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Rating: 
Summary: An excuse to publish a mediocre interview
Review: Bukowski wasn't a Beat. He didn't like the Beats, either. In this book, the author scrounges up every reference he can find by Bukowski about Burroughs, Ginsberg, Kerouac, and Cassady. All of these references are *negative*.So why publish a book about Bukowski and the Beats? Well, the author has this long interview with Bukowski and his wife. He needs a book idea as an excuse to publish the interview. He knows a lot about the Beats, so he spends the first three-quarters of the book trying to find a connection. There are a few connections --- the period in which Bukowski and Beats wrote, their unapologetic drug use, their wild sex lives, and trying to get their non-conformist writing published --- but Bukowski didn't like them and wasn't one of them. So you have a book in two parts. The first is a colorful history of the Beat writers. The second is the interview. The history is okay and the interview is boring. Bukowski doesn't knock you out with his barroom wisdom in this one. The best thing about the book is the large collection of black-and-white photographs. Seriously. If you are a big Bukowski fan, this book will disappoint you.
Rating: 
Summary: attempt to bridge a gap
Review: essentially this book hopes to fill a space in bukowski history previously unfilled, or merely touched upon, which is buks relation to the beat writers which he frequently gets lumped in with. the book touches on connections as well as differences, and does it fairly well. the author refers to many book titles which he referenced to write the book, some of whose validity could be debated i'm sure. i noticed an error here and there such as neal cassady's prison time being served at san quentin, not alcatraz as the book states, also what may be a simple proofreading error of referring to william reich's research, which is actually wilhelm reich of orgonomy fame. the interview at the end of the book between the author and buk makes for an excellent read, and gives strength to the book overall.
Rating: 
Summary: The Los Angeles Times Book Review is right!
Review: I enjoyed this book a lot. I think Jonathan Kirsch is perfectly right when he writes in The Los Angeles Times Book Review of Sunday, June 2: «Bukowski and the Beats» is full of affection and admiration for Bukowski, but Duval brings a sharp edge and a smart take to his work, which is composed of biography, literary criticism and cultural history in equal measure». As an echo to Kerouac's lyrical motto «the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk», Bukowski states: «Thank the gods that the first 50 years of my life were spent with the Blue Collars and the truly mad, the truly beaten.» However, Bukowski was a beneficiary of the Beats in more than one sense, as Duval points out. «Bukowski and the Beats» is also great fun, for instance when it shows Bukowski joining a 1974 Beat tour that featured Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti and Gary Snyder. The book also contains photos I had never seen, and one of the best interview with Bukowski that I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Good Read on Bukowski and the Beats
Review: I found this book to be a decent overview of the main Beat characters and an insightful look into the writings of Bukowski. I dig Buk's stuff and am really into the Beats, so I enjoyed reading about Buk's various meetings with different Beat figures and his comments over the years on their works. I also enjoyed the deeper look into Bukowski, especially the interview between the author and the dirty old man, which makes the book a must read in itself. Good read for getting a little deeper into Buk and gaining a better understanding of where he's coming from.
Rating: 
Summary: You can't judge a book by it's cover or title
Review: It just goes to show, you can't judge a book by its cover, or it's title for that matter. This book is just awful. Awful. Bukowski wasn't a Beat, he didn't hang with the Beats and he had nothing in common with the Beats. This book struggles through it's 255 "pages" attempting to find any connection, regardless how tenuous, linking Buk to the Beats. It is like saying "Lawrence Welk and the Beatles". They only thing they have in common is that they lived at the same time and made music: Buk lived at the same time as the Beats and they both wrote. There are two separate stories going on here: one about the life of Bukowski and the other is a history of the Beat movement and there is no coherent thought connecting the two. The book is heavily referenced and quoted with a complete lack of original thought. It is so flimsy that the author had to include a 61 page interview with Bukowski and a 61 page notes section just to get the book to a reasonable page length. The interview is also terrible, after reading it one has to ask 'Is Ham on Rye the only book by Buk that Duval ever read?' The actual discussion of Bukowski and the Beats is limited to a weak 118 pages. The whole thing reads like a bad high school term paper. Save your time and your money, skip this one. Go watch grass grow, it would be more interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant testimony
Review: Jan Greenland, book reviewer and art critic., July 15, 2002, 5 out of 5 stars
Brilliant testimony
This volume is a must for all Bukowski fans and fanatics. The author is a rare blend of warmth, genius, and intellect (top of the line). If you love Charles Bukowski and his work - BUKOWSKI AND THE BEATS will definitely delight, not disappoint. The title could just as well be BUKOWSKI VS. THE BEATS, with this book metaphoring a regular chess game: Mr. Bukowski's side being two pieces left (the King and Queen) against the Beat's side having all pieces left except their Queen. Who wins? Bukowski by a landslide. By far the best of the four or five interview works re Bukowski. Why? Great wit, the author's keen eye for his hero's idiosyncracies and uncanny observations re our literary culture's highs and lows during the last century. Bukowski's range is so vast and so beautifully ALLOWED free rein in this book - because the author does not, as so many of the other biographers have, GET IN FRONT OF BUKOWSKI. Bukowski's wife (25 years younger) is allowed a leading role, and supports her husband with a real, honest, full, and complete love (romantic and otherwise). Sun Dog Press continues to bring alive deserving studies of perhaps the 20th Century's strongest and most astute critic of what must be called the debacle called humanity. Entertaining on every level, in this reviewer's opinion. Also recommended: THE GOOD EARTH by Pearl Buck. PAN by Knut Hamsun. BUKOWSKI: THE MESSIAH IS HE by Cairo Monk
Rating:
Summary: masterpiece for all fans
Review: Jean françois Duval has written a very pleasant book that all the buk's fans all around the world must buy.Why? Because of the originality of the approach(it's the first book about this relation between buk and the most powerful exiting litterary movement of the 20s. And most of all because of the original interview at the end:Buk talks about life and death, writing and success.. and drinking of course, with a lot of bottles surrounding him !!.It's never boring,always exiting .Buk is a master at word.This book is also a very good introduction for people who have never read bukowski.Pics are beautiful andespecially these of linda ( the buk's wife) in her bed.Buk is a major author and a fascinating man.Read him!
Rating:
Summary: I love this book!
Review: Sun Dog Press did a terrific job! It is obvious that lots of love went into putting this book together, from the exceptional cover photos (the one of Buk is one of the best ever!), design as well as what's inside. Credit also goes, of course, to the author: Jean-Francois Duval. Written in French and translated--although it does not read like a tranlation; it is that well done. Smooth and truly professional.
While Buk was alive he liked to poke fun at The Beats (he liked to put down Kerouac's writing, as well as Burrough's--well, the truth is On The road is a well-written novel and a modern classic, and the same could be said of Burrough's Junkie. So here, within these pages, you get to know something about The Beats--if you're new to all this. Worth buying for your library, even though the Buk interview also appears in the Daniel Weizman tome Drinking With Bukowski. Thanks to all involved! Lastly, I found out recently that John Martin (Buk's publisher)
sold Black Sparrow Press...am still reeling from the shock...but then I thought what a terrific book idea, to have Martin write a book ( or have someone else do it for him) all about Black Sparrow, how it got started, how he met Bukowski and made it happen. That would complete the entire picture. People like myself would be interested in reading a book of this type. John Martin, to me at least, has always appeared to be this mysterious figure in the background, behind Buk's success...and I, for one, would love to know how Martin and his wife made it all happen: the early struggles, and finally the acclaim, success; all of it.
How about it, John? What else have you got to do now that you're no longer running a press?
Bukowski and The Beats gets five stars! You bet!
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