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Summary: Meet Mr. Pervert
Review: Bukowski was a writer of porn for the literary world. He didn't mask the perverseness of his thoughts or pretend to be civil in the traditional sense, not to women, not to himself, not to his highly esteemed contemporaries. He chose to write what he thought and not hide behind the ribbons and bows of classic literature. Bukowski tried (or maybe not... vulgar charm) to give his landscape to his readers in all its ugly glory and succeeded brilliantly.
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Summary: contains Buk's finest short story ever, but little else
Review: Bukowski was a brilliant poet. He wrote some very entertaining novels. His short stories are the weakest medium for his art. Compared to his poems and novels, his shorts are generally immature and silly. That being said, The Most Beautiful Woman In Town could very well be the most moving and hauntingly beautiful thing he ever published. There is no way to read it without being touched by strong emotions. There are some other very good stories here, like Life & Death In The Charity Ward. There are also some repulsive tales here. Stories like The Fiend are hard to stomach. It's impossible to champion rape and child molestation. Readers with a history of sexual abuse should be forewarned, some of this can be very difficult to endure. The title story makes this book worth including to your collection, it's that good. This is by no means a terrible book, but it falls well short of greatness. Bukowski was so prolific that one can excuse the occasional misfire. Buy it for The Most Beautiful Woman In Town, and then procede with caution. Notes Of A Dirty Old Man is more entertaining and revealing. The storytelling here is very good, some of the stories aren't.
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Summary: This is high Art
Review: Bukowski's writing is poignant, his stories are the legacy of the destructiveness of our culture, the solitude, madness and neurosis that affect all of us. This is pure writing, line after line of truth.
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Summary: Have a drink, pal
Review: Check out the other review close to mine. What a bunch of gobbledygook. Dude, never slam an author with a review that is even muddier than the book you are slamming. First of all, what are "the issues we have judged to be important in good writing"?
Are you saying that to have any credibility, all authors must limit their work to seperation of church and state? And don't try to impress us with words like 'inchoate'. Nobody knows what that means. The reason you don't like Bukowski is because your writing is so much like his, except more pretentious. Maybe with a few drinks in you, you'd loosen up and make it as Bukowski imitator.
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Summary: First and Last taste of Bukowski
Review: I dont know how people can read 'the fiend' and think it is 'terrific'. It is child rape written in the manner of a porn book perspective.
I threw this book away a long time ago.
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Summary: Why didn't my Ivy League University teach this guy???
Review: I majored in English Lit at Princeton. A couple of years later, I stumbled across Bukowski in a little expat bookstore in Prague and couldn't stop reading him. It galls me to think that I was never ONCE exposed to his work during my four years at Princeton, supposedly one of the "cream of the crop" American universities! What in the hell is up with THAT???This man is brilliant, simply brilliant. Zero pretension and zero tediousness. Truth flows effortlessly from his pen: simple, raw, real, horrible, hilarious, and beautiful all at the same time. But maybe too politically incorrect for the ivory tower...
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Summary: First Taste of the Buk.
Review: I stumbled into City Lights Books in SF and they recommended Bukowski. Always skeptical of "artistic literary" types, I decided to pick out a book of short stories to entertain my MTV attention span. I was very delighted with Bukowski's stories. Some are very creative (eg. Swastika) and most are downright vulgar! Throw in a bit of tragedy and a ton of tasteless humor (6 inches and The Copulating Mermaid of Venice, CA comes to mind) and you've got an idea of Bukowski's work. At many times, I found myself laughing out loud (very unusual for me) with his stories. I will probably pick up the second part of his short story volume (Tales of Ordinary Madness) as well as Post Office. Mad immortal tales, indeed.
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Summary: Repulsive
Review: I stumbled into City Lights Books in SF and they recommended Bukowski. Always skeptical of "artistic literary" types, I decided to pick out a book of short stories to entertain my MTV attention span. I was very delighted with Bukowski's stories. Some are very creative (eg. Swastika) and most are downright vulgar! Throw in a bit of tragedy and a ton of tasteless humor (6 inches and The Copulating Mermaid of Venice, CA comes to mind) and you've got an idea of Bukowski's work. At many times, I found myself laughing out loud (very unusual for me) with his stories. I will probably pick up the second part of his short story volume (Tales of Ordinary Madness) as well as Post Office. Mad immortal tales, indeed.
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Summary: Magie and Beautiful Woman
Review: Stephen Crane wrote "Magie" and did a good job. Bukowski wrote three pages and turned me inside out. I had just finished reading Cranes book when I found a copy of Bukowski's story and became a believer. How does Bukowski get the power into such a small space? Crane used a small book to tell his story. Some people read it and liked what they read. Bukowski's story has me rethinking what I knew about stories and looking for more of Buck's stuff.
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Summary: Repulsive
Review: The first story in this collection of shorts, "The Most Beautiful Woman In Town," is a beautifully written story, without even a bit of unnecessary vulgarity. I read the first paragraph in the bookstore and for this reason, I bought the book. At home, I opened it, read on, read the second story - then the third, the fourth, the fifth, and by the sixth or seventh story, not only did I feel saddened but disgusted by the words I had just read. Bukowski was a miserable man. And sadly, unlike Hemingway, he was unable to take his misery and transcribe it in a fashionable way. His piggish tendencies shine throughout this book. And I won't bore with you with all this literary snobbishness, because this book's downright repulsiveness is not the only reason I hate it so much: It is also poorly written. And sloppy (no capitalization in many of the stories, which is annoying, confusing, and stupid). And most importantly, the stories seemed to be the same thing one after the other - over and over again: "I'm drunk, I like to bang chicks, especially fat ugly ones who aren't married to me, ooh, I'm sick, etc." The stories are really ugly. Other reviewers claim that Bukowski was a brilliant genius, but I don't think he was. He wasn't even a good writer. Just a poor old sap with a beer in his hand and a woman's groin in the other. Last night, I ripped out the first story - the only good one here - and then took the rest of this book, and lit it on fire. I kicked the flaming book into the ocean and walked on. Yes, that's how much I hated it.
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