Post Office..Bukowski
 

Not exactly motivational :D

God, who would want to be such an @$$hole?

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Certainly one of my thoughts.

We all have an inner Bukowski.

He was just more honest than most of us.

I don't find him terribly honest. Many of his situational accounts are (surprisingly)obvious exaggerations to his benefit....lacks a filter might be more accurate than "honest".

I agree we all have that Bukowski side to us and while I don't think it should be repressed I do think he embraced it in the worst possible way.

I thought him one of the most honest and genuine people I ever met. Of course I was a student then and in awe of the man. And there was a fair bit of red wine involved.

Still, there is such a deep and awful integrity to his writing, that the man will always have my deepest respect. He practically flayed himself alive at each public reading.

RIP C.B.

LOL. Someone gave me that book maybe 15 years ago. I don't think I have much of an inner Bukowski, but I've read it 3-4 times since then.

Not quite sure why. I don't think it is some extremely well written work. But for whatever reason, I get a kick out of it.

I don't think Post Office is intended or held out to be purely autobiographical. I think it's more based on his experiences working at the PO. So I don't view any of the novel as dishonest at all.

True, I'm probably over-analyzing it but I somehow felt the gambling stories in particular took away from the genuine nature of it all. His accounts were illogical but certainly entertaining.

To be clear I really enjoyed it and will be reading Ham on Rye next week.

Cliff Note version please - I don't feel like Googling this but you guys got me interested - who is he? Why is he relevant? Should I consider wasting minutes reading him?

This if just off the top of my head from memory. He was a beatnik poet, hard drinker, gambler, drifter, survivor type. Worked on and off at the post office as a carrier (I think in the 60s). As he was getting up in age (I think maybe his 50s?) he supposedly had a friend who offered to pay him some amount per month to quit the post office and spend his time writing a novel full time. He lived in a small dumpy apt in LA (which was recently for sale/sold) when he wrote the novel - called Post Office. While he was an original "Slacker," he was somewhat different than most in that he was obviously naturally very intelligent.

The novel is semi-autobiographical. The tough work at the PO, the various characters he encounters, his girlfriends, drinking, etc.

I can see how a lot don't care much for the novel. Others really like it. I like it a lot, but I don't really recommend it to many. You can try it out, it's a quick read.

Hmmm, i should check my family tree, i could be related to the guy.

Snipe - Do the Sequel and get rich ........

I like Bukowski. My wife doesn't. Of course I retired as a Navy Chief.

Bukowski and Eric Hoffer seem to be similar. Maybe Hoffer was more of an intellectual, but he used his intellect in a similar philosophical perspective of the hard life.

Probably his most mainstream work was the novel that the movie "Barfly" (Mickey Rourk and Faye Dunawat) was based on.

This interview snippet gives you an idea of who he was:

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bukowski rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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for the ultimate film on bukowski purchase or rent Born Into This

Bukowski: Born into This (2003)

i pull it out once a month or so to keep my mind sharp

Classic! Thanks for posting.