Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Bukowski, 4 Feb 2006
‘PO’ is Bukowski on top (or should that be bottom?) form. It is a semi-autobiographical account of his time working (or avoiding working) for the US Postal Service, and chronicles his life both at work and at home. Henry Chinaski (Bukowski’s alter ego in many of his books) is the arch-misanthrope, an aggressive alcoholic with no desire to achieve anything other than staying alive and staying drunk. There is no romanticism in his lifestyle: it is unrelentingly visceral and grim. Women are for sex not love, work is about getting paid for doing as little as possible and life is about drinking. Even in his writing he makes no attempt to engage with his readers, who are treated with as much contempt as the rest of the world.
It is difficult to define the attraction of Bukowski, He was clearly not a nice man, and his hero, Chinaski, is not someone you would want to meet. Many aspects of him are downright repugnant, such as when he rapes a mentally ill woman, but there is something fascinating about a life that has given up on any sense of purpose, any desire for better things. Bukowski is the poet laureate for the people who don’t give a damn and, for the rest of us who still care about some things, some of the time, seeing the idea of apathy taken to its extreme is disturbing but mesmerising at the same time. I have read a lot of Bukowski, but ‘PO’ is perhaps the one that sums him up the best. It is full of the ugly side of life, so won’t be to everyone’s taste, but if you are interested by Bukowski, this has to be the one to start with.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Post Office: Defining statement of the Lowlife Laureate?, 19 Nov 1998
By A Customer
This is the first novel narrated by Bukowski's autobiographical alter-ego, Henry Chinaski. Through Chinaski, the writer tells us about the decade leading up to the start of his career as a full-time writer. He spent most of that decade working for the US Postal service. This novel is a hilarious account of that period. The action switches back-and-forth between one world - that of hard drinking, occasional one-night stands and racetracks - and another - a grim, back-breaking struggle to keep at a job the narrator hates. Anyone who has ever done menial work for low pay and wondered if they are going mad will recognise Chinaski's world. Few could have brought that world to life with such humour and bitterness all at once as Charles Bukowski.
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
BUY THIS BOOK, 23 Jun 2003
This book proves that Bukowski was at his best as a writer when he was down and out. Thankfully for the reader he was mostly down and out during his prolific career, a slave to beer and whiskey and low life friends.He gave up working for the post office and wrote this book in a matter of days. He had to produce a great book and make some money and he did so by recording his time at the Post Office. Makes you want to give up the day job and do likewise. But who could do the job as well as Buk? For me, Post Office is Buk's best work along with Ham on Rye, Factotum and the short story collections. Bukowski uses simple language which is understandable to everyone, but there is a deep underlying sense of acceptance of life imprinted in every page. He never asks for pity, although you know he really deserves it. This novel makes you feel good as when you read it you understand things could be worse. You could be Buk. That said, this novel is far from being depressing, quite the opposite in fact it is at times so amusing you have to put it down and laugh aloud. If you are feeling hard done by, buy this book and learn how to laugh in the face of failure like the great Bukowski.
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