<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, but Hard to Read.
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Not essential
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Slow going, but worth it for Bukowski fans
Review: 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.
<< 1 >>
| 
