who tells it like it is without shame ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The Sweetheart Inside the Tough Guy
Neeli Cherkovski is especially well situated to write the biography of his longtime friend and literary compadre, Charles Bukowski.Cherkovski has a true poet's eye and heart and understand that poets function on feeling--succeeding in their poetry by the amount of feeling they can capture, and managing to survive the slings and arrows of everyday life by submerging much of that feeling behind various kinds of soul armor.Perhaps because Bukowski first met Cherkovski as a teenager, he opened himself to his later biographer as he did to few others in his life--let Cherkovski glimpse the real pains and frustrations and desperate need for love that drove him to become the wild man and roughneck of contemporary American poetry.This book has an exceptional insight into Bukowski's creative process--into the black humor, relentless work ethic, indomitable drive for survival, gutsiness, and at times just plain craziness that Bukowski was able to meld into as distinctive a poetic sound as any we've heard in the last century's prosody.This book is highly recommended for anyone who wants to understand what separates real poets from pretenders, and real poetry from the supremely irrelevant verse that clogs up most academic curriculums as the official canon.Above all, in the agonies and ecstasies of Bukowski's life, it shows the price real poets have to pay to do their work.

A Book or a long list?
I am a huge Bukowski fan but this book seemed to list stories and events in a very akward manner. It had great detail and I learned alot about Buk but if given the chance I would have rather have read 15 essays on CharlesBukowski then have to read this book again. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (9)

whisky & women
This is vintage bukowski; getting drunk and doing stupid stuff....reminds me of me.He dreams he is flying during one of his most enjoyable dreams then wakes up in the L A drunk tank lying next to a toliet while some dude is throwing up.awesome!!!

In hell they give the answers first and give the questions later, in hell your always in love with nothing to love...pg.181.
This book is filled splashes of rawness, with large bursts of reality checks which surely keep you humble and grounded. When reading, "how do they get you number" (p.181), you get the sence of whay hell might be for some one that might be caught in the same predicament that brings you back to a scenario that you might be able to associated with. If you don't read this book it will be your loos. Keep your reading up!

What can be said about Bukowski?
Get it, read it, dont try to understand it, and read it agian.Thats all in a nut shell. The best poems I read in a long time, Thanks Buk

Before He Was REALLY Big...
Many fans and critics of Bukowski often bemoan the "watering down" of the quality of his poems versus the quantity after he learned how to use a word processor (myself included), but here was Chinaski at his purest, coming out of the 70's with seemingly more short stories and novels than poems, still so brash and raw that you can practically smell the boozy halitosis blending with the carbon ink.
I ended up haviong to buy a new copy after my 3rd ed. Black Sparrow copy mysteriously vanished over the winter.Although the ECCO editions are nice enough, (hardcovers included), the print seems a little different and the paper feels a bit thinner, but I suppose I might be a little biased as I loved the original printings (plus you'll never see an autograph/drawing on a HarperCollins edition!).
Some really good long poems are included which always makes for great re-reading, but works like "the condition" and "suggestion for an arrangment" will have you whipping off lines from memory, maybe just like Buk did when he wrote them.

a great collection of straight masculine poesy
Bukowski often wrote that he thought most poetry was dandyfied, prissyfied, pretty, not real, fake, false and worst of all, restrictive to the "masses". To him there were a few exceptions; John Fante, Hamsun and early Hem. in prose, some of Pound, all of Sarayon, all of Jeffers in poetry. Hank wrote clearly and lucidly about many topics, not just getting drunk and sleeping with women as many of his detractors claim. He also wrote clean crisp poetry about LA and the race track, and traffic, other writers and about cats, and food, and taking baths and, well, about life!!!! Life being lived by a human being. War All the Time was written during the early to mid eighties, a time when Hank had had some success with his writing. His movie was out and enjoying some success. He was 60 years old and he had a newer car and a house in San Pedro he owned and a woman he loved (the second Linda) so his words in this collection are not quite as hard as poems from earlier on, like the poems found in the Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame collection. But, War All the Time is still lucid and clear as a drink of vodka on ice, this collection is right up there with the best of Bukowski. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (7)

Mockingbird
Charles Bukowski (1920 - 1994) had a gift for creating evocative titles, including the title for his 1972 collection of poetry, "Mockingbird Wish Me Luck". The title is apt.It derives from a beautiful poem, one of Bukowski's finest, "Mockingbird".I read Bukowski's poem as a parable on death and loss and cruelty.During the summer, a mockingbird has been following and taunting a cat.In response to the taunting, Bukowski writes that the cat "said something angry to the mockingbird/which I didn't understand."One day, Bukowski sees the cat walk "calmly up the driveway" with the bird alive in its mouth "no longer mocking."Bukowski writes "it was asking, it was praying/but the cat/ striding down through centuries/ would not listen."The cat crawls under a car with its prey"to bargain it to another place."And Bukowski concludes, "summer was over".

Not every poem in this volume is as effective as "Mockingbird."Bukowski was a prolific but erratic writer of short, unrhymed and unmetered poetry.Bukowski wrote in the language of common speech, punchy and colloquial. At its best, his writing has passion, rawness, a tough vulgarity, and, frequently a sardonic humor.His poetry tends to be autobiographical, but he also writes short scenes and narratives, such as "Mockingbird."In the early parts of this volume, Bukowski writes effectively of the life of the urban poor, his experiences with women, his life at the racetrack, and his thoughts on writing poetry. The themes of his poems are frequently dark, including loneliness, death, suicide, and aging.The poems in the latter part of the volume begin to take a more positive, mellower tone, as Bukowski writes of his love for his wife and for his young daughter.

Besides "Mockingbird," the poems I enjoyed in this volume include "the last days of the suicide kid", Bukowski's reflections on growing old, "My friend William", a story of a friend who seemingly had attained success in his career and in his marriage, "consummation of grief", in which Bukowski writes that "I was born to hustle roses down the avenue of the dead", the poem "he wrote in lonely blood", Bukowski's tribute to his fellow California poet Robinson Jeffers, "a sound in the brush", a story of a casualty of war, "american matador", on the theme of sex and death, and, on, one of Bukowski's preoccupations, "I saw an old-fashioned whore today".

The poems I have mentioned show the qualities of Bukowski, the toughness and grit, that will be familiar to most of his readers. I want to conclude with a poem by Bukowski that shows a part of him that may be less familiar.This poem, "marina" is written to his young daughter.

"majestic, magic
infinite
my little girl is
sun,
on the carpet-
out the door
picking a
flower, ha!

An old man,
battle-wrecked,
emerges from his
chair
and she looks at me
but only sees
love,
ha! And I become
quick with the world
and love right back
just like I was meant
to do.

Bukowski had his sentimental and tender side that he usually kept carefully hidden. This collection will appeal to lovers of the "Poet of Skid Row".

Robin Friedman

Bukowski...poet
Charles Bukowski had a rare gift.He could make desperation beautiful.He could make hate and pain beautiful.Bukowski had a magic way of twisting emotions into poems of unimaginable shapes.Each poetic flash serving as a portal into one man's interpretation of life.And that, I think, impresses me most about Bukowski.There is no pretension.His work... simply is.Mocking Bird came out in 1979 and some readers commented that B. was going soft.What they fail to realize is that people evolve.Bukowski was still Bukowski, but perhaps his poet eyes began to see some different shades of gray.And we certainly can't fault him for that..

Bukowski's Own Words
I'm not sure what the reviewer from "southern california" was smoking when he wrote his review, but he couldn't be more wrong. It's a well-known fact that Martin never (I stress NEVER) got away with changing Buk's writing. The Buk himself said enough in regards to the problems with WOMEN, where Martin did in fact try to spice things up, but Buk caught EVERY SINGLE CHANGE, and demanded they be changed back, thus producing the only Buk/BSP book to be reprinted due to errors. Why then, would anyone think Martin got away with this with Buk's poetry? As far as literary attacks go, Buk fueled these on his own, and was notorious for burning numerous bridges (i.e the Webbs, the aforementioned Wantling, Steve Richmond, Marvin Malone, etc.). A good poem is a good poem regardless of who gets attacked. Most of these people retorted on their own, and understood the nature of the attack. I'm quite suspicious of this reviewer and am positive it is one of those poets who was villified in this collection, namely in the poem: "300 poems." "he was rich and I was poor / and the sea rolled in / and I turned the / white / pages." You know who you are. Regardless of any of that, this is one of Bukowski's finest literary achievements, hail the Buk!

very strong, angry poetry
Charles Bukowski is by sure one of my favorite poets.His work is vivid and very powerful.This book has my favorite poems by him, "Rain" and also "The Mockingbird"

Classic Bukowski
This collection, along with Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame and The Roominhouse Madrigals is absolutely essential to anyone who loves Buk's poetry.I agree with the reader who loves "The Mockingbird," butthere are others in this volume I like even better."if we take"may be my favorite Bukowski poem ever.Another great one is "theworld's greatest loser."And then, of course, there's"WWII." And the list could go on and on.There is just so muchwonderful stuff here. . .

Bukowski rules in heaven and on earth. ... Read more

Product Description
Thirty-four interviews and encounters chronicle the rise of Charles Bukowski. He speaks in his own voice about his writing and his life, dutifully answering question after question. Included is his first interview in 1963 with the Literary Times of Chicago from his one-bedroom Hollywood apartment, and his last—at poolside in San Pedro answering a German journalist in August 1993, seven months before his death at 73. Follow his journey from obscurity to fame in Europe and finally in America after the success of the movie Barfly. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

The real Buk
Normally, I get bored after a few interviews or letters... but not with Bukowski.Sure, he repeats a lot in here, but if you stop and think that his responses to questions are nearly identical twenty years after they were first asked... Buk had his life all figured out, and he never seemed to waver. You could never call him a lair.

The interviews within this collection grant access to the humananity of Bukowski; the sensitivity, the politics, drunken rants (the most memorable was directed at Ginsberg and some other Beats).Most intersting are Bukowski's literary views. Not only what he thought of the writing process, but also the industry and other writers.I'd have given this book a four out of five, but I found a lot of interesting writers to read (notably Fante) by picking up the names Bukowski was dropping.

It's an enjoyable book, complete with some of Charles' drawings.Amazingly prolific, dedicated, consistant writer.

a great read
I really enjoyed this book and must have reread it over twenty times by now. These interviews are the real deal: pure laugh-out-loud Buk gold. The man is in fine form. Well worth the money.

steal my car
steal my Belgian beer
steal my Faberge egg
steal my inflatable Jenna Jameson love doll
but DON'T
steal my Charles Bukowski book collection.

Definitely one for the Bukowski fan...
I would say this is not for the casual reader of Bukowski's poetry. This is for the deep fan who wants a little more of the man and what he was like. And like his poems, which I am a fan of, expect the vulgar, the gritty, the passion and the truth. I give it only 4 stars just for the repetitiveness at times - since it's mostly a collection of interviews taken from various magazines over the years, a lot of the same questions are asked of Bukowski with a lot of the same answers given. So that makes it a bit tiresome to read at times, but that is a very, very minor detail. There is still plenty of the wit, anger and pomposity and truth here that mark Mr. Bukowski as one of the major writers of the century.

Charles Bukowski: The Greatest Writer of Our Times
Sun Dog Press has done a great job compiling interviews that span Bukowski's career.This is the next best thing to a new Bukowski book.Its great to hear ole Buk laying out his lines in his inimitable (many have tried) style.And the book is packed with great advice for anybody who's ever wanted to be a writer.And while you're at it, check out my new book, SURVIVING ON THE STREETS (available from amazon.com, natch).I could use a beer, so hopefully Bukowski -- wherever he is -- won't mind me impinging on his site with this personal plug.acebackwords2002@yahoo.com

Essential to the collection.
I give this book five stars because there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. It is a nice, tight collections of interviews spanning Bukowski's career and I found it a pleasure to read. That said, a buyer will want to keep in mind that interviewers often ask the same questions, so people might find this book repetetive, but as an avid Buk fan, I did not.

It's hard to tell with Bukowski where the fiction ends and the reality begins sometimes. He flat out says that he often does not tell the truth to interviewers, so it's hard sometimes to ascertain whether or not you are seeing the real Buk in these interviews. Still, they are an essential part to the overall picture of Bukowski.

One will see several themes throughout the book. Almost every interview gives a brief telling of Bukowski's childhood and the ten-year drunk. It's also interesting to see that he mentions in several interviews writing until he's 80, and it's sad in retrospect to realize that this did not come to pass.

Bukowski remained amazingly consistent in his thoughts througout the span of this book. Still, usually something can be gleaned from each interview which is unique, which makes this an entertaining addition to your collection, though it would not be my first choice if I was just beginning to find out about Buk's life. ... Read more

Product Description

Unmasks the tough, street-smart persona of Charles Bukowski—America's "Ultimate Outsider"

Customer Reviews (3)

Not essential
Black Sparrow is digging deep into the heap of leftovers to come up with some "new" Bukowski. This is the worst after-he-died book to be released. Almost all of the letters are by Bukowski. That's a relief because Sheri Martinelli's letters are unreadable. The spelling, punctuation, and stream of consciousness writing style make her letters impenetrable.

Bukowski's letters are readable, but he's too young here to have much to say.Frankly, Bukowski's early work is pretty weak. It wasn't until the late 1970s that he became the great writer we know and love. Here, he picks up on Martinelli's racism, runs with it halfheartedly, and praises her for no reason. The letters are very drunk and usually pointless. Some of the angry wisdom shines through, but not much. This is a book for diehard Bukowski fans only. It's a bad representation of his work.

Slow going, but worth it for Bukowski fans
You can't critique a collection of someone's letters on the same basis you would their published public works. But in this volume, the first thing you might wonder is why two articulate people chose to affect such an inarticulate, though sometimes inventive, style.All collections of Bukowski letters contain many cryptic and rambling missives of this sort, and I suppose they may be excused as the unedited utterings of a drunk and/or hung-over mind.But I'm led to believe that Bukowski produced a lot of work in that condition, including his better-crafted stories; so why must the letters be so sloppy?Even as first drafts, they're a bit much.And why Ms. Martinelli chose to emulate this style is another question, unless of course she was similarly indisposed.Maybe it was an accepted literary style in the '60s.At any rate, it makes the book a slow slog, although some new insights into Bukowski's nature and ideas may be winnowed with diligent application.Like many of the Bukowski-related volumes, this one seems to be more for the fan and collector than for the casual reader.There are a few photos of the two authors in the center of the book.Black Sparrow Press did its usual commendable job of design and production.

Interesting, but Hard to Read.
BEERSPIT NIGHT is an interesting entry into the volumes of Bukowski letters published by Black Sparrow. This is a venture between two people who were involved with Bukowski and Martinelli professionally and personally:John Martin, publisher of BSP, and Steven Moore, the editor of this book, respectively. The correspondence is lively, Bukowski seems to have met his match, and enlightening. Bukowski, as Moore states, reveals more of his artistic and literary leanings with Martinelli than he did with anyone else he exchanged missives with (Martin and Bukowski's widow may be the only other people to have seen this side of him). The book appears to have been a labor-of-love for Moore, who knew Martinelli, and Martin shows his usual loving care with this book as he has with every other Buk book. The only problem I have encountered so far (at only 1/4 of the way through) is Moore's decision to leave much of the original purposeful misspellings and colloquialisms of both Bukowski and Martinelli. It becomes quite tiresome, like spending hours trying to solve word problems. And, for some reason the footnotes are not numbered, so many a reader may actually pass them over not realizing they're there.Those who think they know everything about Bukowski might discover some revelations in these letters. ... Read more

Product Description
Book description to come.Amazon.com Review
A perfect accompaniment to Bukowski's letters, this collectionof BOTH stories and poems gives you more bang for the buck -- awhopping 402 pages of Bukowski's unique voice. He can spin you a yarnwith his story or poem just like he's sitting there having a beer withyou. A classic American writer who'll bet his bottom dollar on theworking stiff and the tough times -- his Muses -- using the languageof a true visionary. If you haven't read Bukowski, isn't it time youstarted? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Disappointing
I expected much more from this book than Bukowski's dull meanderings. From the few poems I heard read in his documentary I thought his work would be ugly, harsh but brilliant. Where is the spark [or amazing lack of...ANYTHING that would give merit] that makes these poems worth slogging thorough?

Stronger than much of the other posthumous work.
Charles Bukowski, Betting on the Muse: Poems and Stories (Black Sparrow, 1996)

The general rule of thumb is that Bukowki's posthumously-published works are of lesser quality than those published during his lifetime. So far, I have come across two exceptions to this rule. One is The Captain Is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship, a wonderful book of journal-like observations and such. The second, in parts anyway, is Betting on the Muse: Poems and Stories.

Much of the poetry in the book seems as if it was written in the fifties and sixties, during the peak years of Buk's quality output (though there are some of the later "I couldn't care less what it's about" poems scattered throughout). Much of it may well have been. Some, however, bears timestamps in the work that show them as having been written early in the nineties; makes me wonder what Buk might have come up with had he lived a few more years.

The final selection of poems (I divided the book up in my head while reading into sections, each bounded with short stories) is a series of meditations on death. Not Buk's normal death writing, which always had some fierce spark of hope in it, but writing that made it clear he knew he was facing his own demise. With the exception of the amazing "Last Call," which is roughly halfway through the book, this final selection is perhaps Buk's best work since Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame back in 1973. The process of "observe and write with as little translation is possible" is abandoned, and the work shows that either Buk revised these poems, or turned them over in his head a lot more before putting them down on paper. It shows.

The short stories (and one short nonfiction sketch about publishing his first chapbook in 1960 that is far more optimistic) are a pretty fair reminder that despite Buk being known mostly for his poetry, he was always a strong writer of short stories-- arguably, his short stories are stronger than his poetry. Reading them is like reading Spillane, if Spillane had spent most of his life drunk in a flophouse and didn't care about the mystery aspect of what he wrote. These are quick, easily slices of life, biting with satire and rife with well-drawn characters.

This is good stuff, and the first of Buk's books I've read in quite a while I would unhesitatingly recommend to those few people who have not yet encountered the writing of Charles Bukowski. ****

1st book by Bukowski I've read...more to follow
I found this book at my college's library and I really like it. I'm sure there might be better Bukowski books, but this is my first and I found it really interesting to read. I don't finish many books, but this one was easy too. So check out anything by him, he will make you laugh, think and keep you company on a boring night.

good horse betting poems
stories from the track, poetry tops here

don't bet on this one
I have been reading Bukowski for 25 years now--and I can honestly say this is not very good here at all. Maybe 5 to 10 percent has merit and is worth reading--and the rest? Babble, gibberish, flat. Mind you, this is not easy for a Buk fan to admit--but the way it is. I bought it cheap so I don't really regret getting it. But if you're looking for great writing, great poetry you won't find it here.
If you're looking for excellent Buk prose try Notes of a Dirty Old Man, Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions and General Tales of Ordinary Madness (broken down into two volumes and titled something else, from City Lights) Factotum, South of No North--even Hollywood. Living On Luck worked for me as well, so did Screams From the Balcony (letter collections, etc.) As far as his poetry? As someone else stated: the early or middle stuff. Septuagenerian Stew (stories and poems) isn't very good either. Could be one reason why Martin decided to sell the store.

The problem with Buk's later stuff is just this, I believe, he liked to say that writing was too easy for him, that there was nothing to it--and that what he produced was all good stuff. Well, as any writer knows, if it's that easy and you think everything you write is terrific, it very often means just the opposite.
I believe his publisher continued to publish the Buk's stuff because he was THE BUK, and we understand that.

My conclusion regarding Bukowski's work is just this: a third of his output is truly great and original, a third is fair--and the rest is blatantly bad, just too awaful to have any meaning or worth reading. And yet, having said that, as terrible as it may sound to the diehard Buk fan, I maintain it is a great compliment to the man, because the third that is good will forever keep him up there at the very top of the best writers ever. So, please don't despair because not everything he wrote isn't gold--it can't be. Nobody is that good; nobody can be. Buk was human and had his limitations. ... Read more

Product Description

This collection of previously unpublished poems offers the author's take on squabbling neighbours, off-kilter lovers, would-be hangers-on, and the loneliness of a man afflicted with acute powers of observation. The tone is gritty and amusing, spiralling out towards a cock-eyed wisdom.

Customer Reviews (10)

Not his best punch, but it still leaves a mark just the same...
"...Unleashing the joyful primal call they could no longer hear." Hank "The Night Torn Mad..."

I have read most of his work, and never tire of it.So bring it on Linda and Black Sparrow, where ever you can find it, bring it all on and share it with the rest of us.So it ain't vintage Buk, who cares, it's Hank. Hank baring it all in the singular signature way he always did.Pass me another beer baby and bring me my Bukowski!

Yeah, I like my Rimbaud and Neruda and Sexton and Pound and Browning and Yeats et al...
But every once in a while...
Bukowski drops on my lap,
And I, lap it up
Like a parched pup
After a lengthy lope.

Lord Bryon he isn't, but I just can't get enough of this cat.If you are new to Hank, then perhaps start someplace else - Post Office, Ham on Rye, Factotum, Love is a Dog From Hell, etc... - but if you are an avid fan of his, you HAVE to add this 2001 posthumous patchwork to your book/poetry collection.

"They say that nothing is wasted:either that or it all is."

This is a great coffee table book.For you can pick it up at any time, turn to almost any page, and see the definition of vulnerability, of truth, of what it means to stand alone against this world and not back down to the mindless masses of mediocrity.So give it a stab folks, it just might be worth it... It was for me!

"...and nothing is more personal than walking down
a stairway alone
thinking about nothing.I often like to
think about nothing for hours."

A sweet little bullet from a pretty blue gun...
Well it's raining it's pouring
Didn't bring a sweater
Nebraska never let you come back home
And on hollywood and vine
By the thrifty mart sign
Any night I'll be willin' to bet
There's a young girl
With sweet little dreams
And pretty blue wishes
Standin' there just gettin' all wet

Now there's a place off the drag
Called the Gilbert hotel
And there's a couple letters burned out the sign
And it's better then the bus stop
And they do good business
Every time it rains
For little girls
With nothing in their jeans
but pretty blue wishes
Sweet little thing
And it's raining it's pouring
Old man is snoring
Now I lay me down to sleep
I hear the sirens in the street
All my dreams are made of chrome
I have no way to get back home
I'd rather die before I wake
Like Marilyn Monroe
And throw my dreams out in
The street let the
Rain make 'em grow

Now the night clerk he got a club foot
He's heard every hard luck story
At least a hundred times or more
He says check out time is 10 am
And that's just what he means
Go up the stairs
With your sweet little wishes
Your pretty blue dreams

And it's raining it's pouring
Hollywoods just fine
Swindle a little out of her dreams
Another letter in the sign
Now never trust a scarecrow
Wearin' shades after dark
Be careful of that old bow tie he wears
It takes a sweet little bullet
From a pretty blue gun
To put those scarlet ribbons in your hair

No that ain't no cherry bomb
4th of July's all done
Just some fool playin' that second line
From the barrel of a pretty blue gun

No that ain't no cherry bomb
4th of July's all done
Just some fool playin' that second line
From the barrel of a pretty blue gun

-I find it so childish and stupid (and, to a degree, sickening) that some idiot starts to critique Buk's work by referring to what his dumba*s teachers would have done when presented with poetry.That fool is on such a slippery slope, it's hardly worth comment, but, to begin, everyone knows that those who can't do, teach.Second, of course an idiot such as that reviewer can't come up with anything better, hence he's resigned to writing verbose and over-thought criticims of Buk's work within the confines of Amazon rather than creating anything of worth or substance.My God, I still can't get over it..."if my english teacher saw the word 'brutality' they'd put a red check by name and I'd get no gold star...."Get a life.

As for the rest of you who have enough sense to see through such a review and know that it's worth no more than the bullsh*t it actually is, get this collection of Buk's work without any further thought.It's Buk, it's fantastic, and there are moments of absolute beauty and splendor. I know that makes sense to those who can think for themselves and who actually have a reasonable head on their shoulders.

Anyway, get this book.Enjoy it, cherish it and love it.I'm certain you will.

Worth a smile now and again, but not his best.
Charles Bukowski, The Night Torn Mad with Footsteps (Black Sparrow, 2001)

Can a person be great and yet not too good at the same time?

I ask myself that pretty much every time I open another book of Charles Bukowski's poetry. Something in me quails, because I know in the roughly 300 pages before me (this one clocks in at just around 350), I'm going to see every rule of decent poetry writing broken. Usually multiple times on a page. "Show don't tell" goes completely out the window. Line breaks? Absolutely hideous. Avoid confessional poetry? Bukowski wallows in it. By all rights, I should be right there with the rest of the critics talking about how much the man's work sucks, how it's simply not poetry. A few examples should serve to be sufficient:

"I am such an unpopular human/being." (the first line of "It's Just Me")

"the house of horrors/the house of a thousand beatings/the house of brutality and unhappiness." ("A Drink to That")

The word "brutality" has no place in a poem. Ever. Any writing teacher I ever had, and the vast majority of critics, would look at any poems containing the word "brutality," slash a red line through it, and say "show, don't tell!"

And yet the simple fact of the matter is that Charles Bukowski has outsold every other American poet who penned a single line during the twentieth century. Ran rings around most of them; the sales of one Bukowski book probably dwarf the sales of the complete output of every Pulitzer prize winner, taken on their own. Something draws people to his books by the thousands.

Unfortunately, I doubt that it has anything to do with the truly brilliant flashes of image that shine through once every twenty pages or so, the places where the later work of Bukowski sounds like the older work of Bukowski (Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame, written between 1955 and 1970, is one of the finest books of poetry written in the last century). They are few, but some of them are so heart-stopping they make wading through the rest of it a joy:

"sometimes dogs/in the alley/play the violin better/then the privileged peacocks/who swim in butter./I speak now of young/dogs in/old rooms of peeling wallpaper and/the bathroom down the hall-always with/somebody in there." ("The Fish with Yellow Eyes and Green Fins Leaps into the Volcano")

I think it has more to do with the idea that a volume of Bukowski's poetry (and his novels, too) reads like a dime store self-help book. "Here, look at how bad my life is. Identify with a few things and use the rest to reflect on your own life and say, `hey, it's not that bad.'" Even the severest critic, when alone, probably finds a few of those image-less strophes to identify with and smile at. "the dark is empty;/most of our heroes have been/wrong." ("I Can't See Anything") No, it isn't poetry. But it's something. And it's something in the works of a self-confessed prudish misanthrope that reaches out to others.

I don't pretend to know what it is (Bukowski does, though-"'it's easy,' I said, `all I do is/lie as truthfully as possible.'" -"Good Pay"). And I force myself to admit that while they're getting what they're getting out of it, at least they're getting snatches of greatness in amongst the rubble. ***

One of Buk's worst, I am sorry to say!
Always loved and respected Buk as a unique character in American contemporary Lit. A hand-picked and convinced anarchist who played many games one of his favorites being to present himself as a lumprenproletarian alcos and womanizer (how about a very sensitive and sophisticated writer with fine, fine taste in Literatur & Music?)and yet all good things come to an end. Dear Linda, please stop publishing the leftovers. This book is not worthy of Buk's legacy. Only sporadically a thought a line reminds us of the grand old curmudgeon...and yet forgive me for telling you this. Perhaps the Bukowski book should never end?

Working class stories
In these poems (from the 1970s and 1980s), Bukowski is getting away from the references to animals of the earlier years, moving into more specific events. Everything that happens is both small and universal. Nothing's too pretty. Kind of like real life!

He's not sentimental, he's sad, and he laughs at himself. One of his best collections. ... Read more

Product Description

A book length collaboration between two underground legends, Charles Bukowski and Robert Crumb. Bukowski's last journals candidly and humorously reveal the events in the writer's life as death draws inexorably nearer, thereby illuminating our own lives and natures, and to give new meaning to what was once only familiar. Crumb has illustrated the text with 12 full-page drawings and a portrait of Bukowski.

Customer Reviews (13)

Good Quick Read
You can tell he is older...He has a computer and enjoys typing on it.I can hear the buttons being pushed and the symphony music in the background in some entries.He still goes to the races.Death emerges as a theme in these pages more than anything else I have read of his, I have mostly read his earlier stuff.But the collection of essays were good and kept me entertained.He is one of the best and even to the end he kept his work honest, or so I think.

Death and the Mare-den
Charles Bukowski, The Captain Is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship (Black Sparrow, 1998)

A year in the life of Charles Bukowski, 1991-92, as he neared death. He knew he was nearing death; he writes about it as often as he wrote about the deaths of other things in his poetry. Of course, his is not the only death to mention in these pages; car accidents, a falling neighbor, etc.

Other than death, Buk's diary talks a lot about horseplaying. Great for me. Perhaps not so great for others.

Bukowski was always a better poet than he was a prose stylist, but The Captain Is Out to Lunch... is likely the most readable piece of Buk's prose I have ever come across. Probably because there was nothing to writing it; instead of coming up with characters, plot, theme, etc., they're sitting there at the track or in the neighborhood waiting for you.

Worthwhile. One of the better posthumously published works. *** ½

You haven't heard the last of Hank
I had an indirect contact with Bukowski in the 1970s when I was working at a Long Beach college newspaper and our Arts editor had just gotten back from seeing him at one of his poetry readings. I was asked to write the headline for the rave review on it we were publishing, and as a young poet I was more than happy to do so.

In the headline I called him "Buk the bard" and they gave it the go ahead for printing. But the editor had met his friends and they'd mentioned that Buk no longer lived in Hollywood and had moved to the notorious San Pedro area.

We all got very concerned for him and told Buk's friends that he shouldn't live there, and that L.A., Belmont Shore, Long Beach - almost anywhere else, in fact - would be preferable. As I recall, at that time there was a stabbing in Pedro almost every weekend.

Soonafter we got word in the newsroom of what Buk thought of the suggestion by us little upscale college smartasses - he said it was a rather dumb one, and that he actually regarded it as an insult, as if we'd just ridiculed his new jacket.

Since his writing didn't float much on the waters of pretense, he enjoyed being where the action was, even if it was now within a very dangerous environment for a guy getting on in years. He planned to stay put anyway and he indeed did exactly that.

I was surprised to hear years later that he'd lasted until 1994, because I'd always bet that, even escaping any physical injury, and with his seeming million gallon booze capacity, he still wouldn't last past 1980.

But don't worry, the old warhorse will still be running new words at the literary track for quite some time. The godsend that was John Martin's Black Sparrow press still has more of Hank's unpublished stuff in their files, so the Captain journal won't be the last you hear of our favorite pulp fiction barfly.

Hopefully lots of them will also have more of those groovy drawings by underground komix king Robert Crumb, too. Now that would be a good day at the races.

minute by minute of an observable perceptive guy
my favorite passage from this book ' i wonder what the next step will be after the computer? you'll probably just press your fingers to your temples and out will come this mass of perfect wordage. Of course, you'll have to fill up before you start but there will always be some lucky ones who can do that. Let's hope.'
good stuff and a smooth read--my reason mainly for reading bukowski

Not Much New
I was hoping to gain some new insights into the writer/man that was Bukowski by reading this collection of journal writings. To be honest, not much new ground was covered. I did find out out about a failed TV deal I'd never heard of, and some other trivial points, but nothing much deeper. The R. Crumb drawings are worth the price of the book, and well, hell it's Bukowski so I enjoyed it. This is, however, one of the few Buk books I haven't read more than twice, which is as close to a "bad" review as I can get. ... Read more

Product Description
Fear makes me a writer, fear and a lack of confidence'Charles Bukowski chronicled the seedy underside of the city in which he spent most of his life, Los Angeles. His heroes were the panhandlers and hustlers, the drunks and the hookers, his beat the racetracks and strip joints and his inspiration a series of dead-end jobs in warehouses, offices and factories. It was in the evenings that he would put on a classical record, open a beer and begin to type...Brought up by a violent father, Bukowski suffered childhood beatings before developing horrific acne and withdrawing into a moody adolescence. Much of his young life epitomised the style of the Beat generation - riding Greyhound buses, bumming around and drinking himself into a stupor. During his lifetime he published more than forty-five books of poetry and prose, including the novels Post Office, Factotum, Women and Pulp. His novels sold millions of copies worldwide in dozens of languages.In this definitive biography Barry Miles, celebrated author of Jack Kerouac: King of the Beats, turns his attention to the exploits of this hard-drinking, belligerent wild man of literature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A Great Story Poorly Told
I'm a fan of Bukowski's work, so I was excited to read this book. Unfortunately, I gave up on it after the first 200 pages. The events of his life are so interesting and definitely worth reading about, but this biographer's writing style was repetitive and dull. Every page is essentially: "Bukowski made this statement in (insert the name of an interview or Bukowski book here), so it must have happened like this....."
I'm sure there are much better Bukowski bios out there. Don't waste your money on this one.

Milk That Cash Cow Baby
After reading many books by Bukowski i don't get a lot more than what i've already gleened time and again from all the others by and about him. Its time to pack my bags with my insights and move on to the next rebel. Who really cares if Bukowski did or didn't do every last one of the things he's was said to have done or said he did himself. He surely did enough of the down and out to have authenticity but after awhile the experiences read pretty much like a who's who of the skid - a rebel who got raucously drunk a lot doing the lowlife, the race track and the occasional whore. You can find that stuff going on in most any large city. The only difference is he wrote about it. I think its great he laid down those images and descriptions of screwed up society so well but a lot of it seems stretched in my opinion for the stories and the poems. The skid life is no picnic and a whole lot more miserable and painful in my opinion than he depicts. I spent my share of time on the skid and it was lot worse than frat boy fantasies of getting drunk and beaten up and puking your guts out daily catching the clap and hanging tough for that next novel. I feel he romanticized that life in his way reporting on insights at the bottom of the world like some zen troubadour of victimization. At times he seems to me like some random malcontent who had a tough life and had a knack for putting it on paper but with no answers except maybe to avoid a lot of his mistakes. I feel he was lucky to be published by those seeking to plow new lowlands for the public's gold. I really believe a lot of people overrate him because his legacy offers hope for success to even the most pathetic aspirant at the bottom of the barrel. Steve

Could be a lot better
I've read all of Bukowski's prose and about a third of his poetry, as well as a number of biographical works on Buk. Miles' bio has its moments, but it is nowhere near a definitive examination, or even record, of Charles Bukowski's life. The pluses are in the sections where Miles relates Buk to other writers, and to a lesser degree, where he enumerates Buk's influences, although these efforts do not go far enough in showing specific connections. Anyone who has read Bukowski has a fair sense of his life, since the work is so autobiographical. Simply laying out the events in Buk's life is a little redundant. That's where Miles' interpretation and correlation to literature and the wider world pay dividends. Even more would have been better.

The troubling parts are the sloppiness, unevenness, and self-contradiction. Names are misspelled (Crotti/Crotty), words misused, and details presented inconsistently. Perhaps these are oversights that slip into any work of a certain length. If so, an editor could easily have tidied up these errors. Left to stand, they raise questions about the accuracy of the work.

It isn't hard to tell which parts of the story Miles enjoyed writing. Bukowski's youth was not one of them, which gets the book off to a sluggish start. By the time Buk hits the road, Miles starts having more fun, and his prose becomes more lively and fluid.

For the life of him, however, Miles simply can't decide whether Buk's autobiographical writing is fifty percent, seventy-five percent, ninety, or ninety-five percent fact, with the remaining percentage embellishment. He give all four percentages. His better calls come when he addresses the factuality of individual works or incidents.

Worst of all is Miles' flat and repeated assertion that Bukowski was a misogynist. No argument, the guy was damaged where relations with other humans was concerned. Neither his father nor his mother offered healthy models for his social development. Buk's abnegation of social contact was a barometer of his inadequacy in relating to other people as much as it was his intellectual contempt for the trivialities of human existence. The late initiation of sexual relations with women and the very late blossoming of his sex life -- both well documented by Miles -- are the key indicators of both Buk's emotional disadvantages and his lifelong growth in relating to women. For all Buk's whores and one-night stands, he maintained long relationships with Jane Cooney Baker and Linda King. In later life, he settled down with Linda Beighle. Despite their differences, the nasty fights, and numerous break-ups, Buk finally matured enough to overcome his own debilities and make a home life with one woman. Not a perfect man by any means, but one who at least faced his deficiencies and grew.

MIles gives the end of Bukowski's life short shrift, especially the involvement with Buddhism.Further, John Martin, Bukowski's publisher and sustainer, doesn't get as much attention as deserved. If Bukowski's women went through a lot, what did poor Mr. Martin, a Christian Scientist and teetotaler, endure?

In sum, this bio reads something like a fan's blog. It's not that Miles knows nothing about Bukowski. He appears to have read and enjoyed the bulk of Buk's catalog. Rather it appears he was willing to do enough to get by but not enough to create a polished and definitive work. Looking at his other titles, Mr. Miles appears to a writer looking for topics that sell books more than a writer out to create works of substance.

The Best Bukowski biography
Barry Miles has covered a lot of ground in his life. Someone should wrtie a book about him. But when it comes to Bukowski I am in a strange position. I corresponded with him in a minor way. (He wrote me 20 times, I wrote him about 55) I own a bookstore in San Francisco where I've gotten to know many people whom Bukowski knew well. Neeli Cherkovski works down the street at New College. Harold Norse lives on my block and will be turning 90 in two weeks. John Bryan is a regular fixture. Jack Micheline painted the back room. Linda King sculped the head of A.D. Winans in my store. But my point being that unless you know better it is very very difficult to know if a biographer is on target. You might get distracted by purely trivial things...you might like the writing and decide it also must be acurate. Often it is not. But look the essence is did he fairly and acurately capture the man? For me Barry Miles book is definately the best. For instance he covers Bukowsk's bad habit of hatcheting old freinds. Like Jon Webb and John Bryan. He gets so many things so right. Yes he slips a bit now and then but I kept reading this biography and marveled at how he nailed one thing after another. Jesus he must have read 10,000 Bukowski letters carefully. Well, ok, he didn't mention how I wrote Bukowski and convienced him to buy a MacIntosh computer. Which I did. I forgive him. But Miles has written an excellent work well worth buying.

Not great
I'm a huge Bukowski fan.This is the worst biography about Bukowski that I've read.

There were a few interesting things that were uncovered through research - histories of some of Buk's women, for example.Unfortunately, there were far too many case where the author jumps around in time, for no good reason.He'll be talking about Bukowski publishing a book in the 70s and then jump back and have a few sentences about 66 when Bukowski did something strange when he was drunk.C'mon!If there were good dramatic reason for it (the Godfather films, for example) I'm all for it.Here is just seems sloppy.

This is an example of how the author figures out if something really happened or not (I'm paraphrasing here): "Bukowski wrote about this a few different times, so it must be at least somewhat true!"Thanks pal, I could've figured that one out!The author does this repeatedly and it gets tiring. Sometimes, the author tracks down someone who was actually there, but not often.

I really only gave this 2 stars because it's about BUKOWSKI, which is welcome.I could even tolerate the weird "proving" of events.But I cannot stand the jumping around, it's distracting.Peace. ... Read more

Product Description

These 189 posthumously published new poems take us deeper into the raw, wild vein of Bukowski's that extends from the early 1980s up to the time of his death in 1994.

Customer Reviews (7)

My Tom Waits of poetry/prose...
I find it funny (truthfully, somewhat sad) when others give this piece anything less than five stars and dismiss it is as "not his best" work.On his worst day Buk could have typed one sentence better than a lifetime of the sewage spewed by such people.This collection is definitely a testament to that fact, as others below have astutely recognized.

If you've gotten ANY appreciation for Buk, do not hesitate to add this to your collection.It has some of the finest moments of Buk that I have ever come across, and that is definitely saying alot as I have read most of his work.There are moments contained within the corners of these pages, that are nothing less than inspiring.I certainly will be the first to admit that I cannot find words to desribe it, so I won't even try.Just rest assured that it is well worth your money to get this collection and do not believe the ramblings of others that this is somehow inferior Buk.Buk could simply do no wrong when it came to his craft.

Get this and cherish it.

Not his best work.
Charles Bukowski, Open All Night: New Poems (Black Sparrow, 2000)

I note the "new poems" in the title (I don't normally with Buk books) because it's not entirely true. There's at least one poem in here which was published at least fifteen years ago. I know this because I used a piece of it as an epigram to something I wrote in 1992. (It's one of Buk's series of "yes" poems, which started in War All the Time in the early eighties; I can't remember offhand the title of the one reprinted here, though.) But then, I guess one poem in three hundred fifty pages isn't that bad. After all, with the number of three-hundred-plus-page poetic epics that have come out since Buk's death, it's obvious Linda had a whole lot of stuff to go through.

Open All Night is not Buk's strongest work (but then, you have to figure much of the posthumous stuff, written over the fifteen or twenty years before his death, was unpublished for a reason), but every once in a while a piece shines. There are a few poems in here that sounds as if they were written in the late fifties, Buk's strongest period (viz. Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame), and a whole lot that sound as if they weren't. There are a number of unexpected surprises; I strongly suggest reading The Captain Is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship just before reading this to catch some of the parallels towards the end. This book has the tales in poetic form, Captain has the tales in prose, and the reader can decide which voice works better for him. In my case, the prose took the cake every time, because much of Buk's poetry, towards the end, felt somewhat flabby, at times incoherent.

But, as I said, there are gems, as there are in every book of Bukowski's, and a few of the gems here shine brighter than much of the posthumously-released work. They alone are worth the price of admission. ***

Truly poetic
Bukowski was the master of the personal detail. In these poems, released after his death, he examines his life with a drunken smile. He digs out the most significant moments of his life at the race track, among old friends, writing at night, listening to classical music, thinking about old girlfriends, and his childhood. He has a knack for mentioning the moments that matter, and leaving out the details that distract you from the point he's making. Every poem is good. This is one of his best books.

The poems are arranged in four sections. As you read, you realize that there's an underlying theme for each section. The first section, for example, is about burying the past. Each poem adds a thin layer to the theme until you feel it. It's quite an experience because it's so unpretentious --- he seems to be telling stories without any connection, but eventually you get the deeper story on your own.

I highly recommend this book. If you haven't read Bukowski's poetry before, this is a good place to start. Long-time fans will find this one a little flat, simply because it doesn't do anything new. They've heard all of these tales before. (But repetition was one of Bukowski's most endearing traits. He used it instead of a formal writing style.) So try Open All Night. You'll be pleased.

Maybe I'm just new to Buk, but its just ok
This book had some intersting stuff and it was better in the beginning than in the end.This is the first thing i've ever read by him and i know some people who are really into his poetry, so that's why I picked up one of them from the library.Most of it ....Every once in a while a good poem comes up but most of it is choppy and reptitive and boring.I should have started with a different one.

Dear publisher- a small effort please!
Since this is a posthumous volume of poems I would expect some explanations or introduction from the publisher or someone else, like was this book prepared by Bukowski at the time of his death, if not why were these poems put in and not the others, when were the poems written or published, it's not enough to say between 1970 and 1990... etc...

As for the poems, Bukowski is always great, but I wouldnt recommend this book to Buk's beginner's, they should start by "War All the time" or "The days run away ...", "Septuagenarian stew"and some others before buying this one. It's more for completists, and I guess there are a few of us out there in the wilderness. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The Eloquent Sewage of a Drunken Mind-The Buk Pukes It Up
Bukowski's carnival of the grotesque culminates in a collection of shorts that take you through booze, broads, cockroach-infested rooming houses and inevitably, skid row.Buk banalizes wretched despair making it seem comic,terrible and commonpace as a car wreck.Not for the uninitiated, thesepages show Buk at his hardcore, least palatable best.(Beginners shouldtry Ham on Rye for laughs and biographical insight.) For a quick sampler,juxtapose "The Most Beautiful Woman in Town" with "3Chickens and "The Copulating Mermaid of Venice Beach, Ca."Whoelse could put the poetry in necrophilia and the pathos in suicide?Makeyou split a gut as two old whores do the dozens over his sexually spentbody while the heat is ever at the door?Make you feel a tingle when twofat-headed slobs kiss the lovely lips of a stolen corpse and float her outto a sunlit sea?Make you cry when a gorgeous, self-lacerating nutjobdrags a broken bottle across her neck and disappears forever into the LAnight, never to warm the corner barstool again... If you ever manage to getyour hands on this book, bring a flask, bottle of Peopto Bismol and ahandkerchief.Strap yourself in and get ready for a bumpy night.

What a good writer!
The tales in this book are from the Bukowski's greatests creations. They seem to be easily written, but with a quality (and rythm) that only a master could put on it. Definitely, one of the bests writers in Englishlanguage in the XX century. ... Read more

Product Description
Charles Bukowski disliked academics, as this academic and readable book points out from page one onward of its introduction, "Charles Bukowski vs. American Ways." Begun before Bukowski died in 1994, Charles Bukowski: Autobiographer, Gender Critic, Iconoclast was the first doctoral dissertation on his prose and poetry up to that date, and it is offered now for fans and academics alike-no more need for black-market sales.

Chapter One, "Placing Bukowski," introduces Bukowski's amazing life and career and relates his work to influential predecessors (primarily Ernest Hemingway and John Fante) and four contemporaries (Raymond Carver, Kurt Vonnegut, Frederick Exley, and Hunter Thompson).

Chapter Two, "Bukowski Among the Autobiographers," pursues Bukowski's comprehensive autobiographical project. Harnessing Timothy Dow Adams' concept of "strategic lying," the chapter follows Bukowski's thinly veiled personae through three stages-first through the attention-getting "Dirty Old Man," then responding to the attention and (re)defining himself, finally culminating in "Henry Chinaski," the hero of Bukowski's five autobiographical novels.

Chapter Three, "Problems of Masculinity: At 'Home,' at Work, at Play," tackles the knee-jerk assessment of Bukowski as just a sexist "Dirty Old Man."Michael Kaufman's "triad of men's violence" (against women, other men, and themselves) explains the general Bukowski persona as a complicated gender construct.Bukowski's Bildungsroman, Ham on Rye, shows Chinaski as victim, practitioner, and critic of male violence, with the last role figuring into his other work too.

Chapter Four, "Bukowski vs. 'Institution Art,'" classifies this challenging author as both populist and avant-garde.As general postmodern phenomenon, he blends the democratic accessibility of populist writing with the adventurous gesturing of the avant-garde, and the result is direct, daring, truthful, and funny.

The book's conclusion, "Summing Up: Giving Bukowski His Due," predicts that Bukowski will be read far into the 21st century.Buy his books before you buy this one. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Buk Book
It seems the book has been printed twice (almost) within the same covers. Other than that I have no complaints.

-p

On Target
Charlson has provided an excellent overview of Bukowski, who is often misunderstood and thought to be just a weird sort of poet from the late 1950s-70s.Delving into some of the topics that Bukowski blasts (or seems to) in his poetry, Charlson has put forth some sensible interpretation while also raising many more questions. This is a must have book for anyone interested in poetry in the Post-Modern Period or just wanting to know more about Bukowski himself. ... Read more

Product Description
Publisher: Bensenville, Ill. : Open Skull PressPublication date: 1966Notes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be numerous typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. ... Read more

Product Description
A PUBLISHING FIRST

In 1980 Fernanda Pivano, noted Italian critic, translator, and author,came to the United States to interview one of the world's singularwriters, Charles Bukowski.

Bukowski had become famous for his lower-depths fiction andpoetry. Who was this man? What made him write the way he did? How didhe live? How did he write? These and other questions were to be askedduring the interview.

Coming to Bukowski's home in San Pedro, California, Pivano found a manwhose answers to her questions were frank, revealing, and sometimesshocking. In lengthy and productive sessions, she discovered aBukowski both the same and different than his published works.

The complete transcript of that remarkable interview is included inCHARLES BUKOWSKI: LAUGHING WITH THE GODS.

But that is only part of this book, which has been published inEnglish for the first time. Pivano has surrounded the interview with agenerous helping of comment, critique, and warmly worded appraisal.

Bukowski died in 1994. Since then his fame has only increased. Thisbook provides unique insight into the forces behind the man.

Pivano writes: "The hearsay and facts about Bukowski's life are ascrazy and strange as the stories he writes. In a certain way Bukowskiis a legend in his own time: a recluse, a lover, tender, vicious,horrible, a saint . . . The jury is still out. It seems there is nomiddle ground. People love him or hate him. Only one thing is sure:you can't read him and remain the same." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Bukowski talks about life and poetry
I read this book right after Sunlight Here I Am, a collection of Bukowski interviews. This book is more of the same --- Bukowski is irreverent, with strong convictions about life and writing, but if you've already read a stack of his books, you knew that. He doesn't always deliver the goods in interviews (he's often bored with the questions), but his point of view is honest and world-weary enough to keep you turning the pages.

Fernanda Pivano brings a European and female sensibility to the affair. Bukowski is bigger in Europe than in the US, so when she asks him about fame, he has interesting things to say. (He can walk down the street and be anonymous here, but he's often recognized in Italy, France, and Germany.) And because she's a woman, the interviews don't touch on any macho posturing. She knows he's a big-hearted guy under the tough exterior, so she goes straight for the answers about art and love, bypassing the tales of heavy drinking and barroom fights.

All in all, this is a reasonably entertaining and insightful book for the new Bukowski fan. It's Bukowski at his most thoughtful and relaxed. For those of you who have read all of his books, you won't find anything new here (although you won't feel ripped off reading it, either).

nothing special
I do not quite understand why this should be a recommended Buk-Book. It is a fairly interesting interview, alright. But if you're going to spend money on Bukowski: buy HIS books. And if you want biographical information, go with Howard Sounes. To get a real good look on Bukowski you also might want to check out the 'Bukowski-Tapes' - Film-Interviews by Barbet Schroeder. Pivano's Interview reveals nothing new is not really worth the money.

hanging with hank
interesting quick read about a foreign journalist's interview experience with bukowski not great but interesting

The truth, sure.
It may be a small matter to buk fans who have recently come to read his work, but the previous reviewer who quotes Fernanda Pivano as having said, "......you cannot read them and ever come away the same", has taken a leap that must be corrected. On the back cover of Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions and General Tales of Ordinary Madness, City Lights Books, Second printing January 1973, edited by Gail Chiarrello, the third paragraph reads: "With Bukowski, the votes are still coming in. There seems to be no middle ground...people seem to either love him or hate him. Tales of his own life and doing are as wild and weird as the very stories he writes. In a sense, Bukowski is a legend in his time...a madman, a recluse, a lover...tender vicious...never the same...these are exceptional stories that come pounding out of his violent and depraved life...horible and holy...you cannot read them and ever come away the same again." As the reader will note, the photo on the bookcover was from 1980--lets keep thefacts as facts.

Thomas Young tyoung@cyberzane.net

great!
It is a great book!Fun to read, exciting to the end - it's got everything a great book ough to have. ... Read more

Product Description
Translated from the French by Alison Ardron. Jean-Francois Duval gives us a close look at the links and contradictions between Bukowski and the Beat constellation. This is followed by a long interview with Buk: An Evening at Buk's Place. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Sorry but this is no masterpiece
I was very drawn to this book, as I have been studying the beats intensively for the past few months and also see Bukowski as being, as the author may have put it, even more beat than the beats. And the author did have some interesting and meaty things to say. For this reason I give the book 3 stars rather than 2. My suggestion is to borrow this book from the library unless you want it mostly for the photographs within, which tend to be on the scale of nothing less than excellent.

I will not say it was not worth it to me to purchase this book. Poor grammar I can handle but poor translations can drive me batty. Most readers would probably not be bothered by the problems in translation as much as I was, but my fear is that those who cannot spot the obvious translational errors may also be misled into believing fiction to be fact.
It this glaring kind of problem in the writing had happened only once or maybe twice and otherwise it was all good then I would not let it bother me so much, but in addition to the problematical translation I also found myths being perpetuated, though obviously out of naivete.

Duval states in this book that Jack Kerouac wrote his most famous book, "On the Road," in three weeks. This shows me that Duval as only skimmed the top of beat literature, for I have learned in more than a couple of books that this was not at all true; rather, it was at best a bit of marketing genius on the part of Kerouac who did apparently pretend at least for a short time to have written the entire book in three weeks on the famous "scroll." Yes, he did type the scroll in three weeks. It was a near-final if not final draft of a book he had essentially begun nearly four years earlier, though most of the book was written in about two years.

In addition, when a book repeats such a glaring myth, in 2002 when there is little excuse not to know this, it makes me feel a bit insecure about how much I can believe of what else the author has to say.

All that said, I found the book well worth reading -- though not what I could call enjoyable. There were tidbits of information which are probably true that I was glad to learn about. Though I knew a lot more than the author of this book about Kerouac's scroll, I am far from being a Road Scholar, and I have many more books to read. Only then will I learn if the book had any other glaring errors.

Lastly, I felt that the author waxed somewhat nauseatingly effusive and pseudo-poetic in praising Bukowski. Hey, I love Bukowski too, but not with white sugar frosting on top. Oh, and please, hold the gummy bears.

Do Try!
"Do Try" is a play on what is embossed upon Buk's tombstone and I am glad that our society continues to succeed in remembering him. I think Duval wrote a serviceable book here, one which reveals a good amount about Charles Bukowski. The text is a "tweener" as they say in football. It certainly is not a biography, but informs us about the Beat Generation to a modest extent as well; particularly Neal Cassady, Jack Kerouac, and Allen Ginsberg. Some of its information was new to me. I had never heard of Hal Norse, whom Buk called "The Prince of Poetry," before I opened these pages. The coverage of the poetry scene was illuminating in its own right. I agree with one of the other reviewers about Duval's final section which contains his interview with Bukowski. It was not very interesting or original. Lastly though, some of the plates reproduced on these pages--selected photos and the art of R. Crumb--vastly enhanced its narrative. I've flipped through it several times since the first reading just to gaze at all the photographic memorabilia. Well done in my opinion.

You can't judge a book by it's cover or title
It just goes to show, you can't judge a book by its cover, or it's title for that matter. This book is just awful. Awful. Bukowski wasn't a Beat, he didn't hang with the Beats and he had nothing in common with the Beats. This book struggles through it's 255 "pages" attempting to find any connection, regardless how tenuous, linking Buk to the Beats. It is like saying "Lawrence Welk and the Beatles". They only thing they have in common is that they lived at the same time and made music: Buk lived at the same time as the Beats and they both wrote. There are two separate stories going on here: one about the life of Bukowski and the other is a history of the Beat movement and there is no coherent thought connecting the two. The book is heavily referenced and quoted with a complete lack of original thought. It is so flimsy that the author had to include a 61 page interview with Bukowski and a 61 page notes section just to get the book to a reasonable page length. The interview is also terrible, after reading it one has to ask 'Is Ham on Rye the only book by Buk that Duval ever read?' The actual discussion of Bukowski and the Beats is limited to a weak 118 pages. The whole thing reads like a bad high school term paper. Save your time and your money, skip this one. Go watch grass grow, it would be more interesting.

Brilliant testimony
Jan Greenland, book reviewer and art critic., July 15, 2002, 5 out of 5 stars
Brilliant testimony
This volume is a must for all Bukowski fans and fanatics. The author is a rare blend of warmth, genius, and intellect (top of the line). If you love Charles Bukowski and his work - BUKOWSKI AND THE BEATS will definitely delight, not disappoint. The title could just as well be BUKOWSKI VS. THE BEATS, with this book metaphoring a regular chess game: Mr. Bukowski's side being two pieces left (the King and Queen) against the Beat's side having all pieces left except their Queen. Who wins? Bukowski by a landslide. By far the best of the four or five interview works re Bukowski. Why? Great wit, the author's keen eye for his hero's idiosyncracies and uncanny observations re our literary culture's highs and lows during the last century. Bukowski's range is so vast and so beautifully ALLOWED free rein in this book - because the author does not, as so many of the other biographers have, GET IN FRONT OF BUKOWSKI. Bukowski's wife (25 years younger) is allowed a leading role, and supports her husband with a real, honest, full, and complete love (romantic and otherwise). Sun Dog Press continues to bring alive deserving studies of perhaps the 20th Century's strongest and most astute critic of what must be called the debacle called humanity. Entertaining on every level, in this reviewer's opinion.

Also recommended: THE GOOD EARTH by Pearl Buck. PAN by Knut Hamsun. BUKOWSKI: THE MESSIAH IS HE by Cairo Monk

An excuse to publish a mediocre interview
Bukowski wasn't a Beat. He didn't like the Beats, either. In this book, the author scrounges up every reference he can find by Bukowski about Burroughs, Ginsberg, Kerouac, and Cassady. All of these references are *negative*.

So why publish a book about Bukowski and the Beats? Well, the author has this long interview with Bukowski and his wife. He needs a book idea as an excuse to publish the interview. He knows a lot about the Beats, so he spends the first three-quarters of the book trying to find a connection. There are a few connections --- the period in which Bukowski and Beats wrote, their unapologetic drug use, their wild sex lives, and trying to get their non-conformist writing published --- but Bukowski didn't like them and wasn't one of them.

So you have a book in two parts. The first is a colorful history of the Beat writers. The second is the interview. The history is okay and the interview is boring. Bukowski doesn't knock you out with his barroom wisdom in this one.

The best thing about the book is the large collection of black-and-white photographs. Seriously. If you are a big Bukowski fan, this book will disappoint you. ... Read more

Product Description

More renowned for his outrageous outbursts than anything he put on a page, Charles Bukowski is one of America's most misunderstood and under-appreciated writers. Charting his vexed re-lationships with women, employers, friends, colleagues and the tender mercies of the demon drink, The Hunchback of East Hollywood is the first book to study the writer's life and work in equal measure, focusing on the manner in which one impacted on the other. The Hunchback of East Hollywood gets inside the real Bukowski to deliver a full frontal assault on the publishing industry, and the most unlikely literary career in history. Also analyzes other works written about Bukowski over the years, up to and including Jean-Francois Duval's Bukowski and the Beats.

Customer Reviews (6)

Why Amazon needs a zero or minus-stars setting on its rating scale
Not only a bad biography of Bukowski but a bad biography.Poorly written (riddled with cliches that I can only imagine would have had Bukowski howling), massively padded-out with the author's often unfounded assertions and conclusions rather than critical synthesis. More irritating, the author often attributes motives, thoughts, opinions to the subject with no basis (or at least no explanation of the basis) in fact.I disagree with one reviewer who asserts that this is a bad bio because the author did not know Bukowski.This criterion would disqualify a mass of great critical biographies of literary figures.However, if you have have read even a handful of Bukowski's books and some of the excellent collections of his letters you already have a better understanding of his life and his work than this.No index, no bibliography, no list of Bukowski's published work.There has got to be college freshman year term papers on Bukowski out there better than this.

New Bukowski Bio Poetry Itself
I've read the big bio and it was very good.Cherkovski really liked Buk and Malone does too.His new bio, while it has very little new in it as far as facts are concerned, has Malone and that's new!There are some passages near the end that rival Bukowski himself.Malone is a fine prose poet.
The one thing that bothers me about all the material by and about Bukowski, and that includes this book, is that they don't show the normal every day relationship between Buk and his parents, between Buk and his girls, between Buk and his friends. You can't be used and abused all the time.People go crazy but they don't stay there.One time Mr. Bukowski put his son into a special class.And one must always remember that the very existence of children are a reminder of their parents mortality and that can drive anyone a little over the edge.
If you are interested in Bukowski read this book.

Off the mark
With the essential parts of Bukowskis biography covered (first & best) by the man himself, then by Cherkovski and Sounes, there seems little of note left to write of. Well, that's what this surely is...little of note.
This is a "me too!" kind of book with plenty of Malones own personality coming through and no new information. Not what I look for in a biography, especially when some basic details are either skimmed over or completely left out.
As mentioned, the Sounes book is comprehensive and engaging, with the Cherkovski serving some purpose. Even Richmond, Winans and Long had something new to say and found interesting ways in which to say them, although their books don't pretend to be comprehensive biographies.
I've read them all and will continue to read whatever I can on this writer. It's just a shame so much of it is dross.
If you are looking for a great book on Bukowski see Brewers bio/crit. It covers (well) the most essential thing about Bukowski...his written words. Most of the rest is just fluff.

picking buk's bones
Another guy who didn't know Bukowski trying to make a quick buck off his corpse. Too bad. A waste of money. Read Bukowski instead. Also, the print is so small you'll need a magnifying glass. Thumbs down. This is the worst of the lot.

interesting info, poorly written
Has a wealth of information on the man behind the myth, but unfortunately the author chose to use far too many similies and metaphors to hammer home certain ideas. Other bios are a better bet. I found myself skimming and skipping through the book as I couldn't stand some of the writing... ... Read more

Product Description
I wrote letters to many in those days ...it was rather my way of screaming from my cage.' The 1960's saw Charles Bukowski struggle for recognition and slowly emerge as a unique, talented and prolific poet and writer, whilst holding down a day job at the Post Office. During the 1970's and 80's Bukowski writes about his own fame, his contemporaries and his good fortunes; at the end of the 70's we see him beginning to enjoy the fruits of his labour. These letters to various literary contacts, friends and lovers provide an intimate and fascinating look at Bukowski's mind, his emotions, his attitude towards his own creativity and the comings and goings of his daily life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great Book
This is an amazing book. It's the exact style of all his writing. He put the same passion into his letters as he put into his poetry and stories. This is a must for any Bukowski fan not just for uber fans that have to read everything he has done. He never made copies of his letters so it goes to show you how good they are when dozens of people held on to them for years when he was still a nobody. Every page is a damn gem! There is something here and you need to get it.

Bukowski letters give insight into the man, but not much else
First and foremost, this is a book of letters. So, if you're looking for the relevations found in his books of prose and poetry, it's not here. But it does provide some personal insight into what he wrote for others.

Bottom line:

If you absolutely love Bukowski and must show off another book of his that the rest of your punk rock friends don't have, then by all means get it.

But if you just wanted some more Bukowski, you'd be better off buying one of his published works that you don't own yet ... Read more

Product Description

This is a collection of 175 previously unpublished works by Bukowski. It contains yarns about his childhood in the Depression and his early literary passions, his apprentice days as a hard-drinking, starving poetic aspirant, and his later years when he looks back at fate with defiance.

Customer Reviews (13)

Bukowski Scores Again!
Bone Palace Ballet is another amazing book of prose from the drunkest of the drunken poets, the most beaten of the beats, Charles Bukowski.
To say he was an influential writer, is like saying Dr. M.L. King was a mediocre speaker.Bukowski inspired more people to pick up a pen or sit down at a typewriter than possibly any other writer or poet in the short history of our country.Bone Palace Ballet is actually one of his milder books compared to a lot of his work.So people who have been scared off by his hard living and harder writing, can appreciate this collection.
Although not his best work by far, it's worth a read (as is anything he ever did).It's a quick read despite it's hefty length, so you'd be better off borrowing this one from a friend.That's the only problem with poetry books, is the high cost combined with the short time it takes to read them.But I would still rather see you buy this than borrow the crap that's on the New York Times best seller list.Now go out and find his other work.

Not his best stuff, but not bad.
Charles Bukowski, Bone Palace Ballet (Black Sparrow, 1997)

The main problem with the fact that Charles Bukowski has now published more work after his death than he did during the first sixty years of his life is that, well, not all of it is all that wonderful (and, really, the quality of the doorstops that were coming out in the seven or eight years before his death wasn't exactly stellar, either). This is not to say that some really, really good Buk books haven't come out posthumously-- The Captain Is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship quickly became one of my favorite Buk reads-- but Bone Palace Ballet is not one of them. It's a lot like those last few books published before his death in that there are a number of places where you can see why it is that Buk was able to become the sole American poet able to make a comfortable living solely off writing the stuff, the kind of talent that makes Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame or War All the Time a book that, when you're done with it, will stay with you for the rest of your life. But those times are few and far between (though to be fair, there's a lot more "few and far between" in a 363-page book, pretty much by definition, than there's going to be in one of the seventy-page wonders most poets turn out about twenty percent as frequently as Buk). Worth reading for established fans, but newbies will want to go father back in the canon for their first approach. ***

Chinaski, you never had it!!!
To read Sir Charles is to read about life without the pompous filter you get with most other pap.This installment is no different from anything else from Lord Chinaski.

Here's to Bukowski
With Bukowski there is no middle ground; you either love him or you hate him. Yes he can be filthy, jaded and downright mean. But there is the ring of truth here as well. Published posthumously this is a feast for Bukowski fans. There are a lot of dark poems here like Walking with the Dead and Return to Sender. But there is also some lighthearted stuff. In The Fool Dines Out he shows us his human side; he is the husband whose rude behavior towards a waiter brings on spousal criticism (in private of course)
He has been accused of being a misogynist; in Bone Palace Ballet
there is no evidence of that. Bukowski was a bit of a misanthrope, or did he just see the human condition a whole lot clearer than the rest of us?A must have for any Bukowski fan!

bukowski's wife's collection
not a bad collection
you have to figure that there a wealth of stuff still out theer yet to be released. this book is proof of that
some good stuff here
its easy to decide that this is the stuff he chose not to release but i like to think he just hadnt gotten around to it yet ... Read more