Reviews
More Notes of a Dirty Old Man: The Uncollected Columns by Charles Bukowski, David Stephen Calonne
thomasgoddard's review against another edition
3.0
I loved this for all the reasons that I did the last instalment... however...
This one stepped over the line a few times for me. It was very sexually aggressive and that really affected me on this read. You lose what little respect remains for the character of Bukowski and realise him finally as ineffectual and impotent in the face of the world. Obviously that has literary and educational merit... but what was gained felt a little hollow, because I didn’t believe it.
Thrown into these situations, via all you know of the man prior, you cannot believe him when he tells you what he does. So either all he said before was a lie, or this is a new resignation of the spirit to drink. How terrible.
I don’t have any issue separating the man from the character... what I’m saying is only that the character of Bukowski, as written, felt just the slightest bit less honest this time around.
This one has a higher rating than Notes... and I have to say that I find that rather alarming too, because it means that people read the last one and then this more extreme one and found this the more rewarding.
I think that shows the evolution of the project. Darker and more extreme to keep up with expectations and increase engagement.
But then, doesn’t that speak to the bigger, brighter, bolder mindset that humanity has installed into culture.
This one stepped over the line a few times for me. It was very sexually aggressive and that really affected me on this read. You lose what little respect remains for the character of Bukowski and realise him finally as ineffectual and impotent in the face of the world. Obviously that has literary and educational merit... but what was gained felt a little hollow, because I didn’t believe it.
Thrown into these situations, via all you know of the man prior, you cannot believe him when he tells you what he does. So either all he said before was a lie, or this is a new resignation of the spirit to drink. How terrible.
I don’t have any issue separating the man from the character... what I’m saying is only that the character of Bukowski, as written, felt just the slightest bit less honest this time around.
This one has a higher rating than Notes... and I have to say that I find that rather alarming too, because it means that people read the last one and then this more extreme one and found this the more rewarding.
I think that shows the evolution of the project. Darker and more extreme to keep up with expectations and increase engagement.
But then, doesn’t that speak to the bigger, brighter, bolder mindset that humanity has installed into culture.
corey's review
2.0
I really liked "Hollywood," and I'm a fan of his poetry, but Bukowski was a bit of a one trick pony when it came to prose. The "I hate everything except booze and sex and oh by the way I don't have any money" shtick gets old quickly, and there was nothing to hold me here. I think when I went through my teenage-nihilistic phase that many teens go through, Bukowski's stuff really spoke to me. But as I age, and as my tastes in literature change as well, I find his work increasingly silly.
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