Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Love Is a Dog from Hell

I usually enjoy Bukowski’s writing style, his realism, and his raw honesty in his poetry. However, the majority of the content in this particular book was absolutely deplorable. His later work from when he chilled out from his gross drunken man hoe years is much more readable. There was a handful of poems that were written in the way that made me like his work but I can no longer in good conscience keep this book on my shelf, if that tells you anything. I was already aware of his vulgarity but this was vomit inducing. His early work is definitely a no-go. This book was mainly comprised of the poems I would typically skip or hate in his other books.

Apparently Harry Styles loves this book (🚩) but I would never recommend this unless you’d enjoy the debauched poetry of a drunk, depressed, nearly destitute, middle aged man.

This only gets an extra half point for the very few poems l liked and because this was definitely reminiscent of beatnik literature. Kerouac would probably like this.
But in this era, only guys that hide how awful they are under being pretentious would like this crap. (like Matty Healy. iykyk lol)

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mme_carton's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.0

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paulwesterberg's review

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funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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kasey_'s review against another edition

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reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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pluvioviophile's review against another edition

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funny tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No

1.0

puisi bukowski terasa apa adanya. sering kali dia menyebut angka-angka. hal remeh-temeh dalam realita. kecenderungan ini yg membuatnya gagal dalam membedakan cinta dan senggama.
dangkal, terbelakang.
primitif.
too much testosteron and lack of vasopressin.
oh demi tuhan?????
kalo dia ni bikin novel trus karakter utamanya mokondo macem ni, gue kek bisa aja bacanya (mencoba menelisik pikiean male manipulAtoRRR) tapi ini puisi 300+ halaman??????
hhHHHHhhhhhh

gue bisa ngerti kenapa ada orang yg suka bukowski. tapi cara dia nulis puisi ni not really my cup of tea. ditambah konten puisi dia ni berulang2 cerita ttg cewe (in a BAD way), mabok, sange, nulis, dikejar deadline, ngentot, beer, coli, ngintipin celana dalem cewe, traveling buat ngewe, dipuja(?) cewe, mabok lagi, ereksi lagi. beuhhhhhhh real mokondo sastra

kek??? dari 100++ puisi yg gue bilang oke cuma 8 :)

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_quinnsreads's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny sad fast-paced

5.0

Raw, unfiltered and repulsively beautiful. One of the best poems I've read in years. There's just something about Bukowski's writings that captures your soul. And I know not everyone might agree, but I like the way he plays with words to formulate his thoughts and feelings. Although he was pathetic. But overall, I loved it.

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gorgnzla's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.5

I would give this zero stars, except it was so impactful that it made me never want to read anything by Bukowski ever again. So I guess that’s something?

Highly do not recommend. His writing felt lazy and uninspired, not to mention the blatant pedophilia and misogyny. This book was essentially him griping about “his wh*res,” shitting, and people obsessing over him. Not sure why, when he mentions every other segment that his underwear has shit stains. Not much to adore there. It feels like a case of narcissism to me, but that’s just my opinion.

It’s got to be some dedication that he wrote over a hundred pages of (subpar, mind you) poems that essentially boil down to “I have a red hair fetish.” I finished the book out of pure spite. And, out of even more spite, I don’t think I’ll ever pick up another one of his books again.

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