Ham on Rye
Ratings53
Average rating3.9
15
Ratings53
Average rating3.9
In what is widely hailed as the best of his many novels, Charles Bukowski details the long, lonely years of his own hardscrabble youth in the raw voice of alter ego Henry Chinaski. From a harrowingly cheerless childhood in Germany through acne-riddled high school years and his adolescent discoveries of alcohol, women, and the Los Angeles Public Library's collection of D. H. Lawrence, Ham on Rye offers a crude, brutal, and savagely funny portrait of an outcast's coming-of-age during the desperate days of the Great Depression.
Reviews with the most likes.
The poor had a right to fuck their way through their bad dreams. Sex and drink, and maybe love was all they had.
My favourite piece of writing by Bukowski so far. He probably wrote Ham on Rye when he reached and age that removed him from his bitter rage that pervades his other novels. It's filled with cynical wit and a perspective of how Bukowski was an outsider since early childhood. My first bildungsroman that I actually enjoyed, it was a good time.
Not for everyone for sure. Charles B. is not for everyone.
If you have ever seen the dark side of life even just a little, you may have a chance to understand and enjoy his writing.
What a character, life...
Holy crap! Why did you get such an iconic book two stars?!?
The writing was exactly what I love in literature. It was gritty, hard hitting, and it had incredibly short chapters which mimicked the snatches of memory he was trying to convey. This is exactly why I loved reading some of his poetry. You don't get that kind of a “punch” in literature very often.
However, this book angered me to the point where I immediately took it to a used book store to sell because I don't want that kind of filth anywhere near me. Then I realized that someone else may pick it up and be as horrified as I was so I took it back home and threw it in a box.
Needless to say, I'll take my hard-hitting, grittyness from Cormac McCarthy and Vonnegut from now on and I hope to God I never have to read “cunt” that many times in a book again.
