A review by dylan2219
Ham on rye by Charles Bukowski

dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

a kind of toxic masculinity odyssey through the gutters of Los Angeles. Bukowski is an interesting writer if an entirely unvarnished and occasionally uninspired one; he is very spare and careful in his language but not very exciting. His appeal comes mostly from how much you enjoy rolling around in the muck with his deeply unpleasant characters and bitter, corrosive worldview. I think many people look at his work and think “oh, how beautiful! He is giving light and voice to the downtrodden” but frankly this book wades slightly into a kind of bad faith poverty porn territory, as Bukowski is absent of psychology or motivation and instead just presents things on a rusty slab. You couldn’t pay me to return to this universe, though I respect its unrelenting pursuit of honesty at the expense of anything else. Nonetheless his views are odious and he is just as blinkered as the authority figures he despises, it is pointless and ridiculous to “separate art from artist” here as this is clearly autofiction and Bukowski’s pious attitude towards truth and reality is reflected in the way his own life and attitude mirrored his work. You cannot have the work without him and vice Verda. and it seems like he only half-grew out of the stolid, beer-and-piss-sodden, vomit-covered, scarred and bruised tough guy universe he was born into.
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