Charles Bukowski

Corkfeen

Recently read "The Most Beautiful Woman in Town" and I must admit that I enjoyed it immensely. But its left me in two opinions, his writing is shoddy at times (Punctuation drove me crazy ) but the stories are immensely entertaining.
I'll undoubtedly read a few more of his books when I have the time. But my question is would boardsies consider him to be a good writer or just a pulp style writer?

lordgoat

I love him. More so for his poems that his novles though.

Get yourself a copy of the days run away like wild horses hills. It is all in there.

Aside: Hunter S and Bukowski i'd suggest Murakami for you, maybe start with Kafka on the Shore.

PhiliousPhogg

Halfway through Hollywood and thoroughly enjoying it - 'Popppy with 4 Ps' & 'the rabbit cheeks' - great stuff.

Very much enjoy his poetry too. One of the things thats appealing about his work is there is a sense of freedom & liberation in his attitude & outlook across all his work even though he constantly works through harsh & depressing topics. Plus his biting prose is highly entertaining, I have no objection whatsoever to his abuse of grammer & punctuation.

scribelady

I like Bukowski's poetry although it is dark and raw sometimes.

cobsie

I do like Bukowski a lot, because he knows how to tell a story, how to jump right into the heart of the drama. He's also an acute observer of human behaviour. But too much of him can be ... well, too much. He's prolific - compulsive, even - so the quality is uneven. There are fantastic stories and poems, but not all of an equal standard. There's a brilliant collection of his work called "Septuagenarian Stew" which is a kind of 'best of'. Handy when dealing with a writer of volumes like B.

If you like his work, try On Broadway by Damon Runyan. Fantastic stories, in a gangster-moll slang mostly set in 30s (prohibition era) New York. Highly recommend!

homerun_homer

I agree, too much Bukowski can be a bit much. I went through a phase a few years ago beginning with Post Office - loved it. Factotum was fun, didn't have the same strangths. Ham and Rye was a great insight into his life but after that I started getting bored or annoyed with his style. Pulp and Women weren't great.

I must get my reading habits back and when I do I'll get some of his short stories/poetry.

draylander

absolutely love the man. here is a good clip that somes him up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1e5Jeh2Fk0
wait till two minutes in. super stuff