Book #7 Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski

It's been a while but that doesn't mean I haven't keep up
with the books. Finished My Dark Places. It was a good book I enjoyed the first part dealing with the murder. Later on when the detective goes back with Ellroy to reopen the investigation it gets a bit tedious. However, I think it does support the hardships of having to go reinterview a witness 4o years later and having them rember something totally different or not remember anything at all.
Ham on Rye, finished that too. Good book, I thought I knew Bukowski when I read Post Office, but Ham on Rye is just as good if not better. It deals with his foibles of growing up, high school, college and dealing with acne vulgaris. Just hearing him say "I'm going to kill you" everytime he fights someone is worth the price alone for picking up this book.
People should read this book just to know that when you were whining in high school about how fucking bad you had it, this guy probably had it ten times worse, although, he was built like a bull and could kick the shit out of most people.

I Could write about all the cool stuff in this book, but whilst browsing on Amazon, I found some pissant that gave the book one star. Now, everyone is entitled to an opinon, but this guy's review is hysterical. He sounds like some uptight mammas boy. The best part about these things is if you thought the book was so bad why did you keep on reading it jackass?

"This is the worst book I've ever read. There's no moral, theme or lesson behind it. You don't learn anything. It's not interesting. There are a thousand different characters and it's nearly impossible to keep track of which one is which because every character is equally boring, uninteresting and one-dimensional. Also, Bukowski was obviously a sick, perverted, twisted person. He refers to one guy as a "fetus-eater," and he goes into detail explaining things about bowel movements and masturbation (and in one case, one of his friends does a sexual favor for a dog). The story takes place from the early 1920's through 1941, and before I read it, I thought it might give an interesting perspective on what it was like to live at that time, with the depression and then pearl harbor going on, but no. It was boring as hell. Bukowski's life is incredibly boring and uneventful, and I really don't understand why he chose to give the world the misfortune of this book. It's terrible. Nothing happens. It ends so abruptly. I hate Bukowski."