Bukowski. La vita ribelle dello scrittore che ha raccontato laltra America by Howard Sounes

Bukowski. La vita ribelle dello scrittore che ha raccontato laltra America Reviews

• 
  Bryan Clark

  If you are a fan examining Bukowski's life is a little difficult. He was not what you could call a ‘good guy’; there was a lot about him that is less than admirable. It’s easy for his critics to take a reductive view of him and his works, the temptation for his admirers is to perhaps give him a bit of a whitewash. However, what this book does is present an unsentimental account of Bukowski’s life – certainly it does not shy away from the many less flattering episodes – yet in a way which shows the author’s clear love of his subject and Bukowski’s greatness despite, or rather because of all this. If you have read much Bukowski then you basically know his life story already. However, this book establishes a more clear chronology for iBukowski’s life and does a lot to separate fact from fiction. So If you do like Bukowski (if you don’t what’s wrong with you?) then give this a go.
  
  
  
  Looking in the expansive notes you see that this is a thoroughly researched book, it’s also a mine of intriguing facts. From a footnote in the back I learned that there is a short French film based on Bukowski’s work directed by Eric Cantona. It seems an unlikely pairing but there you go. It seems that all along it was Bukowski’s influence, specifically his refutation of mainstream society and received values, that made Cantona wear his shirt collars up all the time!
  
  
• 
  Virginija Rudytė

  I can't really remember why I decided to read "Post Office" few years ago but that's exactly when Charles Bukowski came into my life. Some say that his writings are meaningless, because the meaning isn't obvious. It's there deep down in the rivers of alcohol, bar fights, complicated friendships, failed relationships and under the roof of crappy rooms. He wasn't the best person (honestly, no one is) and had rough life but he tried and did what seemed best to get through. Whether you read his poetry or prose you can feel the realness of this crazy world even if you have nothing in common with him or his characters.
  
  "I was still writing to keep from going crazy, I was still writing, trying to explain this god-damned life to myself."
  
  Howard Sounes did a wonderful job with this biography. He did a lot of research, interviews with people who knew Bukowski one way or another and most importantly (for me at least), he didn't say that you should love or hate Bukowski. You have to make up your own mind while reading this book and whatever your opinion is after it, you still will be able to understand what and why Charles Bukowski wrote the way he did.
• 
  Tristan

  Purely as a biographical/bibliographical resource, this is a useful volume to anyone interested in a more critical study of the man behind the legend. During his writing career, quite a lot of myths, distortions and even outright falsehoods (some fabricated by himself) concerning Bukowski's personal life have been floating around, which this biography seeks to correct. In that sense it is a solid and informative read, while not exactly groundbreaking. There is significant overlap with Bukowski's own semi-autobiographical writings, from which Sounes quotes regularly.
  
  Where I find it lacking is in its presentation, which is rather uninspired. After a couple of chapters, it feels more like a dry recounting of -to the average Bukowski reader-reasonably well-known events, but without the literary panache to inject life in those events. It lacks vitality and texture. Still, it gets the job done. I will most certainly use it for future reference.
• 
  Connie Kuntz

  I enjoyed this biography, but I guess I would rather experience Bukowski from Bukowski's work.
• 
  ger

  I think Howard Sounes' decision to write in an 'American' way as opposed to his own natural English makes the writing a little dry in places. Most great Biographies seem to flow but I found myself being a bit underwhelmed by the journalistic quality of the chapters. That being said, once I got used to it, the book improved.
  
  It was interesting to see how 'Established' facts in his life such as 'The ten year drunk' and the story of how his deal with John Martin came about really happened. There's plenty of source notes and it seems a detailed job.
  
  Bukowski comes across as more obsessive than he does in his own work as well as much meaner. His attitude to women at times was appalling but when he wrote it up he left out key points that made him look tough and true and honest. The real stories make him look like a real asshole.
  
  A lot of people loved him though and he clearly had two sides as we all do.
  
  The only point I will make is that Sounes writes that U2 wrote a song as tribute to Bukowski but he gets the name wrong even though the source notes are cited. A simple error in a detailed book but its the only fact I know personally. I hope it doesn't reflect on other sources.
  
  A great point for reference and an enjoyable, easy read.
• 
  Malum

  A hard one to rate or recommend; if you haven't read a lot of Bukowski novels, then this is a very enlightening read. If you have read many of his very autobiographical novels, however, at least half of this book will be a repeat for you.
  
  Still, this is a pretty thorough and very candid look at Bukowski. He definitely doesn't come off as a good person here, but I don't think there is anything here that Bukowski himself would disagree with.
• 
  Brent Legault

  This biography seemed to me to be more unnecessary than most, considering how much of his own life Bukowski used in his fiction, but I found it not entirely unentertaining.
• 
  Jason Robinson

  A decently written, fairly objective account of "The Bard of East Hollywood".
• 
  Tom Stamper

  Howard Sounes gives us a biography of Bukowski that reads like Bukowski could have written it. He quotes from the stories and poems as he gives background to the real people depicted. If you’ve read Bukowski’s novels, you come away understanding what was hyperbole and how he used real life to craft drama.
  
  I wasn’t sure I’d like it enough to read the whole thing and it surprised me. I’d be interested in some of Sounes's other biographies after reading this one.
  
• 
  LATOYA JOVENA

  Bukowski is one of my favorite authors. Howard Sounes made me feel like I knew him.
• 
  Michael Naughton

  Writers and Poets, in particular, evince quite a bit about themselves through their words. Great Biographers like Howard Sounes distinguish the writer's personal life behind their words; they help us round out their complex life puzzle and personal history. Howard Sounes achieves this through credible sources and interviews with the women who knew Bukowski and his personal correspondence with: John Martin, Ferlinghetti, etc. IRS and FBI records.
  
  Sounes clarifies and confirms the Bukowski we thought we knew: Sensitive. Intractable. Outspoken and of course, inebriated and anilalted, but passionately writing between swings and swigs.
  
  He lived a hard life and fought back hard.
  
  It is amazing he lived as long as he did.
  
  Fante was his God and Ask the Dust sent him on his journey and galvanized his pen.
  Interesting and tragic story included on Fante on his deathbed and at the end of his road when Bukoswki finally meets him.
  
  When Hollywood came knocking and beat a path to his door, Bukowski got to realize his life on screen. He became his own screen-self/self-critique. For instance, he liked Mickey O'Rourke in Barfly, but disliked Tales of Ordinary Madnessand Ben Gazarra's interpretation of him. Sean Penn's relationship was honest and Bukowski liked him... Madonna (did not like her at all) whom Penn was married to at the time.
  
  I have been reading Bukowski for years, but as a poetry publisher myself, Charles Bukowski's publishing history and dealings with various publishers was of particular interest to me (let's not forget the Webbs, Jon and Gypsy Lou) and John Martin who set Bukowski on his way and the infamous Black Sparrow years. Without Martin's vision and entrepreneurial efforts Bukowski might not have not have hit critical mass. He referred to Bukowski as "the Walt Whitman of our day." post office: A Novel was his breakthrough book at 49 years old. Pulp his last. Europe loved him. The rest is history.
• 
  Reix

  I've always loved Bukowski's books. There's no "poetry" in his words, but there's reality, he talks about the real world, his own life, a disturbing one, and I feel attracted to that kind of readings, that shows that bad side of life that not many want to look at.
  Bukowski was seen most of his life as a weirdo, more an antisocial than an introvert, ignored by men and specially by women (something that later changed), a misogynist, a drunker who liked to polemicize.
  Well, it's clear that nowadays he would have probably been considered one of those macho men, but I'm not going to judge his life, but his work, and I think that as a writer, maybe he's not the best using words or composing "beautiful" sentences, but he's got something crude, special and ironic, surrealistic, that sometimes makes you laugh and some other times makes you think.
  Talking about this biography, I think that maybe is not the best to get specific details about his life, just generalities and some concrete details, but I think you know better his life by his own works than by these book. His childhood was hard, but I think this is something not very explored in this biography. Anyway, is very easy to read and is still interesting if you feel curious about this polemic writer.
• 
  Jeremy Williams

  The book started out rather dull, much of the earlier chapters seemed like much had been sifted from Ham On Rye. But the book was good, I would've liked to have seen more on his parents. At one point near the end the Bukowski returns to Germany for a book event and visits with his fathers brother. This was an intresting moment for Bukowski whose childhood was marred in verbal and physicla abuse at the hand of his father. The book didnt go as indepth as I would expect of a biography (like Maher's Kerouac or Boyd's Hurston or Herb Boyd's Baldwin or even the wonderful portraiture of Nell Harper), I expected more. or the most part, the book seemed to reinforce the popular idea of the man people assumed Bukowski to be. At times, Sounes book tended to be more journalistic than biographical. But the book is a good primer and a good beginning. Bukowski had an amazing life! True laureate of skid row, played by his on rules, lived hard and defied the establishment. There is certainly a lesson here to learned for anyone seriously interested in the life of a bona fide artist.
• 
  Jim

  He drank but “had little time for drugs”; he could be misogynistic but as soon as he got a woman pregnant the first thing he did was propose; to put things in perspective he was really more of a misanthrope than a misogynist; “when he was sober, Bukowski was quiet and polite, even deferential [but:] when he got drunk – especially in sophisticated company, which made him uneasy – he became Bukowski the bad: mischievous, argumentative, even violent;” he gambled – he once totted up that he’d frittered away $10,000 – but he was also extraordinarily careful with his money. He is far more interesting than even he would have you believe.
  
  Not a perfect biography but I think it’ll be the best we’re likely to get.
  
  You can read a full review on my blog
  here
  
• 
  Özgür Tekin

  Kitabın sonlarına doğru kendi kendime şunu söyledim: "Bukowski hakkında ne çok şey biliyorum." Bu bilginin büyük çoğunluğu durmadan kendini anlatan Bukowski'nin kitaplarında yazdıkları, bir kısmı hakkında izlediğim belgeseller, filmler; bir kısmı da Barbet Schroeder'in çektiği Charles Bukowski Tape'leri. Ilımlı bir fanlık durumu oluşmuş galiba.
  Niye böyle bir düşünce aklıma geldi diye soracak olursanız, artık okuduklarım Bukowski ile ilgili fikrime katkıda bulunmuyor. İsimler, olaylar, yerler; hepsi tanıdık artık. Yine de mavi kuşu özlüyor insan, ölüp gitmiş bir akrabayı özler gibi.
  Kitapla ilgili özet fikrim: Moruğu tanıyorsanız tanıyorsunuz, tanımıyorsanız da fena bir başlangıç noktası değil gibi.
• 
  Pretzel

  Entertaining, sometimes funny, gritty, raunchy. My first swim through the "river Bukowski" and it was pretty good for me.
  
  The part about the buffalo chasing him so he had to run and dive over a fence, was hysterical!!
• 
  Brian Pappas

  Thought there wasn't much more I could learn about the old man, but this bio proved me wrong. Reads more like a novel than some ordinary biography. Fitting. How could anything Bukowski be ordinary?
• 
  Denton

  Say what you will about Bukowski as a person. . .I'll say what I will about you as illiterate. He was a genius, not in the typical mold of the term, where one is filled with generic pretense and posturing. He wrote what he knew, and his writing brings to mind the lyric by Kendrick Lamar that goes
  
  "Shit I've been through prolly offend you".
  
  Bukowski was part of an oppressed class in his day, and in our day. He may not have been an ethnic, sexual, or any other minority, but his writing is depicting the conditions of life for an alcoholic, working class, writer. I've met Harvard educated writers and debated them, I've listened to their overly dramatic readings about identity and modes of alienation and barriers and existentialism. What separates Bukowski from them is that he wrote what he knew in a language that he was comfortable with and as a result, his work was emotionally complex, visceral, stirring up ambivalences in the casual reader, and cutting directly to the essence of American experience, the tragicomic.
  
  Addiction and alcoholism are not the issue, the conditions of American life, where the impoverished feel a need to reach for any soporific, any means of dissociating and forgetting, these conditions are the issue. In his time, Bukowski sorted mail, and then drank and smoked and wrote until the early morning. In our time, he might function as a stock "boy" at Wal-Mart, drinking and writing until noon, before passing out and doing it again.
  
  His work lays himself bare, urging us to either accept him or reject him. The tragicomedy of his work is that many of us have had his experiences, he just is willing to admit to them and own them.
• 
  Nc Hegarty

  I really enjoyed this, but at least half of it you would already know if you have read Bukowski. The last third was really great because I knew next to nothing about his later life. The stories of 'Hank' hanging out with celebrities such as Sean Penn, Madonna and Harry Dean Stanton. The gift of a computer and the increasing productivity in his later years is priceless.
  
  I suppose part of the allure of Bukowski is the myth, so why dispel the myth? Does it cheapen his work? It could be argued it does.
  
  This is reportedly the definitive biography, I feel like it was rather short and didn't bring as much to the table as I would have liked but I did enjoy it. I would say check out "Ham On Rye" by Bukowski himself if you haven't already, it is basically a biography of his earlier years.
  
  This did rekindle my interest in the work, made me want to check out some poetry collections I haven't read and re-read some of the novels. But, I feel like there is potentially a better Bukowski bio still waiting to be written. 3.5/5
• 
  E

  sounes has done a really good and respectable job at finding sources and tieing every little detail into the narrative. bukowski mostly wrote about his own life, so reading the specific bits of poetry to illustrate those specific events helped to see a fuller picture.
  
  the book is hard to chew sometimes because of how densely some paragraphs are packed with facts. or how there is a lack of narrative to jump from one name to another.
  
  generally, the book was very eye-opening for me. previously known facts (or myths) blended in the whole story and shifted my feelings towards bukowski. he's still fascinating as a person and a hard working poet, but the details in the book made me realise his attitude and behaviour is more morally grey or even morally wrong than i initially thought.
  
  sounes' book is relatively easy to read, however i think it would be harder/less compelling to read it if the person is not interested in bukowski in the first place.
• 
  Teodor Burnar

  A very well documented take on Bukowski, its greatest strength being that it does not glorify the author, but it shows him just the way he probably was: a flawed human being touched by the gods. Although there are many episodes that reflect badly on "Chinaski" (like leading a fellow writer to kill himself, or kicking his partner in a rage), the book is also full of anecdotes that give a glimpse into Bukowski's mesmerising, Lucifer-like personality. I think the main gain from reading Sounes' book is that it makes one dig deeper, especially in regard to Bukowski's poetry. Alas, more poetry was required on the part of the biographer in this book.
• 
  Michael

  Just finished Howard Sounes' biography of Charles Bukowski. I don't know how to describe it to you other than to say if you enjoyed Bukowski's _Post Office_ or _Ham on Rye_, this book provides excellent context. He was definitely a character for his time, Bukowski was. Deeply flawed man with demons a plenty, yet somehow attractive in a bizarre gritty way. I don't think many people read him these days, do they?
• 
  Jean Dupenloup

  An excellent biography, and perhaps the authoritative biography of Charles Bukowski.
  
  The scale of the research is astounding: letters, photos, interviews, unpublished work, etc.
  
  The facts of Bukowski’s life are crazy indeed. But beneath the depression, the flegmatic attitude, the insanity, and the verbal (and sometimes physical) violence is a man of true genius.
  
  A must read for all hardcore Bukowski fans.
• 
  Charles Kerns

  A journeyman author does bio of lowlife, nasty drunk (but ok when sober) who could write and did write non-stop (except when drunk or betting on the horses or screwing-in that order). Who did well for himself finally financially (he never thought he would--poets make money?) Who finally figured out how to live with a woman (more or less) Who liked cats
• 
  Paul

  A compelling biography that doesn’t gloss over the nasty side of Bukowski - the drinking, the violence & petulance, the misogyny. If you listen to the audio version read by Howard Sounes, be warned that Sounes’ attempted American accents are very average, most sounding the same with a vague ‘southern’ drawl. Other than that, his reading is quite good.
• 
  Rob Blackwell

  This book often read like prose. It does a fantastic job of highlighting Bukowski's work and providing the context for where it was written and under what circumstances. As someone largely unfamiliar with his work, this book served as a really great jumping off point into his poetry and fiction.
• 
  Lewis Woolston

  I thoroughly enjoyed this.
  Of course having read a bit of Bukowski before i knew the basic landmark events of his life but the author writes well, is impeccable with his research, and really brings the man to life, good and bad.
  I doubt a better biography of the man will ever be written.