Factotum by Charles Bukowski Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Factotum
Book Review: As always Bukowski is raw, self exposed and utterly true
Summary: 5 Stars
Most people will not be able understand Bukowski. They will read the funny stories, think he's a masochist and a drunk and leave it at that. But what can be discovered here is our generation's greatest writer. Factotum is not the best of his books if read first but is an amazing addition to understanding the development of his writing and his insights into our society. It's a part of his live that can't be missed. All of Bukowski's work is autobiographical. His alter ego is Hank Chinaski and all his books cover a period of his life. I suggest you read Post Office first, and then read Women. These are the periods when his character is fully formed and you can get completely taken by his stories and his odd live. Post Office covers the time when he works at the post office and drinks and writes all night and women covers the time when he was starting to get some publicity for his work. You'll understand these periods better later on but they are the most amusing books and a good start to get you into his writing. Then read ham on rye and follow it with Factotum. Ham on Rye tells the tale of his childhood. Its the book that opens your eyes to why he behaved/wrote the way he did and you soon start to see the tragedy of his life. You'll understand the human suffering he went through and how it enabled him to experience life differently and thus write with more honesty and insight then anyone has before. And you start to understand how human the previous books really were and he becomes a true inspiration for contemplation of our post modern existence. Then read Factotum which shows the young, still ambitious, still rejected man who still has a hint of hope. You see the Bukowski that had the freedom to roam around and had more of that young man's foolish heart. Before he was really broken and tried to live a normal life by working at the post office. And you have arrived full circle!!! I know this commentary doesn't tell you much about what you'll discover but it's better if you arrive there on your own. Once you've read a few of his books - rent the bukowski documentary! One word of caution: Reading and understanding Bukowski will change your live. Change the way you look at society and the world around you. And you'll have a blast along the way.Book Review: Better than the movie
Summary: 5 Stars
First, let me start by saying I am a big fan of Bukowski and have read a lot of his work. Factotum is a very interesting and funny story about Henry Chinaski, the man of many jobs. The book is divided into a bunch of very short chapters which usually explain the various jobs Henry gets hired into and subsequently fired for various reasons ranging from drinking on the job to yelling at the boss. If you like other books by Bukowski you won't be disappointed. This book is more enjoyable than the film staring Matt Dillon, although the movie isn't all that bad. I highly recommend this book, and its a good place to start if you haven't read any other Bukowski yet.Book Review: Booze Without the Muse
Summary: 3 Stars
Bukow does have the ability to call upon his Bad-tempered drunken whore of a Muse and give us that middle-fingered prose that makes up his vintage works (esp. Ham On Rye & Women). Factotum is the bare bones of Bukow. It is his anger, his poverty, his screw-fests, fist-fights and booze without the Muse. It's documentary play by play versus inspired storytelling. Factotum (& Post Office for that matter) is Bukow's brain recovering from his stint in the mad house trying to make sense of his life through words. Ham On Rye and Women are works where he has his proverbial shit together. The greater works are those where the documentary of a Drunk is elevated to that plane of alcoholic clarity, replacing Nihilisim with true Bukow character, superior surliness and "i'll shit in my pants if I want to" heroism.
Yet, while Factotum may be crude in comparison to his other novels, it is still the brass tactics of the crappy boy Bukow we know so well. However, don't say I didn't warn you, Factotum is a stale beer compared to the whiskified prose and grander, double D yarn spinning going on in Ham On Rye, Hot Water Music and WomenBook Review: Brilliant. Buy this book and borrow it to you friends.
Summary: 5 Stars
This book, might turn people off in it's simplicity. But that's what Charles Bukowski novels are all about. A day in the life feel of a wandering man. Take it or leave. I loved it.Book Review: Bukowski is Bukowski is Bukowski
Summary: 5 Stars
Factotum is a good Bukowski novel. I think Ham on Rye, Post Office, and Women are his better novels, but Factotum has its own somber character, and it fills in an autobiographical gap between his school days and his time at the post office. It carries over a lot of the themes and the lifestyle pictured in Down and Out in Paris and London by Orwell.