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Average Customer Rating:

A sweet life affirming tale	Customer Rating:
Well there's certainly no flowery language here,a tale of life as it is for millions of people,in fact probably most of the population in some way or another,just they don't write it down like Mr Bukowski did.A good compelling story of everyday folk,I'd recommend you buy 'notes of a dirty old man'as well,for the full horror.

Well written but documenting the familiar

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This was very easy to read and was well written but I can't understand all the praise. As someone who has worked rubbish jobs, drunk too much and been hungover too often as well living in short term rented accommodation this didn't really tell me anything I didn't know and didn't give an insight into why people live like this. Good read but documenting the ordinary is never going to be extraordinary.

? a metaphor for human existence

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what do you get from reading about Chinaski's paranoid and conscienceless approach to his pretty grim life? - well, for a start, your own impresses you as being worthwhile, you feel ( or decide to feel ) ok about yourself. you only vaguely know or know of someone like Chinaski. you don't exactly enjoy being a voyeur to his startling, brutally crude,constricted existence, but he will drag projections of various sorts out of most of you. why we read this is fascinating in itself. Maybe he is a metaphor for us being here 'just because we are'!

simple and brilliant	Customer Rating:
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"

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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'.