Ham on Rye Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

Ham on Rye Book

Charles Bukowski's fourth novel, Ham on Rye, is the semi-autobiographical story of the early years of his alter ego Henry Chinaski. It is a finely written and honest account of the painful childhood of a boy marked out from his peers. Regularly beaten by his father, Chinaski is shown growing through his difficult and violent adolescence (struck with the worst case of acne his doctors have ever seen) through to the first jobs he can't and won't hold down. In this moving story of growing up Bukowski disciplines his muscular, concentrated writing and creates a novel that distils his poetry into the finest full-length piece of prose that he ever wrote. Bukowski is often good but in Ham on Rye he's great. Sadly, best known as the alcoholic inspiration for the film Barfly (an experience he reflected on in his book Hollywood), it is as a poet, rather than a drunk, that Bukowski should be best remembered. His bitter, caustic, direct, humane, damaged poetry reflects a life dominated by poverty and booze. His poetry stretches over many, many volumes but Bukowski also wrote great novels: all of them have many faults but the first four books he wrote shine for similar reasons. Post Office and Factotum both dissect, quite brilliantly, the life of an angry, poor man forced to do mindless jobs, pushed around and considered mindless by the fools who force him to do them. Women, as Roddy Doyle points out in his short introduction, continues the themes but focuses on the numerous women who share his hero's bed and bottle. --Mark Thwaite Read More

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  • Amazon

    With his fourth novel, legendary barfly Charles Bukowski follows the path of his alter ego Henry Chinaski through the high school years of acne and rejection, drinking his way through the Depression, and ends at the start of World War 2.

  • TheBookPeople

    Infamous for his wry observations and terrifically blunt and coarse humour, Charles Bukowski offers a semi-autobiographical account of his childhood in Ham on Rye, the fourth of his novels. Following alter ego Henry Chianski, the novel talks movingly of a troubled youth, filled with pain, domestic abuse and difficult first jobs. All are tackled with Bukowskis trademark wit and in an open and honest manner that sees Chianski drink his way through the Great Depression.

  • Blackwell

    Follows the path of the author's alter-ego Henry Chinaski through the high school years of acne and rejection and into the beginning of a long and successful career in alcoholism. This novel begins against the backdrop of an America devastated by...

  • Play

    With his fourth novel legendary barfly Charles Bukowski follows the path of his alter ego Henry Chinaski through the high school years of acne and rejection drinking his way through the Depression and ends at the start of World War 2.

  • 1841951633
  • 9781841951638
  • Charles Bukowski
  • 7 July 2001
  • Rebel inc.
  • Paperback (Book)
  • 336
  • New edition
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