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Ham on Rye
 
 

Ham on Rye (Paperback)

by Charles Bukowski (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
Price: £5.92 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Product details

  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Rebel inc.; New edition edition (7 Jul 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1841951633
  • ISBN-13: 978-1841951638
  • Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 13 x 2.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 7,157 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #1 in  Books > Fiction > 20th Century Classics > Bukowski, Charles
    #1 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > D > Doyle, Roddy
    #9 in  Books > Fiction > Contemporary Fiction: 1970 Onwards > Lad Lit

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

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.



Product Description

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.

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Ham on Rye
70% buy the item featured on this page:
Ham on Rye 4.8 out of 5 stars (50)
£5.92
Post Office
10% buy
Post Office 4.2 out of 5 stars (24)
£5.82
Factotum
7% buy
Factotum 4.5 out of 5 stars (11)
£5.82
Women
7% buy
Women 4.2 out of 5 stars (18)
£5.94

 

Customer Reviews

50 Reviews
5 star:
 (43)
4 star:
 (6)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (50 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Bukowski as "Survivor",, 26 Mar 2004
By A Customer
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.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Bukowski at his best., 25 April 2005
By M. Bridgeman (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
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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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Not at all HAMMY , and very WRY., 1 April 2003
By Mr. B. A. D. Plowman "Brendan" (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
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 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.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Ham on rye review
The book was in very good conditions. Excellent conditions.

Also, the book itself was very good. A bit disturbing in some parts but still very powerful and emotional.
Published 3 months ago by M. Sanguineti

5.0 out of 5 stars powerful ride in the life of henry
This is one powerful read from beginning to end. IT follows Henry Chinaski's life from childhood through to adulthood. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Ryan Newsome

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing book
This is the third of his books I have read now and I have to agree with lots of other reviewers in that it is his best book, at least out of the ones that I have read. Read more
Published 8 months ago by J. Larrad

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb.
After reading Ham On Rye, i HAD to read more of Bukowski.

I read another one of his books from the library, but I found that Ham On Rye was 100x better. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mr. D. L. Edwards

3.0 out of 5 stars Is it me, or is it Bukowski?
The last time I read Bukowski was five years ago, when I was 21. Then, I read 'Post Office' and loved its raw energy, its 'don't give a f**k attitude'. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Ian Shine

5.0 out of 5 stars MY FAV BUK BOOK!
Of all bukowski's books this is my favourite. Bukowski has some real jaw dropping, heart-warming thoughts throughout this book and I simply love it! Read more
Published 17 months ago by Mr. John P. Oreilly

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
Bukowski does it again - with another book that is so easy to read yet about nothing in terms of conventional 'plot' and so funny and also so sad. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Dillinger

5.0 out of 5 stars The Beginnings of Bukowski
Bukowski's formative years laid bare. No shirking from a fully detailed relation of his torment and tormentors. A writer unafraid to tell it like it is. Read more
Published 21 months ago by MYB74

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended!
Ham on Rye (HOR) is a semi-autobiographical tale, written in the first person, and describing the 'rite of passage' of Bukowski's antihero "Hank Chinaski". Read more
Published on 28 Jul 2007 by DarkVision

5.0 out of 5 stars Catcher in the Ham on Rye
This is a truly great book and although there are many surface differences with JD Salinger's wonderful Catcher in the Rye, their similarities are much greater. Read more
Published on 28 Jun 2007 by Teapot

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