Legendary barfly Charles Bukowski's fourth novel, first published in 1982, is probably the most autobiographical and moving of all his books, dealing in particular with his difficult relationship with his father and his early childhood in LA. Ham on Rye follows the path of Bukowski'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. The novel begins against the backdrop of an America devastated by the Depression and takes the Chinaski legend up to the bombing of Pearl Harbour. Arguably Bukowski's finest novel.
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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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
* Very funny, very sad, and despite its self-congratulatory tone, honest in most of the right places. In many ways, Bukowski may have been the perfect writer to describe post-war southern California - a land of wide, flat spaces with nothing worth seeing, so you might as well vanish into yourself. In an age of conformity, Bukowski wrote about the people nobody wanted to be: the ugly, the selfish, the lonely, the mad. The Observer * Sometimes funny and always sad, Ham on Rye is written in an admirably hard, bare, vivid style. It offers grim insights into the construction of masculinity and American life between the wars. Doyle's introduction is excellent. Times Literary Supplement * Both powerful and, where appropriate, extremely funny. Sunday Telegraph * The largely autobiographical Ham On Rye is also suprisingly reflective, humane, tremendously evocative and absorbingly readable. The Times
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47 of 48 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
I didn't know what to expect when I picked up Ham on Rye by Bukowski. I'd read some assorted poems and short stories of his that I found amusing because of their bluntness and coarseness. I found that Ham On Rye was much in the same vein: that is, the story of a non-comformist who has to pay the price in America for not selling out and becoming just another salesman or suit. Bukowski needed to follow his own music. This book is obviously autobiographical, and it depicts his rough and sad childhood: his abusive father who wouldn't cut him any slack, his skin condition that pock-marked his face and made him feel like an outcast, his alienation from school and his classmates, his alienation from most of America and the values America holds most dear: being the "alpha dog," the big "winner." Bukowski in effect is a foreigner in his own land, a socially isolated individual who escapes the cruelty of people by eventually becoming a writer and indulging in drink -- while longing for a poetry that our banal consumer society tries to squash. I love this book. It's an easy-to-read and very personal novel, which would probably be marketed today as a "memoir." I know Bukowski is NOT read in college and that's because he's generally "anti-New Yorker," anti-understatement. He's the John Belushi (think of Pluto in Animal House) of literature. His characters WILL COME OUT TALKING, LIKE THIS!!.. Reading Bukowski is an intimate experience, like reading the work of a friend or watching a friend's home-movie. He's largely a self-taught artist so his work is sometimes rough, sometimes over-the-top, sometimes sloppy -- but always full of humor and always largely entertaining and loads of fun. This is my first Bukowski novel, but it certainly won't be my last! So crack open a brew, shut off that stupid TV, kick back in your dirty shorts and read Ham on Rye. I also agree with the reviewer who recommended The Losers' Club by Richard Perez, another lively, funny novel that I could relate to.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By Mr. B. A. D. Plowman
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
I have read a handful of Charles Bukowski's literary efforts but found none of them to be quite as endearing as this. The focus is on Chinaski's high school days and the way his outlook on life is steeped in cynicism due to an infliction of acne vulgaris .
The reader will be very hard pushed to find a more cynical literary character than Chinaski , and the book is entrenched in bitterness. However there are some heartbreakingly human moments such as Chinaski viewing young couples holding hands,and believing he can never live like that.
The reader will be very hard pushed to find a more cynical literary character than Chinaski , and the book is entrenched in bitterness. However there are some heartbreakingly human moments such as Chinaski viewing young couples holding hands,and believing he can never live like that.
The narrative is gritty , stripped down and to the point.This perfectly suits Chinaski's clipped and dismissive viewpoint on life. Bukowski's human prose allows us to sympathise with the character as he rejects the world.
In conclusion, I would say that this book is in turns moving, witty and repulsive.It is essential for those who feel that now and again life has given them a raw deal.
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
By M. Bridgeman
Format:Paperback
The only Bukowski I'd read previously was Post Office, which is a bare-bones story about a man whose life is swallowed by his job at the Post Office, years passing by, and his struggle to basically try and retain something of himself (be it a woman, his drinking, his gambling - anything).
Ham On Rye features the same character (Bukowski's alter-ego Henry Chinaski), but focuses on his earlier life, going to school and university, and descending into violent alcholism. It, too, is a bare bones story - but there's much more to it. Chinaski's frustration at not wanting to be a part of anything, while at the same time wanting to be accepted, result in him being seen as nothing but a bullying drunkard. And yeah, Chinaski is an a-hole, and Bukowski makes no bones about that. But I was forever hoping he'd pull himself out of it.
A great book, and Chuck's no BS writing style is always instantly refreshing.
Check it out, if you can.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great
Bukovsky is one I am reading around a lot at the moment. I'm sure I won't be disappointed with this
Published 5 days ago by jenny S
5.0 out of 5 stars
epic and bargain price
Start with this book and read them all you won't be dissappointed. I read this book in one day and bought the rest straight away.
Published 2 months ago by It's so easy101
5.0 out of 5 stars
Growing up Chinaski
I have been returning to the work of Charles Bukowski (1920 -- 1994) after reading his novel "Factotum" and watching the movie based upon it. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Robin Friedman
5.0 out of 5 stars
just read it
another awesome book of his.
charles , even as a kid was sick and skunky . just love the way he puts words together
charles , even as a kid was sick and skunky . just love the way he puts words together
Published 3 months ago by Agy Bukowski
5.0 out of 5 stars
Power packed lterature
Non stop, electrifying pace, powerful dialogue, you cannot put this book down! Brilliant perspective of the adult and child mind.
Published 3 months ago by alex wareing
5.0 out of 5 stars
A harrowing account of the authors early life
This book is written in a very easy to understand way. Its as if Bukowski is talking to you as the boy/teen who suffered greatly as he grew up and it made him mean and tough. Read more
Published 5 months ago by antomac1001
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ham on Rye
This item arrived in good time. It has not yet been appreciated as it is a present for my youngest son for Christmas.
Published 5 months ago by Madeleine
5.0 out of 5 stars
Extra rye, easy on the eye
There's a lot made of the fact this is Bukowski's most autobiographical work but there's so much more to it than that. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Dave
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sayonara
I use to buy this book for girlfriends, before I got married. If they didn't love it, it was cheerio!
Published 5 months ago by Sam Simoneaux
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent read!
Firstly I really cannot understand people who write bad reviews about what are obviously quality books - they must be sad and frustrated failures. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Top Reader
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