Rating: 
Summary: kept my head from the noose
Review: a year ago i was out on my duff out of my house and out of my mind. bukowski's life and his survival and moxie kept me alive just reading it...just this book. then i went to the library picked up some of his poems and hung on...his poems do that. thanks buk
Rating: 
Summary: Quick But Complete Read Of A Squalid Life
Review: Funny it took a British biographer to get the Charles Bukowski story right. Sounes put a great deal of time and effort into tracking the myth and reality of this best selling poet and public madman. This is the most balanced account of Bukowski's life which means he comes out looking like a very talented but wretched human being who eventually turned on most of his friends by creating unfavorable representations in his work. There are all kinds of intriguing music-related tidbits: his jealousy of Pete Townshend, his immediate recognition of U2 as a sellout band, despite dedicating a concert to he and his wife, his turndown of a photo shoot with Madonna even though Sean Penn was a regular drinking buddy. Written in a fast-paced fictionalized narrative, this one is a sure winner.
Rating:
Summary: A good bio of a great writer
Review: Here's a story kiddies, please bear with me:Years ago I was a struggling, naive graduate student in English at a major southern university. Like a fool, I decided to write a master's thesis on Charles Bukowski. The department chair stuck me with a professor who was supposedly the resident expert on contemporary American literature. From our first conversation it was clear that the man not only had no respect for Buk, but hated his work and hated the very notion that anyone would want to do graduate level work on him. He dismissed the idea with a sniff, saying, "He's marginal and unworthy. No one has written a book on him." I am sad to report that I let the bastard get the better of me. The thesis went unwritten. Well, that was a decade ago and since then there have been several very fine books written about Bukowski. Three excellent volumes come readily to mind: Neeli Cherkovski's seminal biography, "Bukowski: A Life"; Gay Brewer's Twayne volume, "Charles Bukowski"; and Russell Harrison's "Against the American Grain." All are top notch in their own way. Now we have Howard Sounes' worthy addition to this list, "Charles Bukowski: Locked in the Arms of a Crazy Life." This new biography works well as a compliment to Cherkovski's more intimate work (Neeli and Hank were good friends and the closeness of their relationship informs every page of the text). Sounes' book is more flamboyant, to be sure, and paints Bukowski in darker colors than does Cherkovski's. Both portraits are quite valuable and, even more important, both are very good reads. I'm still waiting, though, for the definitive Bukowski biography to emerge, a book that combines a true scholar's rigor with a novelist's eye for detail. Maybe some new English professor or graduate student coming up will grab for the brass ring. I can't help but think that our universities will finally forget their snobbery and small brained prejudices and hop on the Bukowski bandwagon. What I would love to see published is a book that encompasses the pictures painted by Sounes, Cherkovski, Brewer and Harrison, with added chunks of personal grace and style thrown in by this to-be-named biographer. It's bound to happen some day because Bukowski's legacy is simply too daunting, too great to be ignored. In the meantime, I recommend this book and all of the others I named above. There are other fine volumes on Buk out there, too. Go find them all and read them right away. You'll learn lots of cool stuff and be the life of your next cocktail party!
Rating:
Summary: as I suspected, the myth & the man were miles apart
Review: Howard Sounes Buk bio is not nearly as detailed or as informative as his Bob Dylan bio, but it is far and away the best work on Bukowski I have thus far encountered. The reason for the lack of access is simple enough. A writer, by sheer necessity, is a solitary figure. He must spend the majority of his time alone. Most writers are also paid liars. Also, given that most of Bukowski's early loves & friends are dead, as is Bukowski himself, it would be difficult to come by much in the way of useful firsthand information. That being said, I feel that Sounes did the best he could with what was available. The Dylan bio would have more info just because a musician generally has to work closely with many other people. Bukowski had only to work closely with his publisher, John Martin. I've suspected for years that Bukowski was about half the man he claimed to be. Sounes has confirmed my suspicions. He was a jealous, sometimes violent lover. He was guilty of more than his fair share of back-biting & backstabbing. He wasn't even the constant drunk he portrayed himself to be(trust me on that one...there's no strike against him for that). What he was was an occasionally great and always prolific writer of verse and prose. Sounes exposes many an untruth in Bukowski's account of his own life. He also makes available one of the best and most comprehensive collections of photographs ever presented of Bukowski, including photos of his chief muse, Jane. I advise reading this book if you want the truth about Bukowski, not the myth. This won't help feed any hero-worship. It is well-researched and beautifully written in an easy, flowing narrative, not unlike Bukowski's sparse style of storytelling. I had long believed that Buk was not so much hateful towards people and life as he was afraid of them. Sounes appears to confirm this. Avid Bukowski fans will already know much of the material presented within these pages, as few have detailed their own lives in such sheer volume as Bukowski, but Sounes does an agreeable job of separating fact from fiction in Bukowski's autobiographical pieces. You will not often be pleased with the liberties Bukowski takes with the details of his friends' lives. Sounes one failing is that he gives way to the temptation to insert his own opinions of Bukowski's work and behavior towards the end of the book. He does a better job of sidestepping this common pitfall in his Dylan bio. He does seem to've learned his lesson after the Buk bio. Locked In The Arms Of A Crazy Life is a must for any Bukowski fan who prefers honesty to mythology. One of America's great writers was far from being one of America's great men and Sounes has certainly captured that fact and built his biography around that. If you are new to Bukowski, check out The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over The Hills, Post Office, Love Is A Dog From Hell & You Get So Alone At Times That It Just Makes Sense. The Most Beautiful Woman In Town & Other Stories is worth buying for the title piece alone. It was, in my opinion, the best short story he ever wrote.
Rating: 
Summary: New bio good, but not great.
Review: Howard Sounes' new Bukowski biography is much better than Cherkovski's BUKOWSKI: A LIFE, or Steve Richmond's self-serving SPINNING OFF BUKOWSKI; but it's still not great. He does dispel some of the Bukowski mythology (which Bukowski himself was the main promoter of) that has grown over the years. Unfortunately, he dwells too much on Bukowski's sex life, which can be read about in two fat Bukowski books (in every Bukowski book really) WOMEN and LOVE IS A DOG FROM HELL. This would be a good introduction for the uninitiated, but for Buk fanatics it's nothing new. Try Gay Brewer's wonderful CHARLES BUKOWSKI, for a more in depth (though somewhat academic) look at what Bukowski is important for: HIS WRITING! And for Bukowski's publishing history the forthcoming DESCRIPTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE PRIMARY WORKS OF CHARLES BUKOWSKI by Aaron Krumhansl, will be indispensible.
Rating:
Summary: Definitive bio -- will be hard to top
Review: I finished this book in two days. As a Bukowski fan I enjoyed learning about the people he wrote about. Still, I thought to myself, was Bukowski writing about those people so truthfully or was Sounes filling in the blanks and putting the cart before the horse in his non-fiction. I very much enjoyed it but had to give it a four because the biographer kept saying that Bukowski was in a stage of his life where he was producing the best poems ever. Seemed to be that the author was telling us this time and time again in all stages of the life of Mr. Bukowski. I could never tell what his opinion was about the best poetry done by C.B.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging account of a fascinating man....
Review: I first discovered the work of Charles Bukowski approximately five years ago, and I was immediately impressed. The more I read the more I enjoyed. I had heard all the legendary tales, the horror stories and the millions of tales of drunken mania, but I purposely stayed away from reading anything ABOUT the man. I didn't want to be disappointed when the reality is often times a far cry from the truth.
Eventually I broke down and bought this book, simply because the countless stories of his life were really becoming too much, and I wanted to know a little more about the man. If at all possible, from an independent observer who was not a Bukowski crony. I think this book accomplishes the task of being a reasonably detached look at the life of a complicated individual, with a few complaints.
First, the author obviously fell in love with Bukowski during this book (or perhaps before he even wrote it), and it shows constantly. There are admitted mistakes in his life, but the real warts are brushed over rather quickly.
Second, the book felt rushed. I think the book would have been much better if the author took his time and wrote a comprehensive 500-700 page book, which he obviously could have done. There are more than enough things to write about. Whole accounts of his womanizing and his time with the LA Free Press are just glanced over. I think it cheated the reader
Lastly, the author quickly passes over the interpersonal relationships Bukowski formed and spoke almost exclusively of events. Events don't tell us the whole story, and what he did write about the relationships was shallow at best. Linda King was the only one who had any depth added. The lack of interpersonal discussions really failed to bring out the third dimension in this book, and it fell a little flat.
The good thing for the author is that he writes well, and thankfully, Charles Bukowski is an interesting subject. I find it hard to believe anyone could really make his life boring. So the book is worth reading, especially if you are like me and don't know much about the man, but if you do I think the reader might find this a bit overly simplistic. If I could have I would have rated this a 3.5 star book. Because I like Bukowski's work, I will round up. I am huge fan of biographies and this just isn't one of the better ones.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging account of a fascinating man....
Review: I first discovered the work of Charles Bukowski approximately five years ago, and I was immediately impressed. The more I read the more I enjoyed. I had heard all the legendary tales, the horror stories and the millions of tales of drunken mania, but I purposely stayed away from reading anything ABOUT the man. I didn't want to be disappointed when the reality is often times a far cry from the truth.
Eventually I broke down and bought this book, simply because the countless stories of his life were really becoming too much, and I wanted to know a little more about the man. If at all possible, from an independent observer who was not a Bukowski crony. I think this book accomplishes the task of being a reasonably detached look at the life of a complicated individual, with a few complaints.
First, the author obviously fell in love with Bukowski during this book (or perhaps before he even wrote it), and it shows constantly. There are admitted mistakes in his life, but the real warts are brushed over rather quickly.
Second, the book felt rushed. I think the book would have been much better if the author took his time and wrote a comprehensive 500-700 page book, which he obviously could have done. There are more than enough things to write about. Whole accounts of his womanizing and his time with the LA Free Press are just glanced over. I think it cheated the reader
Lastly, the author quickly passes over the interpersonal relationships Bukowski formed and spoke almost exclusively of events. Events don't tell us the whole story, and what he did write about the relationships was shallow at best. Linda King was the only one who had any depth added. The lack of interpersonal discussions really failed to bring out the third dimension in this book, and it fell a little flat.
The good thing for the author is that he writes well, and thankfully, Charles Bukowski is an interesting subject. I find it hard to believe anyone could really make his life boring. So the book is worth reading, especially if you are like me and don't know much about the man, but if you do I think the reader might find this a bit overly simplistic. If I could have I would have rated this a 3.5 star book. Because I like Bukowski's work, I will round up. I am huge fan of biographies and this just isn't one of the better ones.
Rating:
Summary: A quick read, but accurate? Who knows?
Review: Sounces attempts to deflate the myth of Bukowski by gathering a hodgepodge of facts from Buk's writings and interviews with past lovers and acquaintances. While a very quick and entertaining read, I am not sure how accurate this biography is. Often, Sounces uses Bukowski's own fictional writings as verification of the occurrence of events in Bukowski's life without using other, secondary independent reference material to prove what Bukowski had written as truth. In the same vein, Sounces often pronounces the statements of old enemies and ex-lovers of Bukowski as truth with little attention to the fact that Bukowski spent the better part of a career lambasting these people and their foibles -- Harold Norse is an example of this. I suppose my problem with Sounces' treatment of Bukowski was that it was a bit too arbitrary and seemingly poorly researched. Perhaps this would have been alleviated with careful footnoting, but I get the feeling that Sounces used the facts to represent a point of view he had before he had written the story and not the other way around.
Rating:
Summary: Quick But Complete Read Of A Squalid Life
Review: The author does an excellent job of piercing the myths and legends about Bukowski and revealing the scared, lonely guy within - while admitting that Bukowski could be, and often was, a real louse, he shows his human side and does a good analysis of his life's work. It's not an exhaustive biography and it's a quick read, but frankly, with someone whose life was as squalid and often, depressing as Bukowski's, I prefer reading a book that doesn't go into every drunken rage and arrest the guy ever had. A very nice piece of work, a must for Bukowski fans.
| 
